Strava question.

[ebikeerwidnes]

Well it does, because the assistance could have saved effort till the segment or part way through the segment. If I arrive relatively rested at a segment or only need to put in a max effort for half the segment. It makes all the difference at chances of getting a KOM.

True - but the same applies to people who go out to get KOMs and take it easy until they get there so they can start the segment rested

or even drive there and just get on the bike just before the start

 

[Binky]

Of course there's always someone better than you, unless your name is Tadej.
However, it is infuriating when people leave things like e-bike rides as normal rides, or don't bother to crop their rides having forgotten to turn off their GPS when hopping in the car (a classic MTBer one that).
I looked at the fastest times for the climb to Meribel a couple of years back - 8 or the top 10 or so were downhill MTBers getting a lift back up the hill. All subsequently flagged and removed. I was curious to see how much faster than me the top pros were, but don't want the data ruined by what I saw.

At the end of the day it's a bit of fun. Most of us know that the fastest times on many segments were either in a race, latching onto a good draft or with a howling tailwind, but hey, so what? There are so many ways to slice and dice the info, you can see how you compare against your previous times, against your age group, your weight group, your friends, or others you choose to follow (such as Pogi, Remco etc) etc.
And occassionally the stars align and you get that KoM

That's why I still subscribe, to see my times compared to age group and my previous efforts. I think I've had 5 KOMs in past and I reckon 4 were with a stonking tailwind.

 

[Mike_P]

I just checked and my totally fictitious 70km/h central London KoM is still standing.

Well delete it or crop off the non ride part

 

[Dogtrousers]

Well delete it or crop off the non ride part

No, the entire ride, start to end, was due to my own physical pedalling efforts. The 70kmh was a technical illusion.

The Telegraph had an article claiming that cyclists were terrorising central London by riding round at 40mph, citing that segment as an evidence. (The entire top of the leaderboard is that fast)

I demonstrated how that had come about, without terrorising anyone, and took the KoM in the process.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

The way Strava uses GPS does mean there are inaccuracies

I have had times when I apparently took a short cut that cut across the canal twice without the assistance of a bridge!
and hence knocked a few miles off the route

and it often says I ride THROUGH the canal rather than on the tow path - but that is just basic accuracy

but it does mean that it sometimes misses out segments in one place because it reckons I have not completed the whole thing!

no idea why at times - the main one is total out in the open!

 

[Dorset Boy]

The way Strava uses GPS does mean there are inaccuracies

I have had times when I apparently took a short cut that cut across the canal twice without the assistance of a bridge!
and hence knocked a few miles off the route

and it often says I ride THROUGH the canal rather than on the tow path - but that is just basic accuracy

but it does mean that it sometimes misses out segments in one place because it reckons I have not completed the whole thing!

no idea why at times - the main one is total out in the open!

It's not Strava, it's the device you use to record your rides that's causing the inaccuracy.

 

[Mike_P]

It's not Strava, it's the device you use to record your rides that's causing the inaccuracy.

Yes I had that with an old Garmin. I instead of tracking me going down the steep decent of NCN636 Beryl Burton Way towards Knaresborough it suddenly decided I was on a B road on the opposite side of the river. Consequently it then recorded me travelling exceptionally fast up hill aong the A59 linking the NCN to the junction with the B road.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Yes I had that with an old Garmin. I instead of tracking me going down the steep decent of NCN636 Beryl Burton Way towards Knaresborough it suddenly decided I was on a B road on the opposite side of the river. Consequently it then recorded me travelling exceptionally fast up hill aong the A59 linking the NCN to the junction with the B road.

I have seen that in cars

seems to me that SatNav system try to work out where you are
and if it doesn;t makes what it thinks is sense then it works something out based on the roads/paths/tracks in the area

I would have expected Strava to be better as you could be riding/running/whatever anywhere
so it should just take the GPS plots it has and draw straight lines between them

Not sure how it deals with segments but it does seems to not mind you appearing to be a bit off track in the middle sometimes

I agree that the device and it's ability to detect signals is critical and phones are not going to be as good as a device whose main design includes GPS stuff

 

[Mike_P]

I have seen that in cars

seems to me that SatNav system try to work out where you are
and if it doesn;t makes what it thinks is sense then it works something out based on the roads/paths/tracks in the area

I would have expected Strava to be better as you could be riding/running/whatever anywhere
so it should just take the GPS plots it has and draw straight lines between them

Not sure how it deals with segments but it does seems to not mind you appearing to be a bit off track in the middle sometimes

I agree that the device and it's ability to detect signals is critical and phones are not going to be as good as a device whose main design includes GPS stuff

The issue is when GPS plots from a device are wrong but how can Strava actually know what is right.

Had some weird ones walking using my phone. One day in the local Co-op I logged onto their WiFi and got tracked as having very very quickly walked 2 miles in a straight line to another Co-op and back.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The way Strava uses GPS does mean there are inaccuracies

I have had times when I apparently took a short cut that cut across the canal twice without the assistance of a bridge!
and hence knocked a few miles off the route

and it often says I ride THROUGH the canal rather than on the tow path - but that is just basic accuracy

but it does mean that it sometimes misses out segments in one place because it reckons I have not completed the whole thing!

no idea why at times - the main one is total out in the open!

If that was using your phone. I would say that was just the cheap GPS chip used in phones not having a good satellite lock at that point. Nowt Strava is doing.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The issue is when GPS plots from a device are wrong but how can Strava actually know what is right.

Had some weird ones walking using my phone. One day in the local Co-op I logged onto their WiFi and got tracked as having very very quickly walked 2 miles in a straight line to another Co-op and back.

Was this Android?

 

[Dorset Boy]

If your device momentarily loses connection with one of the 3 triangulation satelites the track will go wrong.
I hat 450 kmh down the Croix de Fer as a result of losing one satellite connection broefly.
All down to the device and location, nowt to do with Strava

 

[Ming the Merciless]

True - but the same applies to people who go out to get KOMs and take it easy until they get there so they can start the segment rested

or even drive there and just get on the bike just before the start

Got any examples of that?

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Got any examples of that?

I have read about such things happening on the WWW

which, as evidence goes, is just "some bloke said in the pub one night"

but i have met people who would do that sort of thing for any "trophy"

 

[Mike_P]

Was this Android?

Yes but its only happened once.