[Closed] Too fast for Strava? "Please explain why this activity should not be flagged."

Get power data

Tell them about the clear skies.

Worst humblebrag evah

Short segments are pretty pointless. GPS inaccuracies and the recording frequency can make a big difference to the recorded time.

400 m ain't that short and it was faster at least! (+ more tailwind uhrrr).

They heard your free hub irregularity , penchant for skinsuits and decided you weren't welcome

They heard your free hub irregularity , penchant for skinsuits and decided you weren’t welcome

Lul. 3 pawl freehub is one the way..did get a used TEAM SKY jersey on ebay.de, faster than the t-shirt of my first attempt at least. If anyone wants a 54t ratchet + freehub lmk.

Good numbers there our kid.
Strava must have their hands full with all sorts of bollox segment times so they prob just didn't realise who you are. Explain to them you're not a desperate fantasist, you are YoHandsome, rider of repute and they'll put it right.

Provide a link to the segment so that we can scrutinise said claims.

What device type was this recorded on?

Link to segment??

Wanting a kom with help of a tailwind ? Cheating innit 😉

Everyone in the top 10 are tailwind cheating though, so it's kinda fair 😉

Recorded on my Pixel 3 XL phone like the prev runs (Garmin 520 plus arrived today, 4 iii powermeter arriving later this week).

Provide a link to the segment so that we can scrutinise said claims.

What do you want to see? anonymity on the internet something something..woops only 3% grade - mixed it up with the shorter version of the segment that's 4% 310 m where i averaged 53 kmh.

So you want us to help your defence but you won't provide the evidence in support of that?

Hmm ...

It's not even 400 metres either.

How many people have ridden it usually tells the tale.

You beat the KOM by nearly 20% (in terms of speed) - fine if it's some back alley that 20 people have ridden. If it's a normal sort of road with 1000 names on the leaderboard then we have ourselves a measurement problem.

Ok ok i just had to change my username from my real name..

short https://www.strava.com/segments/23383924
long https://www.strava.com/segments/17299911 (actual KOM 25s not showing up)

Ride where i got 25s https://www.strava.com/activities/3322366402

I've had the same before - I simply pointed them to my many other KoMs and sent over a pic of me in lycra. They backed off pretty quick then !

It’s not even 400 metres either.

But I rode faster than I said 👼

You beat the KOM by nearly 20% – fine if it’s some back alley that 20 people have ridden. If it’s a normal sort of road with 1000 names on the leaderboard then we have ourselves a measurement problem.

1457, but I disagree, the wattage of the top 3 isn't very high, not that hard to beat by 20% in good conditions with aero-ish gear if you're sprinter-esque. I'll do it again with the Garmin + heart rate + power 😉 Can probably get it lower if you hit the start of the segment at 65 km/h.

I’ve had the same before – I simply pointed them to my many other KoMs and sent over a pic of me in lycra. They backed off pretty quick then !

Powermove. Will start sending them nudes next.

Don't know. Doesn't seem unreasonable as its only a small hill and you could get a flying start.

It's only happened to me a couple of times. Last time I sent them a link to the national hill climb results 😉

Like who gives a cr@p, really? Strava is for Muppets. 😉

you went a 4km ride just smash a lame 400m kom? Its not a hugely impressive.
You really wear team sky tops? Poor lad. You're all whats wrong with cycling.

you went a 4km ride just smash a lame 400m kom? Its not a hugely impressive.
You really wear team sky tops? Poor lad. You’re all whats wrong with cycling.

So you admit it's a little impressive?!? 🤣

What's wrong with team sky?!

you seem to desperately seek validation

You do make me feel validated 💕

Its just not impressive.

A lot of people can go out very short rides doing what you do feeling fresh and sprinting along very short segments just to look cool with a kom.

Look at the person in second place. He got that time during a 42 mile long ride where he averaged 19.9mph Thats much more impressive than your results.

I've looked at your Strava logs and you don't actually seem to do all that much cycling, at least not while using Strava anyway.

Go on a 60 mile ride tomorrow, try average at least 19mph and include that segment towards the end of your route. Maybe you're super fit and fast and will smash it, maybe you wont. Point is no cares except you.

Best of luck

I’ve looked at your Strava logs

Warms my heart.

I just started using Strava (and recently got a roadbike etc, you can trace my journey through my ST profile next 😘).

But come on, the third place result is not at all impressive (either) regardless of being part of a longer 198w average.. ride: 573w for 29 seconds?

