Only a mild brag, as it's downhill (no chance of me getting a proper one), isn't particularly technical and was back in the day of triple chainrings
However, was just browsing Strava last night and noticed I've got one from 2014 with circa 7.5k attempts from 2.5k people - was surprised
I'm 50 now and break easily, so stopped chasing Strava KOM's a while ago
Genuinely no idea. I had a few of those auto-generated ones that Strava was doing - on routes no one else had recorded anything - and now I'm not a subscriber so I can't even look.
I might still have one on the road up to Cairngorm. I set it when the road was closed and did it the "wrong" way round the one-way system 🙂
About 8 years, descent in Burgundy, I'm a fair bit clear of anyone and it's more a roadie area.
The person I expect to beat it is my lad next time we're there lol
My best is a 1/286 from 2015 on a short, steep downhill bit where timing is notoriously fickle because it's a relatively short segment. Took me a few goes to get it back when I cared about such things, and I was swapping KOMs with a mate every other week. Three days after I got my best time, they put bollards half way down making it almost impossible to beat, so that one is set in stone.
Also have one on the canal in Leeds before they demolished the old path and built another. Unless you're on a speedboat, that one's safe too.
I appreciate that these are both ridiculous, but the whole concept behind Strava segments is too, so I feel quite proud to wear these medals.
I've got a few from 2013 / 2014.
One of them, I used to get regular notifications that it had been not just beaten but absolutely smashed. It turned out that MTBers were parking at the pub (where the KOM started) and then at the end of their ride, they'd stop there for a while for post-ride beers, put the bikes in/on cars and drive off down the road - always a bit of a giveaway when a MTB ride with an average speed of 8mph suddenly averages 22mph up a slight climb!
I was joint first place with Ian Stannard (yes, the former Team Sky pro) on a descent for a long time following a tailwind assisted descent for me. It was beaten a while ago by another pro rider but having me sit there 3rd underneath two WorldTour pros isn't bad going. You do need a massive tailwind (or a motorbike!) as well as a full on sprint to come close to the time that's set and most people won't ever give it full gas down there.
A 15 second one descending some hairpins on tarmac. 26K attempts from 6.5K people. And that wasn't even my best time on it, which got flagged by some jealous roadie, just because I was apparently going at 70mph on it. 🙂
A 4km flat haul through the Lee Valley Park from 10 years ago.
Closely followed by a 7km descent (with 700m drop) into Chatel from 2013. I suspect that might have been a special section from the Passportes that was closed afterwards though.
I worked on getting a KOM for years and finally got it in 2018, a 5 minute climb (well, 4m24 actually 🙂 ). It went last summer, some actual good rider knocked 20s of that time. I'm not sure if I'll get it back this year.
28th May 2011 - Welsh Ride Thing.
A487 Climb
Ride Segment Dolgellau, Gwynedd, United Kingdom
Distance 1.02mi
Avg Grade 8.5%
Lowest Elev 766ft
Highest Elev 1,224ft
Elev Difference 458ft
Climb Category 4
The one I accidentaly got while driving the car.
Haha, just looking at my KOM page again and five of my 12 are just variations on the same descent.
At least it's one of the best at Rivington though - and I got most of them last month on my new bike.
In 2018, when I was ride leading on a LEJOG, someone set that entire day as a segment which (somehow!) I got KOM on. The segment is 113 miles and that exact route is not used any more by the ride. It would take an absolute miracle for anyone to ever find that full segment and ride it so that one is safe.
I've got one along a new road before it was opened to traffic as well so that one is safe. Cyclists can't ride it now; there's a cycle lane just off to one side but far enough away that the GPS knows it's not the same route.
Godlingston/9 barrow down descent on the Purbecks, had it since 2013 though recently updated my fastest time, currently 1st out of 6034 people.
May 13 2012, uphill too. Not sure I could do it again 10 years on!
Have just noticed I lost the random road segment KOM near Ullapool that I earned whilst being chased by a large group at the front of the Ullapool Sportive (I had set off first as had to get home early and all the fast boys must have set off five minutes later and mercilessly chased me down).
