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[PaulSB]

You say you are 99% unaware of segments and the go on to say you chase your own pb s.
Well the first time you do a pb with a huge tailwind then that's your unbeatable pb.
If you ride the same roads then after a while all your best effort will be assisted in some way.
I am not trying to be controversial just relating my personal experience usingi Strava almost from it's very beginning.

That's correct I am generally completely unaware of where segments are located. I had a good ride today, 61 miles, 5200 feet and it included 9 PBs - all climbs. Seven of them are utterly meaningless varying in length between 0.18 and 0.61 miles. I mean why even bother creating a 0.18 mile segment. What does it tell me? I'm climbing better, nothing more.

Yes I chase some of my PBs, the ones I feel have some real meaning. For example I recently took 61 seconds off my previous best on a 1.1 mile climb with an average gradient of 9.7%. A top 100 UK climb. For me that's worth chasing, on hills there is nowhere to hide, no one to help and on this one nothing the weather can do to help. I'm very pleased but I also know I have to find another 32 seconds from somewhere before I can really pat myself on the back.

I never count a flat PB, for me they're meaningless for the reasons you state. A hill climb though is different. Turn up on the day, have a look at it and think "Yes, I fancy this." That's all there is to it.

I just don't see the large number of people I ride with behaving in the way others describe. Clearly we are very well behaved in Lancashire! 🙂

 

[tommaguzzi]

Paul here is my best time up Mam Nic a 100 best climbs route at 10%

My next best effort is 12.56 and I have tried this climb many times over the years and I couldn't get near that time.
Why?
Because I did on a day when I knew there was a very unusual and very stro g NNwestely wind which would assist me all the the way up esp. On the super steep sections just before the top. That is just one example I can can find many more. As I said I still use Strava but segments and pb s have become pointless to me.

 

[cyberknight]

You say you are 99% unaware of segments and the go on to say you chase your own pb s.
Well the first time you do a pb with a huge tailwind then that's your unbeatable pb.
If you ride the same roads then after a while all your best effort will be assisted in some way.
I am not trying to be controversial just relating my personal experience usingi Strava almost from it's very beginning.

yup most of my best times were from a few years ago before my 2nd child got old enough so that i had less time to ride , lost a KOM i didnt even know i had from 2014 recently,I vry rarely get PBs these days on my normal roads as like you say a lot were assisted either by weather or club rides.

 

[Mo1959]

Like Paul states, a long steady climb is the sort of segment I enjoy. It always amazes me just how consistent my times are, even over 3 miles of climbing, on the same bike. I thought I was taking things easy this morning and was pleasantly surprised with a PR, even although it was only by seconds.

 

[Venod]

Of late, for reasons I know not, I keep getting loads of second best PB's only to find they are exactly the same time as my PB

I find this annoying, I see second best PB and then I look to see what my PB is and its the same time, so it really should be listed as a PB as well.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Been out for a ride with an old friend, his SIL put him onto Strava at the weekend, he forgot to to start his recording when we set of. When we got back I said I'd add him as a friend & add him to the ride. But I now can't find a way to do it, if I search for his name it brings up loads & I don't know which he is, if I search for his email it just says he's already a member. Wonder if this is deliberate?

 

[Mike_P]

Discovered it does help to zoom segments to 400%, one climb has always defeated me and yet the segment at 100% looked okay, at 400% it reveals a jump in gradient from 15.2% to 28%

 

[PaulSB]

Paul here is my best time up Mam Nic a 100 best climbs route at 10%
View attachment 527084

My next best effort is 12.56 and I have tried this climb many times over the years and I couldn't get near that time.
Why?
Because I did on a day when I knew there was a very unusual and very stro g NNwestely wind which would assist me all the the way up esp. On the super steep sections just before the top. That is just one example I can can find many more. As I said I still use Strava but segments and pb s have become pointless to me.

That's fine with me you chose to ride the climb on a day when you knew the conditions were favourable. Your choice I wouldn't criticise it.

For a few days beforehand I'd been thinking I felt good and now was the time to tackle this climb. Got up in the morning, rode for 75 minutes to get there and thought yes, today is the day. As I turned left on to the bottom of the climb I turned in to a headwind. During the climb I had a headwind for 9 minutes 48 seconds and a tail wind for 27 seconds - clearly the weather gods were very much in my favour. Like I say apparently some riders go out on days they know the weather will help them, I go out on the days when I know I'm feeling good. I think I know who is the more realistic and honest rider.

As I've said several times already I know what is worthy of attempting. The majority of segments Strava tells me I've PBd on are nonsense. Today I PBd on a climb section of 0.18 mile, utterly pointless. I know the little section of road it's on and I'm left thinking why even bother creating the segment? I don't create these, other riders do and I'm left wondering what on earth are they trying to prove?

 

[Milkfloat]

i dont get the pencil in edit mode View attachment 527063

IIRC on this screen simply click the text ‘Custom Route’ and edit. If that fails, try the 3 dots first.

 

[tommaguzzi]

Yes I went out on that occasion to take advantage of the conditions, there are many other times when I did not but they were heavily in my favour anyway and I achieved a pb which i was unable to best and now in my declining years never will.
The problem with koms is you have no idea of the conditions they were achieved in. The problem with pb s is that you do.

 

[cyberknight]

IIRC on this screen simply click the text ‘Custom Route’ and edit. If that fails, try the 3 dots first.

I have , the 3 dots give me a menu , i select edit and that screenie i posted is the next screen

EDIT
i think its something to do with firefox, went into MS edge and it works .

 

[figbat]

During the climb I had a headwind for 9 minutes 48 seconds and a tail wind for 27 seconds

Do you ride with an anemometer? I'm interested in knowing how you get such accurate air speed indication?

 

[Venod]

The majority of segments Strava tells me I've PBd on are nonsense.

I have a shared KOM with several riders of 1 second, the actual segment is a steep off road climb adjacent to the road that gave the I second time.
I would struggle to get up the real segment on my MTB.

 

[Mike_P]

Do you ride with an anemometer? I'm interested in knowing how you get such accurate air speed indication?

That's something that IMO should be the next thing in bike gadgety so performance can be weighed. Like many I have some PRs thanks to the way what wind but others due to a lack of wind.

 

[PaulSB]

Do you ride with an anemometer? I'm interested in knowing how you get such accurate air speed indication?

Anemoter 😄 No I use an app called Windsock. If you upload a ride to Strava it will offer basic information on the weather conditions for your ride. The image below shows this.

For £10pa it will provide the detail, and more, I posted yesterday. I've never studied that detail before. I looked at it because I was getting tired of people telling me how cyclists only get PBs in favourable conditions which I know to be untrue.

It's a bit of fun which several of my cycle buddies use. I pay the £10 because as with Strava I like to support the companies offering free information.

There is a free version.