60 miles?? who got time for dat? Someone doing cycling correctly presumably.

TBH most of strava's users seem to be over the initial thrill of "KOM sniping" these days, doing pointless short rides solely to sprint for the lead on a random short segment.

KOMs feel a bit meaningless these days I'm more interested in interesting places people I know are riding and if they've undertaken a significant mileage...

60 miles?? who got time for dat?

Unfortunately lots of people at the moment...

If you've got time to argue with strava over a KOM you probably have time to plan and execute a longer ride...

Edit: I've also just strava-stalked you, your biggest ever ride is 17 miles? And so far this year for almost 83 hours of riding you've only clocked up 56 miles and less than 1200ft of climbing?!??

I'm not that bothered about competition, even on strava, but these ain't big dick swinging numbers. A cheeky KOM doesn't really hide the fact that you barely seem that interested in riding a bike, just interweb props. And buying power meters and other new toys won't magically imbue you with awesome cycling prowess either...
Ride your bike, clock up some miles ignore the leader boards.

Understand your privacy concerns as a kraut.

One reason why it may be flagged is because it looks like you're breaking the law travelling faster than the 50km/h speed limit and Strava doesn't want to encourage illegal activity. They disable segment leader boards on 'dangerous' bits of trail too.

This is an MTB forum, go ask your question on a lycra site

I got flagged for a 6th place which was a bit insulting... I'm hoping they flagged everyone in 1st to 5th also, otherwise have to assume that they knew me, and mh lack of abilities, and didn't believe I could get 6th place on a BMX pump track whilst riding my CX bike, beating Ruaridh Cunningham in the process 😁😎

...actually how do you respond to a flag anyway? I can't even find it now

A 25 second segment is a waste of time due to inaccuracies with GPS/recording.

The real news here is that you averaged 13mph on a ride of 6 miles. Were you stuck in your lowest gear?

Edit: I’ve also just strava-stalked you, your biggest ever ride is 17 miles? And so far this year for almost 83 hours of riding you’ve only clocked up 56 miles and less than 1200ft of climbing?!??

Just had a look and for me, that is a primary indicator of something dodgy. Barely any miles in the last year, then BOOM! KOM.

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Now, if I see a KOM and check the user's profile and see this (from a local KOM holder)...

I'd be thinking, "yeah that's probably legit..." (this guy has ridden 1900km this year along...).

Yours? not so much.

Wow, that ride does look awesome. Wish I had trails like that near me.

This is an MTB forum

Punchline of the day! 😂

SurfMatt, is that you?

Wow, that ride does look awesome. Wish I had trails like that near me.

So that’s what the back of the Nationwide Swindon looks like.

I got flagged for a 6th place which was a bit insulting... I'm hoping they flagged everyone in 1st to 5th also, otherwise have to assume that they knew me, and mh lack of abilities, and didn't believe I could get 6th place on a BMX pump track whilst riding my CX bike, beating Ruaridh Cunningham in the process 😁😎

Bet there isn't much else in your trophy cabinate.
Cracking ride that.

The real news here is that you averaged 13mph on a ride of 6 miles. Were you stuck in your lowest gear?

you do know the difference between a sprinter and an endurance specialist?

I had a YouTube live stream stopped for breeching community guide lines yesterday. I hadn't even turned on the audio so it was just me staring at the screen looking for the audio settings while students typed we can't hear you.

It's a harsh online world

Bet there isn’t much else in your trophy cabinate.
Cracking ride that.

Probably - but it's a start towards the real trophy cabinet, isn't it?

I used to do stuff like this on strava back in the day - actually very similar to the OP, power KOMs on busy segments. Made me realise I actually had power on the bike relative to others, so I started racing for real - do a lot of cyclocross and time trialling. (although still working on the trophy cabinet I have to admit - but it is very hard to win bike races).

POint is racing can seem like an unrealistic or intimidating prospect if you're just a strong bloke riding around, not in a cycling club so don't know other racers etc. Strava can definitely give you some confidence to try it.

Ironically the segment here which is short, GPS error-strewn, and round the corner from his house still shows that the OP has one of the most important things to do well at a road race - 30 second power. Way more important than mileage, or being fit enough to ride a long way at a hig average speed.

Way more important than mileage, or being fit enough to ride a long way at a hig average speed.
Yeah, we'll just ask everyone else to wait for him to catch up before the finish...