Have few local ones that are actually decent segments in their own right that I'm quite proud of, but they all trend towards obscure gravel or twisty unpleasant minor roads that nobody else appears willing to risk the punctures on 😁
Longest standing is my favourite though as it's a reasonable segment very close to Edinburgh, slight downhill so I guess doesn't count but it's still a good length lumpy farm track, requires full commitment on the pedals, and the only reason I got it was because of a big old tailwind and *just* the right bike setup (XC 29er with fast gravel tyres). I didn't even stop when a big dip in the track bounced my phone out of my pocket, had to go back for it after. That's stood for 3 years now and I can see some of local luminaries have tried and fallen short so it could stand for a while longer, or until the next big easterly at least 😎
Running: I have a joint first for a segment on a parkrun course I got in 2015 that has 117,758 attempts by 5,600 people. It's not because I'm very fast (I'm not), I must have just paced that particular part of the run spectacularly optimistically 😀 !
Cycling: nothing very long-standing, but I poached a few busy road descents in Covid with zero traffic that I think will stand the test of time unless someone goes out at 2am.
This isn't in the traffic-dependent category, but I do have a road descent KOM from 2020 that has had 59,964 attempts by 10,682 people.
That time in August 2020 when I beat Sepp Kuss up Mount Lemmon.
Had one from my commuting days, a 44s sprint on a 0.1% downhill. Didn't even know it existed until Strava mentioned it.
The bit that made me smile about it was, I'd done it on my CX bike with 35mm semi slicks and a pannier on the back. The road was frequented by quite a few local club riders, one of which eventually took the KOM by 1 second. I was genuinely surprised it took them so long
That time in August 2020 when I beat Sepp Kuss up Mount Lemmon
Hahaha 🤣
n 2018, when I was ride leading on a LEJOG, someone set that entire day as a segment which (somehow!) I got KOM on.
Ah - pretty sure I also have the KOM on NCN78.
I've still got the KOM for the 2011 Mayhem lap. I think that one is pretty safe.
Oldest is from June 2012, a road segment near me with 6,000 individual attempts on it.
I can't see the Veloviewer stats right now but I'm sure I still have one at Penmachno from about 2014 which has 20,000+ attempts.
No way I'd ever get either nowadays although I still pick up the odd obscure MTB KOM.
July 2018, and I'm really chuffed about it*. Fair enough it's only had 60 attempts by 52 folk as it's an off-piste/unmarked trail in Les Arcs starting between Arcs 1800 and 1600, ending towards the valley floor, but it's an absolute belter of a trail. 4.2km with 629m of descent, 14m 11s and nobody within a minute of me. I'm not even that good a rider and certainly didn't expect a KOM riding out there, especially as I've only ridden it a few times.
* really chuffed as, until I checked 5 mins ago, I didn't know I had any KOMs other than a few climbs locally on my commute 🙂
My proudest one I suppose it's a segment named after me - jawbreaker. I came off and faceplanted a rock, chasing a KOM 🤣
Didn't realise until last night, I have the KOM on the E-bike too (different segment name, as it's an ebike segment)
most of the long-standing KOMs around here are short, in the woods, and obvious GPS glitches. on some its really hard to figure out where the bogus results stop and the proper ones start (singletrack near-ish to fireroads for example) so its hard to get a feel for how quick you really are
Didn’t even know I had any until I checked. I’ve got a few very local gravel ones which don’t really have people chasing dating back to 2015 when I first got my gravel bike and Strava and went record hunting. I’m sure I could beat them now but too much walker / dog traffic to really bother. On Mtb and road I’ve got no chance round here, most segments usually run into the 10s of thousands of riders (Richmond Park, Surrey Hills, Swinley etc) and there’s loads of very fast riders around and I’m happy with top 10-20%.
I’ve got a mate who is a decent level roadie who sometime looks for segments to KOM, but says most of the road ones are done by club riders chain ganging.
'Sir William Hill to Hathersage Station', 4.02km
1 / 13301 riders from 2013,
Along with 'Calver Sough to Hathersage', 6.93km
1 / 9596 riders from same ride in 2013
Regularly beaten by car drivers who ride from Calver I guess and leave Strava on.
Not used Strava in years but Just had a quick look - I still hold 38 from around 2012/13 when I was actually quite good.
I can't see me ever losing my 3 oldest. Two are random mtb race laps from 2012 and it would be really odd for someone to ride them now. The other is a lap of Newcastle's Town Moor but I think there is a fence in the way so you wouldn't naturally go the same way anymore.
