Silly STRAVA Racing

[Pedrosanchezo]

Has anyone ever gone balls-out on a particular segment, only to get home and discover you were on the wrong bit of road? Just me then.

Have done a few daft Strava things. ^^^ The one you mention above. I have entered a segment unwittingly and went for a leak (in the bushes), come back and then went hell for leather up the hill only to come dead last. Segment started way before i thought it did. Oh and my favourite by far-utterly nailing a segment 2 miles long then looking down at the Garmin only to discover i had not pressed start. Could have cried.
Silver lining could be making your wrong bit of road a seg. Then your wrong bit of road becomes the right bit of road.

 

[potsy]

I have ridden the wrong way down a particular segment that my mate told me about, should have checked the direction before I set off
I also had a mechanical just at the start of a short uphill segment, went back down to fix it which took a while (snapped mech hanger) and ended up taking 34 minutes and was not surprisingly last

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Odd, climbing is the last thing I would ever think to grab those during (unless it was a long drag with a very low gradient, where you are still shifting at a fair rate), however, proof is in the pudding I guess (or not but I don't want to debate right now )

If you are seated i don't think it will make much difference to your chest/breathing. I certainly didn't feel my breathing suffer. It does make a difference in terms of sheer torque though if you can pull back on the bars as it engages all you power. When TT'ing one would not sit up for a climb would they? Though everyone has their own technique.
I personally mix it up anyway. This was a 2.4 mile climb so there was lots of different techniques going on. Was very rarely out of the saddle though. Usually reserve that for the short and stupid steep climbs. There is one such where i live that is av gradient 20%.

 

[Rob3rt]

Have done a few daft Strava things. ^^^ The one you mention above. I have entered a segment unwittingly and went for a leak (in the bushes), come back and then went hell for leather up the hill only to come dead last. Segment started way before i thought it did. Oh and my favourite by far-utterly nailing a segment 2 miles long then looking down at the Garmin only to discover i had not pressed start. Could have cried.
Silver lining could be making your wrong bit of road a seg. Then your wrong bit of road becomes the right bit of road.

I did exactly that on a hill climb in October, forgot to start Garmin during my rece run, then as I was all amped up really to race, as soon as the guy held me up ready to start, all I was thinking off was gunning it, I realised 1/3 of the way up I hadn't started my Garmin (I looked at it to confirm my progress and it still told me I was at the foot of the climb on the elevation profile)!

 

[HLaB]

Has anyone ever gone balls-out on a particular segment, only to get home and discover you were on the wrong bit of road? Just me then.

What I have done, felt good on a ride and sprinted up a hill, thought have a good strava time and waited over the top for folk to catch up; only to discover the segment continues on to the downhill and I'm not even in the top half

 

[Rob3rt]

If you are seated i don't think it will make much difference to your chest/breathing. I certainly didn't feel my breathing suffer. It does make a difference in terms of sheer torque though if you can pull back on the bars as it engages all you power. When TT'ing one would not sit up for a climb would they? Though everyone has their own technique.
I personally mix it up anyway. This was a 2.4 mile climb so there was lots of different techniques going on. Was very rarely out of the saddle though. Usually reserve that for the short and stupid steep climbs. There is one such where i live that is av gradient 20%.

Like I said, if it is a long drag with a low gradient, I can see the usefulness, in these circumstances people would ride in a TT position because the speed justifies it. However, if the road kicked up more than a few percent, you would be off the aero bar's and onto the bullhorns pretty sharpish.

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

I did exactly that on a hill climb in October, forgot to start Garmin during my rece run, then as I was all amped up really to race, as soon as the guy held me up ready to start, all I was thinking off was gunning it, I realised 1/3 of the way up I hadn't started my Garmin (I looked at it to confirm my progress and it still told me I was at the foot of the climb on the elevation profile)!

You only do this once then swear never again.

 

[Pedrosanchezo]

Like I said, if it is a long drag with a low gradient, I can see the usefulness, in these circumstances people would ride in a TT position because the speed justifies it. However, if the road kicked up more than a few percent, you would be off the aero bar's and onto the bullhorns pretty sharpish.

I guess it depends on the rider. I don't mean being in the TT position btw. I mean simply moving your hands over so that you can pull up on the bars. Good leverage and less power wastage.
Just checked, climb was av 4.1% gradient and 3 mile long. Steepest part was 15%.
Long climbs can be a real b*tch. Felt okay today though. Well afterwards.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Has anyone ever gone balls-out on a particular segment, only to get home and discover you were on the wrong bit of road? Just me then.

Nope, not just you, although I tend to go the wrong direction on the right road.

 

[nathanicola]

Has anyone ever gone balls-out on a particular segment, only to get home and discover you were on the wrong bit of road? Just me then.

No but went balls out going up Mudgley Hill, stopped at the top to get my breath back and for a drink to stop myself spewing. Feeling realy chuffed because it felt like i flew up only to find when i plugged up my gps that i stopped just before the finish and i came in nearly last out of about 300.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Coming unclipped on climbs is my common error.

 

[Rob3rt]

Coming unclipped on climbs is my common error.

Increase your pedal tension maybe?

 

[Ian193]

Have done a few daft Strava things. ^^^ The one you mention above. I have entered a segment unwittingly and went for a leak (in the bushes), come back and then went hell for leather up the hill only to come dead last. Segment started way before i thought it did. Oh and my favourite by far-utterly nailing a segment 2 miles long then looking down at the Garmin only to discover i had not pressed start. Could have cried.
Silver lining could be making your wrong bit of road a seg. Then your wrong bit of road becomes the right bit of road.

I did that the other day came out of work took off like a rocket down the road only to realise id not turned the garmin on so stopped switched it on and carried on good job I did as I set PB's on all 3 sectors on way home not that im near the top on any of them lol

 

[Andrew_P]

Has anyone ever gone balls-out on a particular segment, only to get home and discover you were on the wrong bit of road? Just me then.

No but I have done the right segement balls out & rushed to my laptop to upload to find not even a top 3...

 

[Hip Priest]

No but I have done the right segement balls out & rushed to my laptop to upload to find not even a top 3...

Welcome to my world! I got my PB on a climb today, but unfortunately it was on the Beaumont trophy route, so there are pros galore at the top!