KOMs are fun, I don't care what anyone else says, it gives you the motivation to really hammer a section and practice all your best gurning and aero posturing. Without a KOM to chase you would just feel silly. And most of my rides are similar to the OPs e.g. easy spinning in Zone 2 with a couple of flat out sections. As I understand it that is basically polarised training 101 rather than ragging yourself for 5 hours in Zone 3 and needing to recover for ages without having actually made any useful gains.

Plus bragging rights, am nervously watching my boss slowly close in on one of my favourite cobble sections in Edinburgh city centre (although I'd actually lost the KOM ages ago).

I limit KOM chasing to sections which are fun to ride, so locally that includes a nice smooth but twisty farm road which is often subject to a decent tailwind, a similarly long rolling climb in a local estate (also quite often subject to tailwinds, see a theme here?) and some local flat gravel sections which are just loose and lumpy enough to make them challenging whilst still allowing you to basically get on top of a big gear and replay Paris-Roubaix fantasies in your head.

I think the OP is nuts to think it matters.
I also think some people on here are nuts to think it matters that he thinks it matters. It’s just a bit of fun.

you do know the difference between a sprinter and an endurance specialist?

I think I get it. 6 miles is in the endurance category as it is so, so far and the sprinter just competes in races that are 6 miles long and where everyone follows behind them waiting for their awesome sprint at the end.
Is that correct?

A sprinter runs to shops and stock piles on energy gels, endurance know they’ll be plenty of feed stations so take their time.

Go on a 60 mile ride tomorrow,

Then he'll get flagged by the lock-down curtain twitchers.

I've had a 30 mile road ride flagged for this reason. Abusive comments etc.

The speed profile is unnervingly stable through the section in comparison to others. A 10min warm up with no efforts/surges before putting out what would be over 1000 watts for 25secs also looks sus.

Come back after you have your power meter data on a ride. Its only really efforts with power meters for uphill/flat sections that feel trustworthy. Downhill, not so much as that's more of a skill/balls thing.

Editing .gpx data before uploading to strava is now so easy it makes me very suspicious of everything out of the ordinary.

20% !
Did you fit your GPS to a catapult mounted on your bars ?
Did you ride it on an electric bike ?

Looking at the evidence it does seem suspicious, not surprised it was flagged.

Actually, thats on a road, I reckon you hung onto the back of a bus 🙂

whether the OP is a bit sad, or a sad roadie short-KOM hunter, or a Sky fanboi, or whether the seg is too short, is not the point.

The question is why another Strava user has flagged his ride, and if this is justified.

32mph average on a short uphill seg is pretty quick but not impossible, with a tailwind, and the stats look legit (average is less than the max, for example, and the speed does fluctuate between 31 and 33) so it doesn't look like dodgy GPS, or in a car, so the flag appears to be some kind of someone-has-just-nicked-my-KOM (SHJNMK) problem, which is actually the sad bit of all this.

Tbh anyone that knows anything about road riding knows that those speeds are absolutely believable when you have the latest Chinese deep section wheels and knockoff skinsuit 🙂

As had been pointed out already, getting a Kom is actually pretty easy when it's the only effort you put in during a very short ride. That said, op is clearly happy with it, so that's the main thing.

Ironically the segment here which is short, GPS error-strewn, and round the corner from his house still shows that the OP has one of the most important things to do well at a road race – 30 second power. Way more important than mileage, or being fit enough to ride a long way at a hig average speed.

Except he’ll get pinged out the back of the group long before he gets to use it

and the speed does fluctuate between 31 and 33

Sort of - the speed jumps up a bit on the last 30m or so but its within 1.5kmh for the other 340m which is quite hard to do. With no cadence or power meter data and just a phone doing the gps tracking its all a bit vague. To be fair the other 1400 odd people were probably doing it on busier roads not in the middle of a pandemic so his ability to hold a virtually static speed for the bulk of it whilst no one else seems to is less odd. And it's just Strava so just a bit of fun for those that gaf.

As said most Strava users have long since grown up and don't look too much at the KOM leader boards. 1200-1350 of those riders of that segment will be completely unaware they are on one and are JRA. I tend to look at some of my longer climbs and compare them to my previous efforts as it 'might' give an indication of current fitness but for a couple of years I have had my privacy settings set to 'only me' so don't appear on any public boards. I only make my rides public once in a while when I've done something interesting to share with friends. Other than that I regard it as just spamming. Any friend who I follow who has their settings so that my feed is full of their dross ride to the shop and back etc gets unfriended as I can't be doing with that. It is a nice way to see what friends are up to though. That and personal data analysis is what Strava is for me now.

