So … back to the original question - do you flag it? 
I’d have to flag too many so can’t be bothered. I’ve flagged stuff in the past and it didn’t seem to do anything.
I didn’t go for it but I’ve a 7th place out of 1038 on on a road adjacent to a cycle track segment. I think the KOM and the majority of the top 10 are the same.
KOM is a bit of a joke as it was in the middle of this.
It happens a lot. GPS/Strava can’t distinguish between the two so not much you can do.
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The biggest discrepancy I saw was when someone set up a segment which goes through a signalised junction (a stupid segment). My mate got the KOM and I thought he must’ve jumped the lights. He had went through the park path adjacent for a bit but over 100m away, no lights were involved 
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There’s some MTB trails like that here too that run close to the road and get contaminated by roadies and MTBers who forget to turn off their rides after they pack up the car
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There is a “GPS error” option you can use if a ride doesn’t match a segment.
I have mostly given up caring though. I cancelled my subscription because so many people ride eBikes anyway that it defeats the purpose for me (mostly an MTB rider). I’m also slower now, so I can use eBIkes as an excuse.
I do have a pretty long list of them, mostly long ones though. 45 minute long KOM ride on a bike path for example, or the one mile long 10% climb one (which is now gated off, mine forever!). But with so many people riding eBikes, I just stopped caring so much.
Nah, wind is fair game. Around here we get the same winds every day, with some days being stronger than others. No different then trying to get a KOM on a cool day vs a baking hot one.
I got a KOM on accident on a CX bike I was demo’ing. All the MTB’s were checked out, so I took the CX bike they didn’t even pull out of the trailer. Ended up losing it to an eBike though several years later (which I took back on my heavier XC bike). My former coach did a few local MTB races on his gravel bike before deciding to buy an MTB (former motocross racer though). He did win BWR a few years ago, so not exactly a slow guy.
Gone are days where you could get a KOM (on a flat stretch of road) in average conditions. You certainly need a decent tailwind, be in a race, or a big group of you where you stand a chance of getting one now.
The eBike thing is annoying but some people don’t realise you can change the type of ride in Strava and the others know exactly what they’re doing.
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I guess it depends what motivates you, each to their own. If getting KOM’s motivates you and you push harder because of it or it motivates you to work towards a goal then great. I don’t understand why some people’s advice on here is just to not care. If it matters to you then flag it.
I’ve also been in little KOM battles where its switched hands a few times, I have no idea who the other guy is but we always give kudos when we get beaten and that to me is motivating.
I had never flagged another ride until I recently bought an XC mountain bike. There are certain local segments that are just mobbed with eBikes. Those would require a hours each week to keep the leaderboards clear of ebikers so I just let them go, but some of the more esoteric ones that I really target I flag regularly.
Normally it’s pretty easy to tell! HR max of 130bpm on a segment, or KOMing an uphill segment off road followed by top 10ing a road segment in the same ride etc.
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I don’t understand why people subscribe to Strava
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I don’t understand why people who don’t subscribe to Strava (or FB/IG/etc) have to constantly make it known to the world.
I like the segments and filtering, the route builder, live segments are fun. Plus it’s not expensive for something I am on all the time
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I don’t know if it is in response to me, since I am the last person to say that. But for me, it lost its value, so I unsubscribed.
Not something you have to be offended by. If it has value for you, then good on you.
I had a KOM on a 2-mile straight road stretch that is slightly rolling…set it with a decent tailwind one day, but nothing outrageous (and yes, I was gunning for it). Avg spd was just over 30mph, IIRC.
Little over a year later a guy beat me by about 10" (pretty sure he was on a TT bike or was with others or both)…on Sunday, we were out on a group with some really strong guys. Strong tailwind and we decided to give it a go. We went pretty freakin’ hard, each taking a strong pull until there were only two of us left. I blasted over the final rise, certain we had retaken it (it would have gone to my buddy because he entered the segment about 2" behind us and he was the other guy left at the end).
Nope…we came up 3" short. 
New one today, lost 2 KOMs to someone’s bike on a train 
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https://www.strava.com/segments/4292339?filter=overall
The linked segment is a hill near my house. It just so happens to be on the route of RAAM, so (most)every year we get a bunch of elite riders coming through. They never attack the hill because it would be counterproductive for them. Two guys seem to have been in vehicles (by the looks of their average speeds, its a 30mph road), and snagged the top two spots. That’s me in number 3 spot. So do I flag the rides just to get my KOM? It looks like I cant just flag the segment attempt, i have to flag the whole ride, which for them would be a whole day of their RAAM. WWJD?
Flag it, they shouldn’t have had their GPS running while in a vehicle
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Flag it. It’s not even worth considering. It’s not like their RAAM rides go away.
If I’m being honest, I don’t understand this topic. If someone gets a KOM in a way that isn’t them riding their bike, flag it. Simple.
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I think some cases are cut and dry but others are more of a gray area and people don’t want to seem petty about it. Strava isn’t serious but it’s also a great motivator for people to train and compete with friends, so when someone is riding let’s call it unethically, it kills the competition. A lot of those Gray areas involve people doing stuff that isn’t blatant cheating but a clear attempt at an unfair advantage. Everyone takes advantage of wind when they can but it takes a special kind of person to literally risk their life going out in 20-30mph winds with gusts doubling that to flex on people, or drafting a dump truck for part of a segment like I had to yell at my friend with 4 young kids not to be an idiot.
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ok you convinced me. I flagged it
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Maybe I don’t understand how this whole RAAM thing works. But aren’t you supposed to be riding a bike and not driving in a car?
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