[Closed] How to deal with E-Bikes on Strava Segments

Yes, I’m a Strava bore. I ride alone a lot and use it to challenge myself.

This is your answer here... everything else is someone else.

So whats the Massive’s way of dealing with this

By not giving a s**t.

set up private segments and you'll only be challenging yourself...

Just keep flagging the rides.

A few people I know with ebikes have complained that there aren't as many ebike segments as Strava hasn't copied the segments over, they have started with a blank map. I guess it will get these soon enough as people add them, just like at the beginning of Strava

It can be annoying. I managed to get 2nd on a 2 minute climb by beating all the local riders who have good times everywhere (the same people are om the top ten on most segments)
My average speed was 11mph up the climb. The rider with the KoM averaged 16.5 mph up the climb so clearly on an eBike and annoying that I have missed a KoM (I don't have that many!)

I must admit i have never been bothered or cared about e-bikes, i have always been of the view that whatever gets you out and about and you enjoy is all good. But it did get on my goat a bit a few weekends a go when we did an event in Cotswolds with some big old climbs, where you are breathing out of your posterior (well i am) by halfway up, and all you keep hearing is "can i come past", "on your right" when the trail isn't two bikes wide, only to be past by someone 4 stone lighter and 15 years younger on an e-bike.

But competing 'only' against yourself defeats the whole point of Strava, may as well just not use it at all- and go back to a stopclock (used to do that 20 years ago to train for XC). I want to see how fast it's possible for a normal rider to get up a climb vs other riders. Ebikes are so fast it's actually no competition.

i deal with it by not giving a **** .

what got my goat was when i had rides flagged by others for using an Ebike when infact i was using a TT bike and working bloody hard.

thanks 'tomnavman' this explains it "A few people I know with ebikes have complained that there aren’t as many ebike segments as Strava hasn’t copied the segments over, they have started with a blank map. I guess it will get these soon enough as people add them, just like at the beginning of Strava"

So the EBikers don't compete on the existing segments, they have to make new one's. Makes sense now. That seems like a Strava flaw they need to rectify- surely would'nt be hard to seperate the data into two streams per segment as they do it for QOM/KOM anyway .

I'm rarely anywhere near the top of leaderboards, I consider a good time to be top 20%, which round here is often top 500! A handful of e-bikes in the top ten doesn't really impact this.

Besides, all the cool kids are on komoot now. No segments, and geared towards long rides so naturally excludes e-bikes unless they're going out carrying spare batteries.

So the EBikers don’t compete on the existing segments, they have to make new one’s. Makes sense now. That seems like a Strava flaw they need to rectify- surely would’nt be hard to seperate the data into two streams per segment as they do it for QOM/KOM anyway .

I suppose the counter argument is, is there much point in an uphill or flat e-bike segment, other than to flag up who's de-restricted their bike so just porting over all the segments would give lots of pointless segments.

I thought ebikes had their own category on Strava anyway and didn't count towards KOMs? If Strava are setting up an ebike version then it's up to riders to add segments for it.

WGAF

As a Strava user for a good few years, i do think its a shame as the offroad side of cycling was more immune to cheating on segments so to speak but ebikes are ruining that.

Im fully expecting this thread to be full of 'its only strava, its not real' etc etc but i do/did enjoy seeing how i was doing relative to others....yes, it might not be real but its been around so long now that there's enough of a sample on each segment that you do get a idea how you're doing relatively

I think people will always try to cheat, Ebikes as well as normal bikes. I know people who pre ride a section, move the trail debries, open the gates, wait for a tail wind, take a run up, cut the corners etc.

But I suppose using a battery powered motor is even worse.

Other than flagging it up I dont think there is a solution.

Eventually as more a more people have started to use Strava fewer and fewer of us end up at the top. If your local riding spot is the same as some fast privateer or pro rider you are doomed. Or you end up making a tiny segment just for you to win at.

Ultimately its all pointless - best fun I have had is racing my mates, not the internet.