One reason why it may be flagged is because it looks like you’re breaking the law travelling faster than the 50km/h speed limit

Ah could be, most people seem to drive around 55 km/h. From wiki about germany: "There are two default speed limits: 50 km/h (31 mph) inside built-up areas and 100 km/h (62 mph) outside built-up areas"

A cheeky KOM doesn’t really hide the fact that you barely seem that interested in riding a bike, just interweb props.

This thread gives me a lot a joy! I've never been called out for cheating before or been blamed for having fun in the wrong way.

Let me explain, I just started using Strava, and only on occasion (i might take it a bit less serious than some people here have come to believe). Just built up a roadbike and previously rode a MTB exclusively. Not that I go for 60 mile rides.

What do people have against team sky?? Just got the sky one because a) it looks good b) it's rapha so presumably good quality c) it cost £15 used on ebay. I did not look for a sky jersey, but well happy with it! Go SKY ;p

Thanks for the support Gary, 13thfloormonk, reggie. I'll post some power data when I get the 4iii, seems you need it to get KOMs. All I have for now is some echo bike numbers, can prob get to >1500w on it with a few more tries.

Except he’ll get pinged out the back of the group long before he gets to use it

Sure, first few times. But anyone can train the strength to sit in a Cat 4 group if they really want to. A hard sprint is something you either have or you don't.

As said most Strava users have long since grown up and don’t look too much at the KOM leader boards.

hols2 - I genuinely think that - the vocal/visible minority might still care about KOMs but most don't. My 74 year old mother has a strava account ffs (I didn't do it for her - she found it all by herself!). And shares her ehybrid rides with her old duffer friends complete with photos of wild flowers she spotted on the way. I very much doubt she edits her rides to ebike either so feel free to report her. But if you get to feel better about yourself for beating her on any section you have a problem! That kind of use is more common than you'd think if your periscope on to the world was just through bike forums. The atypical 'Stravaaaa' battle cry caricature of a typical user stopped being relevant in about 2015. Since they added all the other functionality to the platform the KOM element is now effectively a bolt on for the vast vast majority. I'd say its not really what it's about anymore.

Oh but I do like the trend for offensively named segments which make you regret trying in the first place (which is the point I guess).

My friend recently got one called "Great big honking sweaty beef-flaps" and I got one ages ago (another cobbled section, I can't help myself) called "Sad cock wannabe street racer".

I think the suggestions at the time were to flag our own rides to have them removed 😀

What covert said ishowi use it now.

I can be arsed with seeing that someone has gone a 2miles family walk ? Or some prick having a bbq and putting strava on for a laugh. I had a cull a while back but you still get people putting a walk on that knowone is interested in.

Also reading this thread I am surprised how many strava pros there are still...

Best thread this year. Really made me laugh

1) koms are not important, it's prs that are. Race yourself, beat your own times. Build a data base so you can judge your fitness. I have a loop I do every year to see where my fitness stands.

2) the op is clearly enjoying himself, he likes researching and buying things, fair play to him.

3) if it makes him ride more getting a kom then great.

4) very brave (or stupid) to post a link to his strava

5) I'm impressed with his responses and the way he has taken the abuse. Most people on here would have flounced long ago. Perhaps a good flounce would have made this thread even more enjoyable.

Good luck op.

Please find another 400m segment close to your home and attack it and share your results with us. Or perhaps we should find one for you? 🤔😁

I’ll post some power data when I get the 4iii, seems you need it to get KOMs.

Eh???? Why on earth do You need a power meter to get a kom on strava? Dude you are taking this far far too seriously. As convert says, no one gives a shit about strava times, it's not real racing, because it's not a level playing field. It's a great tool for measuring how you compare against yourself, plus your mates, but what's the point of waiting for the right wind, getting your skin suit on, then going out for a 5 mile ride purely to break a Kom.. means nothing.

I'll give the example of a local hill to me, 1000 odd folks have done it, 2 national champs at top of leader board. I was out for a 10 mile Pootle the day before an event making sure bike worked. Hadn't broken a sweat and found myself at bottom of said climb, with strong wind behind. Smashed it for 2 min, got kom. Am I faster than the guys I'm ahead of, am I xxxx. They had all put in 60 mile hard rides. Any other normal ride I do I'm far slower up that hill.

As said most Strava users have long since grown up and don’t look too much at the KOM leader boards.