A proper one though, made me smile. Its a climb. Not the KOM that ammused me but the ride title - I was riding gravel before it was a thing.
https://www.strava.com/activities/22774871#406647424
22/09/2012 Bellingham Blast Sort of off road cx sportive thing
I have loads of big uphill offroad KOM's dating back to 10 years ago or circa the dawn of the Strav explosion. It amuses me greatly that mostly the only occasions I seem to get those annoying emails is when an Ebikerist goes quicker...and the reason it amuses me is that I'm in my late 40's and have spent half my life with debilitating health problems, and am nowhere near as fit or fast as I was in my 20's/30's. My younger self would have run circles around my current self, so where's all the young fast riders these days? Certainly not in my local area, have they all gone wet or are kids these days only fast downhill?... Obviously anything fast pre-Strava may as well not count.
col de courtlands | Strava Ride Segment in Tavistock, England, United Kingdom
2013. 8s. lost it for a bit when someone reported me so I did it again and then challenged the report.
although there now appears to be a QKOM...
‘Sir William Hill to Hathersage Station’, 4.02km1 / 13301 riders from 2013
Fair play on that one, some big local hitters in the top 10 there.
September 2013, one of the descents in Swinley (shudder). Still 1st out of 37k people.
I can’t imagine I will ever go back to try and better it 😆
Funnily enough, I Was just looking yesterday.
Haldon red 2nd descent (about 1.5km) - 2012 - joint 1st of about 13.5k.
Before they removed them as too dangerous, I was 13th out of 5,482 for the full descent of Sa Calobra in Mallorca which I was pretty pleased with. Averaged 32.3mph for 6.2 miles which included overtaking 2 tour coaches 🙂
My oldest KOM is from July 2013, but it is only 1/48 for an 8.6 mile route so clearly not the most popular route in South Oxfordshire
This one in the Beacons from 2013.
The whole surface of the descent was absolutely prime back then so there's very little chance of it ever being beaten. I did have the KOM for the top section of the descent too but a few people have beaten that since then stopped to look at the dam!
No way I’d ever get either nowadays although I still pick up the odd obscure MTB KOM.
A lot of the ones I've had over the years have been pretty obscure. They never show up on Segment Explorer, you only ever chance across it by riding it and Strava telling you that you've ridden it. Many years ago, I (quite by chance) did a convoluted road loop and when I uploaded it, got a 2nd on some long figure of 8 segment.
It must have been a local rider's regular training loop because he was the only person who'd ever ridden it and he'd obviously created it for his own records. It would never show up on Explorer as it was too long.
Anyway, I went back the next night and rode it again, getting KOM by about 2 or 3 minutes. Still got it and we remain the only two riders who have ever ridden it. Poor guy.
I've lost most of mine, aprt from three I created on routes I ride regularly. Two of those have only ever been attenpted by me, the third has 119 Attempts By 3 People
I held one for about 6 years on a cable car at Les Arcs 🙂 They must have had a power surge that day or something.
If it’s off-road and named after the nearest road then you know it’s an obscure one. I think early days they had an auto-generation function to increase the number of segments.
One from May 2020,the ground was firm, the bracken was low and the army weren't hassling people about riding on "their" land. Its only got 1 attempt this year and is slowly being reclaimed by the woods, so it might be a keeper.
September 2013, one of the descents in Swinley (shudder). Still 1st out of 37k people
Which segment? Looking at some of the times on the DH sections I struggle to believe that the top ones aren’t gps glitches. Just looking one KOM is around 25s to my 45s, which is clearly glitched.
I held the innerleithen pushup path KOM for an incredibly long time- one day I just absolutely smashed up it on my xc bike without really thinking 🙂 The person who took it off me was properly strava-bagging too.
I have a lucky one: on the segment there are two gates that need to be opened. When I got the KoM there just happened to be pedestrians opening each gate as I approached, which was enough for me to get a great time.
Nobody will beat it unless they:
a) have the same luck, or
b) arrange to have mates keeping the gates open for them as they ride through.
Anyway, it's been mine for about 5 years now.
I held the innerleithen pushup path KOM for an incredibly long time- one day I just absolutely smashed up it on my xc bike without really thinking 🙂 The person who took it off me was properly strava-bagging too.
I had Jacob's Ladder climb for a long time as well. Famous segment in the Peak District with many many threads about which way is best to ride it and a number of famous attempts to clear the climb in one go (Nick Craig has done it a couple of times).
It's a brutal climb, you won't clear it unless it's absolutely free of walkers and you're very very fit and technically good (or on an ebike...)
Anyway, I went out there on the CX one day, shouldered the bike and properly went for it, running all the way up the hill. Got it by a few seconds.