But competing ‘only’ against yourself defeats the whole point of Strava

There is no "whole point of Strava" - they market it a bit as though it's a competition but there are always variables that can't be controlled and make it pretty much bollocks as such

You said that you like a nice tailwind to collect a KoM so how's that "fair" to others who ride on a calm day, or a headwind ?
As trailrat says, he sometimes does rides on a TT bike which likely makes him faster than a comparable ride on a road bike. How's that "fair" ?
I'm in about tenth on a 20 minute loop near me. Above me is one lone rider and then the local chain-gang. Poor me 🙄 . Then again, I've ridden it about 20 times; how's that "fair" to people who don't know it so well ?
Restricted e-bikers may be beaten by derestricted e-bikes. How's that "fair" ?

Wow if you genuinely care about a KOM on strava that's pretty damn sad, if winning matters it needs to be a level playing field so go enter a race and get a proper trophy. I get using strava for personal use it's a great tool for that but really no one gives a shit about it lol

I do use both my ebike and normal bike on strava and do remember most of the time to change the ebike ride to the proper setting, however it may get missed at times as it's just not that important. I do also like to see the comparison between the two and I can only do that if they are set as the same ride, and as above I'd like strava to move the sections over as there are very few for ebikes still. I do add some as I go along but there's way too many to do them all.

But ultimately it's just strava, I guess people like to gain recognition from people they don't know and in that respect it's no different to any other social media platform

I treat the KOMs as an arbitrary target, if I am close. That's it. I can see the point about losing KOMs to e bikes, although I'd shrug it off.

However this:

But it did get on my goat a bit a few weekends a go when we did an event in Cotswolds with some big old climbs, where you are breathing out of your posterior (well i am) by halfway up, and all you keep hearing is “can i come past”, “on your right” when the trail isn’t two bikes wide, only to be past by someone 4 stone lighter and 15 years younger on an e-bike.

Get over yourself. Why on earth would.you give a shit about this? Do you get upset when cars overtake you on road? Talk about fragile masculinity! Even when they're not on the same vehicle type you still get upset? You really need to ask yourself why you feel this way.

I've never been one for Strava and my settings are locked down to be private anyway, but was amazing to looks at events like Paris-Roubaix or Tour of Flanders, were you'd ride on saturday then watch the pros ride on the Sunday, then just marvel at the sheer pace they ride.

But as others have said, i find it best to see how i'm improving, so the only competition is with myself.

If you really want to compare how good you are with others, then go and race, same day head to head...

Wow if you genuinely care about a KOM on strava that’s pretty damn sad, if winning matters it needs to be a level playing field so go enter a race and get a proper trophy. I get using strava for personal use it’s a great tool for that but really no one gives a shit about it lol

But ultimately it’s just strava, I guess people like to gain recognition from people they don’t know

People like different things and if you don't like that aspect of Strava so what, doesn't make anyone who does "pretty damn sad" or mean they are trying to gain recognition from people they don't know. I don't want to enter a race, I am happy riding on my own and enjoy the KoM aspect of strava.

Why on earth would.you give a shit about this? Do you get upset when cars overtake you on road? Talk about fragile masculinity!

Mols, I think it's the bit about them struggling up a climb that's too narrow for overtaking and others expecting to come past - there's prob a hint of hyperbole in there but the point is fair enough

How do you like cars overtaking you when it's too narrow ?

GPS error, wind, trail conditions, and various other things all make Strava positions a bit arbitrary anyway. Use it to compare against yourself ( which is still flawed for the above reasons). If you want to really see where you stack up against others then enter a race.

"If you want to really see where you stack up against others then enter a race" - yeah I know Strava bears no relation to racing. I've been riding for 30 years, used to race, done epic events, have nothing to prove and no interest in racing again at the moment - but Strava is a bit of fun for a lot of people and good for motivation to keep fit, even within the margin of error mentioned above. But these Ebikes are so fast in a long grindy MTB climb scenario that it makes any comparison pointless.