Paraphrased from:

"It turned out I'm mediocre middle aged mid-fitness mid-leaderboard, not even going to be good enough for making up the numbers cannon fodder in a cat4 race, so I just look at the PR's instead and given that there's so many duplicate segments I always get a PR somewhere"

I’ll give the example of a local hill to me

I applaud your choice to make the ride private and give back the KOM. 🙂

I applaud your choice to make the ride private and give back the KOM. 🙂

Didn't actually realise I could do that! It's over a year ago now, I no longer have it! I will regain it though..just waiting for the right wind and my tt helmet to arrive..

31 seconds of indoor bike POWAH!??!???

How could anyone doubt your prowess?
I take back all my previous comments. And just as soon as the UCI get round to ratifying the "Rolling start, 350m bridge sprint" as a competitive event you're going to be a champion... or at least top 10.

I think your original question has now been answered in a round about way, you got flagged because anyone who spends a minute looking at you're stats on Strava discovers someone who apparently doesn't really ride a bike and then suddenly turfs out 1000W+ to score interweb points on a minute segment, it simply looks suspect... Take it or leave it.

Of course I believe Strava have their own forums too if you want a second opinion, you could go and whine on there if you like. You could also complain about how the tubby mountain bikers of STW didn't take you seriously despite you owning a used Sky jersey and murdering the Watts out of a stationary gym bike for over half a minute...
There's a whole wide interweb of strangers to vaguely perturb, so crack on buddy.

Nah. It's Germany, so he got flagged because the road has a 50kmh limit and there's a cycle path running alongside.

Sub one minute Strava segments shouldn't count for shit due to the likelihood of increased timing errors and most of all the pointlessness of them.

Please find another 400m segment close to your home and attack it and share your results with us. Or perhaps we should find one for you? 🤔😁

Haha, be my guest - I found a hillsprint just over 1 minute..Hills are hard to come by here and seems like level sprints aren't ideal re safety and speed limits. Maybe if you go a bit further into the boonies where it's 100 km/h.

Eh???? Why on earth do You need a power meter to get a kom on strava? Dude you are taking this far far too seriously. As convert says, no one gives a shit about strava times, it’s not real racing, because it’s not a level playing field. It’s a great tool for measuring how you compare against yourself, plus your mates, but what’s the point of waiting for the right wind, getting your skin suit on, then going out for a 5 mile ride purely to break a Kom.. means nothing.

I’ll give the example of a local hill to me, 1000 odd folks have done it, 2 national champs at top of leader board. I was out for a 10 mile Pootle the day before an event making sure bike worked. Hadn’t broken a sweat and found myself at bottom of said climb, with strong wind behind. Smashed it for 2 min, got kom. Am I faster than the guys I’m ahead of, am I xxxx. They had all put in 60 mile hard rides. Any other normal ride I do I’m far slower up that hill.

You need a power meter to prove your KOM is real apparently! Plus it's fun and can in some cases show if you got a KOM from tailwind ("behind wind") alone.

Real racing a level playing field? lol. Strava is as level if you're talking KOMs, they're nearly always in ideal conditions i.e. strong tailwind where it's wimdy, but I guess if you really wanted to che..win you'd get lead out at hit it at 65 km/h. (Had a good laugh about the group that used lead outs to just beat that Strava troll's time..).

I don't have a skin suit, I just have a normal jersey. Don't even have an aero helmet, shoe covers, shaved legs or gobble baking soda before I head out - lots of KOMs left on the table :S

Good job on the hill, post your strava too - It's surprisingly entertaining!

You could also complain about how the tubby mountain bikers of STW didn’t take you seriously despite you owning a used Sky jersey and murdering the Watts out of a stationary gym bike for over half a minute…
There’s a whole wide interweb of strangers to vaguely perturb, so crack on buddy.

I'll link to the thread in the follow up from Strava. Whine?! I wasn't whining I was "humblebragging" - it's the opposite!

Made my day this thread 🙂 Props to op for taking it on the chin too. It’s bike riding it’s all for fun 😊

Everyone knows the only KOM's that matter are DH Gnarrrrrr KOM's

I'm with the OP. Been on Strava since 2010 (just checked) and I still get excited about KOMs.

I guess we've all changed

Everyone knows the only KOM’s that matter are DH Gnarrrrrr KOM’s

A few years ago he would have been abused for being a roadie and going for an uphill strava kom.

A lot of us now have road bikes or some description, gravel, hybrid etc

It's a bit of fun and as long as no-one takes it too seriously there's no harm in KOMs. Once saw a guy motor pacing up box hill, he's open to any abuse going.