Strava KOM’s - Etiquette of flagging rides

Good thing I’m only half special! :crazy_face:

(Kickr had been loaned out, it wasn’t for Strava glory)

To your point, makes you want to flag it like this:

Reminds me of an old Hawaiian Reggae song Wave Rider by Butch Helemano. Wave rider is so crazy about surfing he goes out with sirens wailing and civil defense clearing the roads and Butch sings

“So kiss your mommy and kiss your daddy, you won’t be around if you catch a tsunami baby”

:call_me_hand:

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By me there is a running KOM. I know the guy, he is a pretty fast runner. He is NOT a world class runner. The 5k segment is 12:31. So either he is the world record holder, or he was leisurely riding a bike and the activity is labeled incorrectly. I’m still surprised it hasn’t been flagged.

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Tom Pidcock?

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They must have trained really hard

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Like being vegan :relaxed:

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I’ve only ever flagged one ride & it was my own. I got a KOM on an hour ish singletrack loop & I was pretty stoked but when I looked closer at the previous KOM holders ride, I noticed that I skirted a good 1/2 mile of trail due to mud & hadn’t thought about it. I’ve since tried to beat his time but I’ve not been able to yet.

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Ok, how about this as the guiding rule…

If the K/QOM was snagged by a person riding a bike on the segment under their own power, it’s legit. Flag anything else.

Seriously, that’s it. If someone does something you consider “iffy”, ask yourself, did they follow the above rule? If they did, don’t flag it. If they did something else, flag it.

To address some of the specifics, it doesn’t matter if they drafted a dump truck, went out in a hurricane, or both. You aren’t the safety police. You don’t get to decide the person was being too reckless to deserve a K/QOM*.

Did they pedal the bike unassisted? That’s what counts.

*There is an exception. You can flag an entire segment for being unsafe. I’m not talking about an individual’s effort. If the segment runs through a stop sign or some such nonsense, you can report the segment. That’s a different conversation. The above rule is for segment efforts

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Sounds fair enough.

I do find it hilarious though when MTB trails get flagged as unsafe. :man_facepalming:t3: :rofl:

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And you aren’t the strava flag police. Drafting a vehicle is cheating, don’t see how anyone could see it otherwise unless it’s just to be argumentative

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I am the safety police. I got a strava badge for it.

The reason my proposal doesn’t care about drafting a truck is simply because you can’t police it. If you want to analyze everyone’s efforts to try to determine if they were behind a car, have at it.

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You also can’t police everyone on an ebike but if you want to look at everyone’s efforts to determine….

My situation with the dump truck drafter was pretty simple: ride description stated “drafting a dump truck on _____ Ave.” I was more concerned about slapping some sense into my friend so he didn’t turn into roadkill than flagging his ride, but it still got flagged. I don’t see a difference if you’re getting a boost from an electric motor in your bike or able to ride on the flat at 40+mph doing 150w

What really annoys me about Strava is that they said they were going to implement automated policing of the leaderboards but they have never done it.

Most of us can spot the obvious problems but I’d bet an algorithm looking at the file could easily spot 99.9% of the errors.

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Dunno about that…I had a KOM flagged after I had drafted a truck.

Actually, check that. I lost that KOM to another guy who also drafted a truck…and then both our efforts got flagged.

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Flag all the things!

Drafting cars is technically against the rules, and you know for sure your friend did that… so flag it! Same with ebikes. If you know it’s not right, flag it.

Strava even has a very basic support article on it…

But, if you just have a bad feeling? Weather too harsh for your sensibilities? Tough cookies.

How did you and the other guy get found out? Are you real life friends with @Cleanneon98?

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When both speeds were over 40mph, it was kinda obvious something extraordinary was going on…

IMO, drafting a vehicle is a grey area and it is probably a smart move on Strava’s part to discourage it by removing drafting KOM’s (at least from a legal POV).

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That’s what I mean, it’s not just as simple as “were they riding a bike?”. FYI I don’t flag wind surfers, just find some people’s desperation is hilarious. Will be funnier when I take them all back on my non aero bike :rofl:

I was set for a nice KOM a few years ago when I was riding in winds that were probably in the 50 MPH range. It was virtually my only form of transportation at the time, so I ride.

I didn’t get the KOM because I flatted near the end :sob:

Fittingly, the ONE and ONLY time I decided to drive because I felt the weather was unsafe (wind) is the day I was rear ended, crushing my car to the point that people can’t tell what it used to be.

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The route builder is so much better for finding good roads to ride than anything else IMO, worth it just for that. I just wish it would export turn by turn directions to my Wahoo.

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