So whats the Massive’s way of dealing with this

By not giving a s**t.

This needs moar views... 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤗✊

Cheers Molgrips, i'm safe in my masculinity thanks, the issue was that whilst i was actually riding up the hill and these are narrow bridleways, it isn't a great deal of fun having someone constantly buzzing your back wheel and wanting to get past, they are ones that are not prepared to wait and expecting others to get out of their way, i fail to see how that is my issue?

As i said i have no issue with people riding e-bikes, my issue when they are clearly faster up a climb is them then not being prepared to wait til the next appropriate time to get past and just expecting you to get out of the way as they are faster, and it wasn't just once, i had the same couple of guys kept doing it as one had the bladder of pea, they'd stop, then steam past, i'd ride past them as they were stopped again, they'd then blast past.

I used to race a bit, and you don't mind faster riders indicating they want past, but this wasn't a race.....

It's not sad at all. Report them.

It's a challenge to make you work hard.

They're the sad ones.

Tail wind is fair game, it's relevant in racing so why not in Strava?

Know thy enemy

Strava could improve this massively by having an ebike flag or category when you add a bike in "My Gear". Then when you do a ride with that bike it could be set as ebike automatically.

Currently you have to set each ride to be an ebike ride and it's not surprising that lots of people either aren't aware or can't be bothered.

Just care about the downhill, that's where the funs at 😉.
And no ebike is taking one of my ahem 3 downhill 🤴🤴🤴

My average speed was 11mph up the climb. The rider with the KoM averaged 16.5 mph up the climb so clearly on an eBike and annoying that I have missed a KoM (I don’t have that many!)

Don't they cut out at 15 so the KoM holder would have just been lugging a big heavy lump up hill at that point? (or it's derestricted so why they'd do 16.5mph is beyond me)

Ultimately the thing with ebike and strava is, for those who haven't noticed, strava isn't "for" mtb, its about road bikes and roadies and road riding. Up most hills a quick roadie will hold more than the restriction speed of an e bike if they're bothered to do so, though it might include falling over at the top, but that's where pacing your ride comes in.
Off road 15mph up hill is going some but, rather than moaning about ebikes this might be the point to (again) moan to strava about not having mtb as a separate category.

But really yeah, don't worry about it, if you're convinced they're on an ebike ignore them, unless your KoM is actually bragging rights down the pub it's only your pride so 2nd to an ebike e is just as good as first without. It's not your career, you're not getting a medal for it and, if you're rarely challenging that end of the leader board it's not because you're bafflingly quick on one segment.

Eg. There are a few segments round here that the tour came through and the TdY, I'm not bothered to see I'm not competing with those folks and much as I'd be happy to be near their coat tails I'm old enough and wise enough to realise I don't need to compare my self with them either, there's plenty of normals to compare my self with if I'm so inclined but frankly, anywhere I'm picking up KoMs or top 10s is just somewhere only slow folk ride.

I like it because I know that everyone that beats me is on an e bike.

On a similar note why doesn't Strava differentiate road group rides from solo. It knows if any other Strava riders were with you so it's not hard. In a group a long segment will be several mph faster than solo.

Do the climbs in your car so you will always be KOM then get back to just riding.

if i had an ebike i would bloody delight in pissing stravabandits off!! infact id probably spend a day just mashing climbs! 😀

seriously tho, Strava is poor. the powers that be obviously dont give a shite about off road activities. im astounded there hasnt been a mtb specific version developed yet!? you should be able to click buttons for group/solo, wet/dry, night/day, etc etc, (e-bike/normal bike) and allow you to make shorter segments and to filter out uphill ones... and more filters on leader boards. surely there's a few quid in this for some boffins??

Strava is a bit of fun for a lot of people and good for motivation to keep fit, even within the margin of error mentioned above.

Absolutely. Those saying 'who gives a shit?' obviously have no koms to lose 😁.

