Silly STRAVA Racing

[mattobrien]

A little afternoon pootle managed to bag a previously stolen KoM http://app.strava.com/segments/1823872

Managed to know 13 seconds off my previous best and beat the existing KoM by 12 seconds. Quite pleased with that.

 

[fossyant]

What's the best Garmin for playing with Strava? Or is there a better GPS.

I have a target set for a particular segment, and I would really like to meet it. It's short enough that I will pobably be doing it many tens of times, and I want to download a target segment plot from Strava, race against that until I beat it, then get the leaderboard plot 5 seconds faster than that, repeat until I can go no faster.

The 510, 810 (and 800) all have this feature, but it seems like a bit of a faff, downloading from Strava via another program, converting the file, uploading - and just for one segment!

Ideally, I would be able to highlight a list of segments and target times, and when I ride around I can race against the guy on the leaderboard with that segment time. Pie in the sky right now, but there must be somebody trying to implement this (official or unofficial)..

Anyone got any suggestions?

Yes, get a life. There are enough saddo's that just ride round trying to get a segment over and over. If you can't get it on a 'ride' then try some other time you go past. Also with this type of 'information' you're more likely to crash into something messing about watching where you are against the KOM. Just ride the segment as quickly as you can, and safely !

 

[TheJDog]

Yes, get a life. There are enough saddo's that just ride round trying to get a segment over and over. If you can't get it on a 'ride' then try some other time you go past. Also with this type of 'information' you're more likely to crash into something messing about watching where you are against the KOM. Just ride the segment as quickly as you can, and safely !

Ha ha. I won't be getting any KOMs on this! My target time might put me in the top 100. Maybe.

Found almost exactly the info I wanted here: http://strava-tools.raceshape.com/vpu/

So Garmin 500 it is! Thanks for the "help", fossyant!

 

[lejogger]

Thanks for the "help", fossyant!

I'm pretty sure the 'help' offered was only advice intended to safeguard your wellbeing and that of others so the sarcasm is hardly required.

Fossy is right. Obsessive strava riding can be very dangerous even when you've got both eyes on the road let alone when you're half watching your computer as well.

Strava is fun when it's safe, but having a leaderboard on the internet doesn't make it a substitute for closed road racing.

 

[TheJDog]

I'm pretty sure the 'help' offered was only advice intended to safeguard your wellbeing and that of others so the sarcasm is hardly required.

Fossy is right. Obsessive strava riding can be very dangerous even when you've got both eyes on the road let alone when you're half watching your computer as well.

Strava is fun when it's safe, but having a leaderboard on the internet doesn't make it a substitute for closed road racing.

This is a thread entitled 'silly strava racing'.

We're not children.

 

[lejogger]

This is a thread entitled 'silly strava racing'.

We're not children.

Some of us are.

Who's to say what someone is from an avatar and a strap line?

We're a cross section of the cycling community, incorporating adults, children, and adults who think like children.

...perhaps even adults who think they're canines?

 

[4F]

Some of us are.

Who's to say what someone is from an avatar and a strap line?

We're a cross section of the cycling community, incorporating adults, children, and adults who think like children.

...perhaps even adults who think they're canines?

Don't forget the ones of us that are are old enough to know better

 

[TheJDog]

Don't forget the ones of us that are are old enough to know better

I'm definitely one of those

 

[Hip Priest]

Is there anything worse than going out and gunning it on all your favourite local segments, only to come home and find your GPS has gone absolutely crackers, no segments have been recorded and there's about 1 mile missing?

 

[fossyant]

That's why we call it silly. I was speaking to a friend and he asked if I used Strava. He said he'd been sat out at a pub, and a lad on a bike kept tearing past down the hill, then back up, then tear past again. They had asked him what he was doing and he had explained it and he was just one second off the top slot. The sad thing was this was a well used footpath/bridle way.... So pedestrians beware.

There is no point just trying to get a segment, then coming back again for it. That's not the fun. Best to have a go as you ride through it, if conditions allow.

 

[TheJDog]

I'm not riding up Swain's effing Lane for fun. It's definitely silly, but it's not fun.

 

[smutchin]

Well, I certainly had fun on my ride home tonight - got two KOMs! One of them was just a small improvement of a KOM I already held, the other was regaining a KOM that I'd won and lost previously.

Both were descents.

Now, as a rule, I don't consider descents to be truly in the spirit of what Strava is about (not for me, anyway) but this one is on my usual route home from the station, so I thought, what the heck, I might as well go for it...
http://app.strava.com/segments/3764898

Interestingly, looking at the segment on RaceShape, I tailed off very sharply at the end of the segment and it was only by virtue of the fact that I was so far ahead that I held on for the KOM. But there is a bend and a crossroads at the bottom of the hill where it levels out, and the road is quite narrow there, so I always ease off a bit as I approach, just in case. I would hate to think anyone else might put themselves at risk while trying to take this segment off me.

As for proper segments, the only meaningful gain I got tonight was a PR on Sydenham Hill, which lifts me 13 places to 83rd. That is a short but tough segment with some very competitive times. The KOM is well beyond what I would ever be capable of.

 

[Mapster1989]

I'm not riding up Swain's effing Lane for fun. It's definitely silly, but it's not fun.

Then why do it? What are you getting out of it if it's not fun?

I agree that the leaderboards add that element of competition but if you really want to be called the fastest then get a number on your back and go racing. A lot more people will respect you for that than downloading, uploading and riding a segment 1,000 times just so that you can be fastest!

 

[Rob3rt]

Then why do it? What are you getting out of it if it's not fun?

I agree that the leaderboards add that element of competition but if you really want to be called the fastest then get a number on your back and go racing. A lot more people will respect you for that than downloading, uploading and riding a segment 1,000 times just so that you can be fastest!

The problem with that is, people see look on your face when it goes tits up (,Just joking, no-one will care or mock in reality)

AFAIK, despite being okay on a bike, I have the fewest number of KOM's of all the locals on here, I think even Potsy has more than me. He does have some right? Or did all the bully boys take them off of him, lol

 

[ianwoodi]

http://app.strava.com/activities/60767218#1137794578
here is my first kom