Glasgow - up in park circus
‘Park circus velodrome’ 😂 I set the record in 2014 I think. Still stands today.
Not sure if I could even equal it now tbh
a number of famous attempts to clear the climb in one go (Nick Craig has done it a couple of times).
Yeah, remember reading about Nick doing it in MBUK (or whichever mag) at the time. The concept of someone actually being able to ride all the way up it is just beyond comprehension for me
Longest standing: The Allalinhorn from the valley. Just happened to be 4000m bagging and couldn't be bothered with the faff. Had that since like 2015.
Most proud: scalping WVA on the puig major in Mallorca.
It's been all downhill since there (and not fast enough for any KOMs).
Longest standing is one from July 2013, bit only ever 4 attempts!
Quite a few from 2015. Just noticed I am KOM and QOM is Nicola Rees off BBC yorkshire look north. So that's got to be worth something.
I've got a few locally where I'm 2/3/4 seconds infront of 1k plus riders.
The best ones though are where I am a second or 2 ahead of pidders, who is in at #2 behind me 🙂
He's completely smashed the arse out of other segments I'm on though, so I'm being a bit selective with my victories here
A 30sec windy path on a strip of field in Slack near Heptonstall.
Given that Hebden is a huge honeypot area for mountain biking, I was actually pretty chuffed to even close let alone a KOM. some one came along and took 3 secs off it after a few weeks
I've held this one for 10 years although someone equalled it a couple of years ago. Fastest out of nearly 13000 people 🙂
https://www.strava.com/segments/980280
Have had this one for 10 years too...
From 1st May 2015 commuting home off road "wind assisted kom attempt on valley alley", 0.45 miles, 34' descent + 25' ascent, 1:18 in the deepest darkest depths of Thanet.
I've got a few running ones from 2004, but there're in the middle of nowhere and only been run about 20 times. (But I wasn't a bad runner back then, when I was young.)
2009 - BS, before Strava, but I dumped my Garmin onto Strava when I joined. Slightly GPS glitchey I would say, but then so are all the other 'fast' times - it's got a level crossing on it at the start which isn't automated, so you have to open the gate. Suspect a lot of older KoMs are glitchey.
My oldest legit is 2016 - 1/17000! Massive tailwind obvs. It's a bikepath next to a railway, so inevitably it's 'beaten' every now and again by someone on the train.
Had one for 18 minutes does that count
I still have one from 2014, a descent. I got a few times around then within a second of it, haven't got anywhere near it since.
ETA it has eroded a bit now, not as easy. Also, not really a sensible descent to go flat out on in all the circs. It isn't steep or technical, but there might be traffic coming the other way.
The oldest is from May 2011, and only 3 people have ever ridden it, which considering where it is, is a surprise. The one I suspect will last longest follows the trackbed of a railway line, it was being relaid at the time and being used as a diversion.
I've got three KOMs but the segments were all created by me and are very obscure sections very few people actually ride but were regular rides for me.
In fact, for two of them, I'm the only person to record anytime. The third is more popular and 118 riders have ridden it so I'm pleased I'm still KOM 😃
My best "Strava moment" though was back in 2012 when I beat Catherine Pendrel (Canadian xc Olympian and all round fast girl) on Cheshire Cat in Squamish. (I think I was third fastest time back then)
Then I looked at her route when she set her fastest time and, whereas I'd shuttled the ride and was fresh, she was half way around a 75km haul around most of Squamish many trails systems...
I've since dropped back to 272 whereas Catherine is now QOM and two minutes faster than me...
I had one on energy section of whites level in Afan from 2010. Something like 15000 attempts, until late last year I think and someone grabbed it from me
QOM - 2013, a 2.75kilometre flat stretch of road in Salford. My ride, it seems, was simply labelled "commute". Only 87 other women have recorded it on strava.
Got a few across Port du Soleil: Chavannes (of 6500), Golf, Jurassic, Green in Les Gets, Super Morzine backdoor, Mossettes to Morgins all in 2013.
Then about 5 around Meribel/Courchevel 2015/16.
I'm probably a bit (lot) slower these day.
April 2015. Currently joint 1st of 24,629 !
(Ticks all the spurious boxes: only 33 sec on a road descent, slightly dodgy surface and then gravel & often water/mud on the blind corner at the bottom. I've done it loads, never really trying for the KOM as it's a bit too scary but one day I obviously went into it with a following wind which sped up the top half)
I assume it's been flagged as hazardous since it doesn't show on my KoM list
Excepting the spurious ones, mine's only from 2019 - a gnarly 1km downhill but there's only 72 people in total that have done it.