I am motivated by leader boards etc and, trust me, the quicker riders over time are higher up them (though sure, when folk get into proper racing that's what matters hugely more. Though none of this riding bikes stuff matters at all).

As ebikes inevitably become more popular (fine by me fwiw), it'd be a shame for me if it meant Strava was less fun and less of a motivator. Report the bastards.

Those saying ‘who gives a shit?’ obviously have no koms to lose 😁

I have some KOMs and don't give a shit about e-bikes on leaderboards 🙂

Just care about the downhill, that’s where the funs at

Earn your turns! The fun comes in getting up a climb you've not done before, or working so hard on a hill that your head is fuzzy at the top. That's where the joy is, not the easy stuff like going downhill.

Ultimately the thing with ebike and strava is, for those who haven’t noticed, strava isn’t “for” mtb, its about road bikes and roadies and road riding

Rubbish, it works fine for MTB as it is. Any off road rides will be on MTBs rather than road bikes so they are separated naturally. I go through 40 segments on a typical ride (all off road) and some of those segments have 1,000s of people recorded on them.

Riding on your own to challenge yourself but complaining because others she faster than you...are you a sore loser with everything?

If it is about you challenging you then why does it matter if people are faster than you?

I had a KOM for 18 months on a segment I had only ridden  once.

I say ridden...I actually mean walking slowly, pushing my bike and breathing out my arse up a  long flight of steps.

Wow if you genuinely care about a KOM on strava that’s pretty damn sad,

The only thing sad is not having empathy for other people's enjoyment . To the OP flag them and put a polite message on their ride. It'll work with some but not others. Judging by some replies on here from the e-mtb fanboys, my assumption that E-mtb's are attractive to the selfish me me generation who don't give f@#$% avout anyone else is correct.

I had a KOM for 18 months on a segment I had only ridden once.

I say ridden…I actually mean walking slowly, pushing my bike and breathing out my arse up a long flight of steps.

They all count! (Humblebrags not withstanding. I had one up Buckden Pike which involved eating my sandwiches and having a wee. Not a quick one either.) Some are mainly about the speed you can open and close gates. Whatever, these are all important mtb skills. Never mind your wheelies and manuals.

Out on the trail, surely we should be adopting a "steam gives way to sail" principle for e-bikes?

I managed to get 2nd on a 2 minute climb by beating all the local riders who have good times everywhere (the same people are om the top ten on most segments)
My average speed was 11mph up the climb. The rider with the KoM averaged 16.5 mph up the climb so clearly on an eBike and annoying that I have missed a KoM (I don’t have that many!)

Given e-bikes cut out at 15mph you may just have come across someone fast. Interestingly I smashed up one of the steep (think the sign is about 18%) road climbs near us on my levo in turbo which has had a few pros and a lot of very fast riders up it. I'd count myself as fairly fit and i was totally knackered at the top. Turns out i was only about 16th of all time; amazing what the top level guys push out. Don't worry though, i switched it to e-bike shortly after to avoid causing huge upset to number 17.

Rubbish, it works fine for MTB as it is. Any off road rides will be on MTBs rather than road bikes so they are separated naturally.

That's sort of my point. You only get mtb KoM by accident of design, same as you'd get them in a scull on a river simply because there are no road bikes. That doesn't mean it's designed for rowing.
That same accident of design means (legal) ebikes on road aren't challenging the properly quick for KoM any how, its self selecting. It does mean they can top leader boards off road though because, you're only getting KoMs on your mtb because it's (or at least should be) quicker off road than a road bike. (a road ebike should fair badly off road regardless of being an ebike, does that mean your human powered mtb is cheating?)

Ultimately is getting cross that its not been designed to solve a problem with using it for something is not designed for.

That's the point, it's about you challenging you but in relation to the limits of what is possible, so comparing yourself to others is essential in determining those peaks of performance. Like in running, in cycling the great thing is that this is relatively pure in terms of human performance (drugs/ cheating/ and small variances in bike technology aside) - compared at least to other forms of 'racing' cars/boats etc..where equipment can be more dominant.

