[Closed] Strava KOM hunters

Not Strava, your GPS is toss. Guessing it doesn’t have a barometric altimeter does it?

Posted 33 minutes ago

No neither did my mates, so both GPS based overlapping the same ground from a gps trace 900ft, I clocked 1000 and Jason 900ft

Over an 11mile loop that's some error.

Strava Ft are pointless but you'd expect a closer alignment than that

KOMers, you're an extra easy target for thieves so make sure you tighten your Strava security right up (Request to Follow, Fakename, Privacy Zones)

my hated enemy Fit Northwind From Five Years Ago got there first.

Ha ha ha ,yeah I look at some of my fitter and more evil twin's times from years ago and celebrate when I get anywhere close to those times.

One of my commuting routes has the ToB down it regularly. The segment is just under 5km long and the KoM is around 60km/h average! On a really good day I'm only 25km/h slower.

@sillyoldman
Thanks for building That. Think Mangina is great , like a pump track in the trees with a bit of pedalling to go uphill

I'm definitely a bit of a KOM hunter but its for nothing other than gauging my speed - I race and I'm a competitive b*gger and Strava is good for that (minus the inaccuracies that you'd expect from GPS in a dense forest), I don't see anything wrong with it as long as you're responsible.

Have had a fair few battles with Sillyoldman on a number of the trails in Mugdock and in particular Mangina where there is 1sec between us - we know the trail very well and ride the proper line and I know if I'm close to him on any trail up there I'm riding well. It's frustrating though when some riders just smash the fireroad that runs parallel, or straight-line a trail to take your time by quite a fair bit...it happens loads in Mugdock for the reasons others have mentioned, not much you can do though.

Not that it really matters but I know who has the KOM on Mangina, and he races XC. So the 'Did it 10 times to get the KOM' might not necessarily be more than him using it as part of his training loop. As I have done as well. Or maybe he just wanted the KOM, who knows.

And his time is beatable I think, so just get out there and pedal harder.

Most of the straight lines are still blocked I think (and some are just slower anyway...). Does need to be dry for a good attempt though. There used to be a few attempts where people had gone along the fireroad and joined the trail at the fire break uphill bit but they seem to have all been flagged now, so think the times left are fairly legit.

KOMers, you’re an extra easy target for thieves so make sure you tighten your Strava security right up (Request to Follow, Fakename, Privacy Zones)

have we ever seen any proof that this occurs?

it all seems to originate from 2 cases where people were quick to decide without any real evidence that they must have been followed on strava rather than, you know, followed in real life.

There's a whole cycling club "squad" of post-middle aged lycra-clad mountain bikers around me.

The KoM's aren't particularly difficult to grab - so I ended up whilst in lockdown taking most of them (300w for a few minutes, that kind of thing). Apparently they were all held by the same nerds, so I have found myself this year recieving about two emails a week as these blokes go out in a small team, bimble up, go full ham and then claim a few seconds off my time. I've had to turn emails off.

it all seems to originate from 2 cases where people were quick to decide without any real evidence that they must have been followed on strava rather than, you know, followed in real life.

Not sure you'll find proof, but without decent privacy settings in Strava and on wider social media you will be followed from the other end of an internet connection which is infinitely easier and more scalable for organised gangs than driving around. It's obvious you can be a victim of both but it's super-easy to mitigate the Strava risk, so why not?

My statement comes primarily from my own dabbling into the best / easiest / fastest sources of Strava data that are likely to yield high-value equipment amongst the background noise of casual activity recording. There are other techniques too but I'm not going to blab too much - just keep insisting people button up their Strava profiles.

There’s a whole cycling club “squad” of post-middle aged lycra-clad mountain bikers around me.

The KoM’s aren’t particularly difficult to grab – so I ended up whilst in lockdown taking most of them (300w for a few minutes, that kind of thing). Apparently they were all held by the same nerds, so I have found myself this year recieving about two emails a week as these blokes go out in a small team, bimble up, go full ham and then claim a few seconds off my time. I’ve had to turn emails off.

Brilliant, so some people are doing what you did but they are nerds and annoying?

PS just went to check, I still have my one KOM!!

so both GPS based overlapping the same ground from a gps trace 900ft, I clocked 1000 and Jason 900ft

Yeah it's GPS altitude that is inaccurate. That's why more expensive devices have barometers.

@bloodsexmagik
Wasn't saying the current KOM had taken any cheat lines or anything. Last time I was up (a few months ago) I noticed a straight line in the first section which is definitely quicker and also the rooty section at the start of the second section is now completely avoidable, few secs in there! I reckon it can be beaten as well, maybe not my me as I'm on flats and it's tough to pedal on the end of the first and start of the second sections.

The repeated attempts in one session just to gain the KOM has no explanation aside from behavioural.

Yeah, definitely behavioural. These three stole my KOM by constantly going up and down the same hill, plus they weren't content with that, they did the same on several hills in my area and probably other peoples areas too, losers the three off them... https://www.strava.com/segments/13080181?filter=overall

According to Strava I am faster on the drop down to Sadgill than Adam Brayton. In fact I am faster than anyone. You are deluded if you take it more seriously than a way of comparing yourself with you.