The QOM is a few seconds ahead of me - a local lass that just placed mid-range in the U23 Albstadt.
Pretty sure I could beat her if I had a full suspension bike 😛
We always seem to be within a few seconds of each other on downhill segments... but i once copied an 80km training ride and finished it an hour slower than her!
A couple of years ago a local reservoir was drained to raise the dam wall. I did a ride with the kids and another family and we rode across some of the reservoir floor. For a laugh i put a segment in there so an 8 year old girl has the CR!
Had one for 18 minutes does that count
Absolutely. Put it on your CV!
Don't have any, last one was lost to some old lady who was clearly on an ebike.
My oldest is the original Old Pale track in Delamere Forest, top half. Managed to nab it in 2017. The FC have since destroyed the top section so it’ll stand forever.
Picked one up on the local flow trail in Austria last year, got a feeling Danny Hart wasn’t quite going flat out!
Slowing down now in my old age so don’t think I’ll ever get near another.
Got one from 2015, out of 115 people. The other ones are my old commute.
QOM's of course and it's Jun 2015 surprisingly and it's swoop and slide in the Wyre Forest. Happily I've had and held the 3 bears trail in the Wyre Forest since July 2015 as well. I've actually got 20 pages worth of them as well apparently.
I have one left, held since 2015, a 3/4 mile descent which starts as a landrover track then turns into a sunken lane with lots of rubble.
Gap to next fastest is over 1/2 minute but it's only been ridden 10 times as it's in a remote part of the Auvergne and there's a parallel track which joins onto it at the best bit which is what most people ride - I'm not anywhere near the top 10 on that one ! 🙁
I used to have over half a dozen on the descents round there but lost all of them over lockdown, hopefully will get a chance to regain a few of them in June 🙂
May '17 just after I bought my first road bike following my Xmas '13 RTA, I only discovered Strava in Sept '16, after finding the Nexus 7 '13 tablet I'd had a few years could install and run various tracking apps... Bit weighty/bulky in the back jersey pocket!
Segmentninja.com was a brilliant concept back in the day for highlighting segments where the wind was very favourable to attempt a KOM, back in March I climbed Road To Hell and got a monster tailwind on the final flat section before the climb summit, topped the table doing 32.7mph for 70secs doing just 257W... The 610mm stack aero brick position probably helped! 😆
the only way I get KOMs is to create stupidly long segments that no one else is daft enough to do....or if they are they dont know its a segment and take it easy. Last one was up Pyms Chair all 3 ways...a 30mile loop taking in around 1700 climbing.
slightly annoyed when someone else accidentally took it 🙂
I have 3 KOMS : 2 from 2011 and the other 2012
1 - 8000 attempts by 2000 people
2- 17000 attempts by 4800 people
3 - 36400 attempts by 391 people
Pretty chuffed with that
I have some KOMs in a random rural french forest from 2013...not sure Strava is as big over there as it is here...
I'm down to ten or so shite ones by which I mean no more than 50 or so people have tried. The good ones don't last long. My best and only road one, at that time something over 1000 people, lasted an evening, i.e, till another member of the group that towed me got home from the pub and uploaded. I think I've dropped off the leader board now.
random rural french forest from 2013
I've a couple, perhaps only one now, from years ago on Pic du Nord in the montagnes Noire. I think I had a wee halfway through, stopping to do so I hasten to add, so it shouldn't be too hard if anyone wants to go nab it?
I've got one in my local woods from July 2013. That's beatable but other one's I have there will probably stand forever. They've put gravel paths in and turned part into a children's statue walk thing. You can still ride the path but not pick a line through the trees on rock hard baked adobe.
4 (Allegedly) 2020/16x2/14 Though TBH I think sketchy GPS is to blame, especially as ones a segment at Degla!
Weirdly I looked at this the other day. I’ve got [url= https://www.strava.com/segments/21491207 ]this[/url] one which I think actually predates Strava, but when I signed up it just uploaded all my old GPX files off my Garmin. So July 2010. It’s also my ‘best’ according to Veloviewer!
None, as most of my riding is Tweed Valley/Dunkeld and usually a KOM (or even a top 10) in most of these places usually means your a pro rider due to the popularity of these trails and the number of races that go on in these places.
I do have a few top 50s in Dunkeld and Thornilee though.