Ebikes change that aspect of cycling massively.

Given e-bikes cut out at 15mph you may just have come across someone fast.

No, that is not possible. The top 10 is made up of the fastest people (who log times on Strava) around the forest. The top ten ranges from 9.3mph to 10.3 mph and I posted 10.8mph. Just went back into Strava and checked and I now have the KoM as flagged the ride earlier after reading this thread and the rider who was hitting 16mph is now second with 10mph so that must have been their second best time (without using an eBike I would guess)

I had better get down the pub and brag to everyone I have another KoM...

i exported a .gpx file from another package into strava a while back and it imported the ride at the average speed of the ride. everywhere. which was very flattering uphill and bagged me a few KoM's but not so flattering downhill.

deleted it once i'd worked out what had happened.

surely we should be adopting a “steam gives way to sail” principle for e-bikes?

That doesn't work though - pedal bikes are still powered just like rowing boats don't get priority over 'powered' boats. Or do you have a purely wind-controlled bike? 😉

There is one spurious section on a local mtb ride of ours that runs sort of parallel at times with a road, I would say parts of it are at least 2/300m away from the road, however my old kom was taken by a bastid roadie blasting down the tarmac. If he and quite a few of the others had actually done it at that speed I would have bought them a 🤴 myself 😂

Or do you have a purely wind-controlled bike?

I've purely wind powered posting about bikes. Does that count?

@wrightyson one of the things which amuses me (and very much confirms my "it's only me I'm competing with" approach to strava) is how bonkers some of the segments are.

I ride the same route to work and back most days is rare I get the same segments logged 3 days out of 5,i pick up concurrent ones, overlapping ones, and so on but today for instance I logged 11 of the 18 different segments on my commute. Yesterday picked up 13 and 3 of those weren't on today's log, despite my route being to with a fraction of a lane width either side of yesterday's.

I ride the same route to work and back most days is rare I get the same segments logged 3 days out of 5,i pick up concurrent ones, overlapping ones, and so on but today for instance I logged 11 of the 18 different segments on my commute. Yesterday picked up 13 and 3 of those weren’t on today’s log, despite my route being to with a fraction of a lane width either side of yesterday’s.

if you click the bit at the bottom of the segment list that says 'don't see the segment you are looking for', it'll give a list of all the partial matches, and the reasons for not matching.

Judging by some replies on here from the e-mtb fanboys, my assumption that E-mtb’s are attractive to the selfish me me generation who don’t give f@#$% avout anyone else is correct.

Sweeping assumption-tastic there fella.

if you click the bit at the bottom...

Indeed, I'm not bothered per se, just very much reinforces my opinion that its only so much "use" and getting het up about how other folk use it and with what bike etc is a bit daft since the only data you can view objectively is your own and that of the folk you were riding with.

I tend to look at Strava times (on uphill segments) as a rough guide to what I should be aiming for if I'm going well - so if the top 10% is stuffed with ebikers, there is no chance of me getting in there.

On some of the segments around here the top 10s are hilarious - leader (by 30 seconds on a 4 minute segment) will be someone with 59 miles this year who is like lightning on the uphills, and mediocre at best on everything else, second is some chubber with similar mileage, third is someone doing 3 peaks cyclocross training, fourth is some old fella with pics of his Trek Superfly attached, with loads of genuinely quick local guys making up the numbers.

I tend to flag if it's obvious from the pics or the description, in the hope that Strava will nudge a few of them towards classifying them as an ebike ride in future.

t’s about you challenging you but in relation to the limits of what is possible, so comparing yourself to others is essential

The simple solution I guess is to look at the times of names you recognise as genuine speedy and ignore all the randoms. Round here it's generally Alex Pilkington or Pete Keron...

