He started with good intentions…then his ego took over…as happens with Strava.
Hahahaha. Okay, I have to admit that if I caught someone recording a Strava ride on a horse, I’d probably just crack up and let them have the KOM. Not that I’m really a KOM person anyway.
Haha!! Problem was they in a MTB trail centre and making a mess of the trails. Needed taught a lesson:joy:
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True - but I always think of sprints as elbow to elbow not lamp post to lamp post
+1 to this. If this guy takes Strava so seriously, go teach him a lesson.
I wish this happened to me – this would be the type of event that could drive and motivate my training for a month or two…especially in winter. It would give purpose to the pain.
I have a few Strava KOMs that nobody cares about, and they are all wind aided as they are flat – every KOM in Chicago is wind/group aided – but I like having them and I test myself against them at the beginning or end of rides just to give myself a reason to sprint (they are all 1KM or shorter).
Anyone who takes it this seriously needs to be fucked with 
Has anyone noticed a difference in segment times between different devices?
When I had my 520 it would record segments faster than my phone, but now that I have a wahoo bolt my phone records segments faster.
Strava KOMs are the reason I am where I am with my cycling. What once started as friendly rivalry turned into people who I thought were friends who were constantly trying to instigate with me. It literally got to the point where if I got a KOM or even a Top 10 on a ride that morning, these guys would be out later in the afternoon or that night doing this segment with a running start, trying to draft each other, etc. to do anything to knock me off.
I caught one of them cheating because he apparently took my 3:34 KOM and put up a time of 3:00, but in the middle of the segment his speed suddenly shot up to 50. I called him out on it and he basically said “yea I was drafting a dump truck, I was just at the right place at the right time, not my problem” to which I reamed him out and reminded him he’s got 4 young kids at home and to stop being an idiot.
That winter I got sent a trial of TR, came out in 2019 with a vengeance, and those two guys have barely ridden since, let alone tried to pick on anyone. KOM hunting can be very enjoyable as long as there is good rivalry, but it can get out of hand, and I know guys personally who don’t use Strava anymore because they crashed chasing segments.
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I don’t think getting a running start or drafting other cyclists is cheating at all.
Drafting a vehicle is pretty sketchy though, definitely dangerous as hell.
Only thing I’d call downright cheating would be if you straight up hung on to the back of a vehicle, or used an ebike or a vehicle.
Running start and drafting other cyclist I’m not mad about. It just showed their desperation to try and knock me down to second place. Drafting a dump truck is not just cheating it’s pure stupidity
Love/hate relationship with Strava ever since it launched in 2009. At that time we tried to use Strava to motivate riders on our team to train more but, in reality it caused them to chase each other and not really train. Not Strava’s fault but, it set the tone on how a platform can change people’s behavior in strange ways.
As for KOM’s there is no doubt the way many ride in groups post Strava is vastly different to pre Strava. I started my membership up again last year after about 9 years no Strava. I couldn’t figure out why guys were taking so many unnecessary risks in groups until I figured out they were going for segments. Not sharing the workload in a break only to sprint away here and there for no apparent reason. I never say anything but, it gets frustrating to ride with people who are so singularly focused on segments.
My most ridiculous KOM story is a 8 mile rolling segment, no stops. I use that section to do my power tests. A day I had a test scheduled the tail wind was unreal. I ended up taking the KOM from world tour pro rider Brandon McNulty by 50 seconds. My average speed was 31.4mph to his 29.2mph on about 100 less watts. While legit, not real and a little embarrassing.
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On the plus side, I enjoy seeing what and where peeps are riding. The exploration side to Strava is cool.
I regularly download routes that friends have ridden. Helps me keep variety in my rides and exploration is a big part of cycling for me.
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Honestly, that’s what strava should be about. Inspiring people to go ride routes that friends or people in your area have ridden. I like strava-segments. I just hide 95% of them where I ride locally and only see those that I deem relevant to me.
Pretty ridiculous to have a 20min climb with 27 segments just someone went slightly faster on a flatter section to snag a KOM.
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I have a single KOM taken on a segment I made, which sounds dodgy but was done so my old office could all compete with each other. Nothing better than collapsing in discussing how they still were faster on a section but you had a different win. That’s what I think segments are for, plus real world improvements in form.
There’s a couple near my house I hit lots that no one will take the KOM since it’s held by a recent UK hill climb national champ. Shame there’s not two options, all-time and current year.
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Actually there is. You just don’t get a trophy. But if it makes you feel better, there are even weight and age categories 
I want my participation trophy!
Talking about this pushed me out after my early shift, got a couple PBs and best 1 minute power ever. It’s not bad motivation.