I know that there are folks around us specifically going out on ebikes to get fastest times on segments. I also know there are some people that will be riding the overgate mtb challenge in a few weeks on an ebike because it doesnt have an ebike category and they can come in the top 50 or whatever.

the issue was that whilst i was actually riding up the hill and these are narrow bridleways, it isn’t a great deal of fun having someone constantly buzzing your back wheel and wanting to get past

So why mention the fact he was on an e-Bike then? Just inconsiderate riding surely?

you should be able to click buttons for group/solo, wet/dry, night/day, etc etc

That's actually more important on road than off, as on flat segments being in a group makes an enormous difference.

A few of the regular top 10s on my local trails are STWers. Bastards.

Increasingly these days Strava is a means of measuring my decline 😢

Knowing that I'm just outside the top ten on a segment can be a remarkable spur to put some effort in but generally I'll be in the top 10% or so for any given segment and as Martin says, round here the top ten is usually full of the usual suspects like Alex P and Paul Oldham.

As above - group riding (done correctly) on road makes a massive difference. There's a local segment from Rylstone down to the Craven Heifer just outside Skipton "Blast down South" it's called. My best time in a group is 7.5mins but my best solo time is at least a minute slower, possibly more.

"How to deal with E-Bikes on Strava Segments"

buy one and have some fun

@molgrips i mention they were on e-bikes as i would hope there is an expectation when you're on one, that there is a good chance when you are going up a long climb, that you may well be quicker than others, and that in having that expectation you'd have the manners to realise or appreciate the harder effort the person not on an e-bike is having to put into the climb to get up it, and therefore treat them with a little consideration.

As stated i have no issue whatsoever with e-bikes, there just needs to be some consideration by those using them especially on long events/ climbs, that others may be slower than them and be considerate to the fact.

A few of the regular top 10s on my local trails are STWers. Bastards

Rubbish, no one here actually rides a bike.

I know that there are folks around us specifically going out on ebikes to get fastest times on segments. I also know there are some people that will be riding the overgate mtb challenge in a few weeks on an ebike because it doesnt have an ebike category and they can come in the top 50 or whatever.

This makes me sad. But not as sad as the folk doing it.

Rubbish, no one here actually rides a bike.

I have my moments, did I mention my 🤴's earlier?

I've got my son in to it of late, he's 14 and I've made it perfectly clear it's not an indication of a lot. However he does like to see how he's beating adults down certain sections and he genuinely uses it as a tool to time runs on sections we session often, he can then play with different lines etc the next time he rides.

In the real world he's been mid table when racing for real this year so far, so that keeps his head in check, he's giving 18 months away to most riders in his age group so hopefully he can improve on that.

I have an Ebike.
When i go out to the forest i get left for dead by several of the (admittedly) younger and considerably fitter guys in my riding group.
So I’m of the opinion that a young, fit rider is quicker than an Ebike.
Certainly, when i was in my 20s, I could go much quicker than i can go on my Ebike nowadays.
I’m 50 btw.
I don’t use strava, although I have an account.
If i did, being beaten wouldn’t bother me at all, I’m not proud, but i can understand why someone might be annoyed at being ‘beaten’ by someone with a battery.
But ultimately, unless they admit it, you’ll never actually know if they did or not.
I accept, of course that it’s all utterly pointless.
Happy trails folks.

I have my moments, did I mention my 🤴’s earlier?

You did, but by way of comparison, facebook says I've got 100s of friends, and strava is just Facebook for cyclists isn't it? 😉

But have you got any 🤴's.....

Dry prime ground conditions, Tail winds, TT bikes. drafting, riding in a bunch, Ebikes, heading out especially to target one segment?
there's not a whole lot of difference really.
Strava is rarely a level playing field. If you want that. race for real.

There are guys who come over here from the City especially to hunt KOMs on dull bridleways/shared paths all lycra'd up on carbon CX bikes. Kinda odd but whatever.
it's not worth moaning about.

Old ladies in cars pass all the time! You must be beside yourself! They dont even record themselves on strava. Cheats!

But have you got any 🤴’s…..

Seems there's no prizes for being the minceiest of mince core.

(i just went to check what the top times were over one of the climbs on my commute and it seems to have been cheated today, someone clocking 60kph average over 1k up hill, I doubt that'll stay. 2nd is 36kph over the same I struggle to do that on the flat!)

Dry prime ground conditions, Tail winds, TT bikes. drafting, riding in a bunch, Ebikes, heading out especially to target one segment?
there’s not a whole lot of difference really.

Not a whole lot of difference? All fair game - except for the EBike. Was looking at Chris Froome's stats recently, the VAM figure is interesting (Vertical Ascent Metres per hour), his KOM's for a sustained 30min climb are around 1600 VAM. I'll be happy with anything over 1000VAM. A guy took a KOM off me offroad and his VAM was around 1500 for 20mins, which raised suspicion. Thats bonkers fast, really surprised me, possibly de-restricted I suppose. From comments above it seems ebikers get some satisfaction out of this, which is weird as it's not the rider doing most of that work it's a motor, so where does the sense of achievement come from other than hurting Stravaists fragile Ego's.

As stated i have no issue whatsoever with e-bikes, there just needs to be some consideration by those using them especially on long events/ climbs, that others may be slower than them and be considerate to the fact.

Same consideration that everyone needs everywhere tho.

Hmm, hadn't considered VAM as I wasn't sure what the hell it was (you can tell I'm deadly serious about all this!). Not many climbs where I've taken an hour until I remembered I just beat the hour for Puig Major on Majorca which has 826 metres of ascent so I'd say my maximum VAM was in that sort of ball-park.

At the other end of the scale my wife and I were out touring and on one climb I got a puncture so fixed that and thought "I might be last on Strava!" Except I wasn't, I was next to last 😕

I remember flagging one Strava KOM as dubious. It was the one going up Five Rise Locks in Bingley - the KOM time for going up was faster than the KOM for the descent segment! Looking at the activity the guy had been heading down the way but the trace just went weird with him apparently going down, up then down again. I suspect the GPS/Strava just got a couple of errant pings and interpreted them as him going up the ramp.

Was looking at Chris Froome’s stats recently

the VAM figure is interesting

really?

Vag interests me but I've genuinely no idea or interest in what vam even is.

cyclists baffle me.

I remember flagging one Strava KOM as dubious. It was the one going up Five Rise Locks in Bingley – the KOM time for going up was faster than the KOM for the descent segment! Looking at the activity the guy had been heading down the way but the trace just went weird with him apparently going down, up then down again. I suspect the GPS/Strava just got a couple of errant pings and interpreted them as him going up the ramp.

Quality of life restored.

Pwew!

Only reason I want an ebike is for strava ha ha ha

VAM= rate of climbing. You can clearly see it when viewing Strava on a desktop, but not so visible in the app. Most Garmin units can display it as a metric either instantly or averaged over 30seconds. For those of us who like seeing how quickly we can haul our asses up mountains it's useful, but VAG's are cool to.

I'm more bothered about ****ts cutting corners and putting multiple lines in on established trails to make not overly technical trails simpler. If you're that fussed, get a bloody road bike and ride in a straight line.

“So the EBikers don’t compete on the existing segments, they have to make new one’s. Makes sense now. That seems like a Strava flaw they need to rectify- surely would’nt be hard to seperate the data into two streams per segment as they do it for QOM/KOM anyway.”

Considering I set up about half the local strava segments (years ago!) there was no way I was going to set them all up again for e-bikes. And it won’t let you make such short segments nowadays, even though we have plenty of short steep trails that track fairly accurately.

So on my ebike I just set my rides to private so I don’t show on leader boards. I can see my times if I want to but I’m not messing up the non-e results. It’s a bit annoying because I ride the ebike both turned on and off and if I break a DH PR or get higher up the leaderboard it would be nice to be there but then again I don’t care that much nowadays!

It shows how fit some XC riders are because even with the motor on it’s not easy to beat KOMs.

cyclists baffle me.

Why do you spend time on a cycling forum then ??