Podagrower

So, the good news is I'm ranked tenth in the segment I rode yesterday, the bad news is only 10 people have run that segment. The question is, why does Strava decide you are riding a segment, and not just riding? I didn't pause at the 2 breaks we took, and we looped part of the segment twice, so the ride time is correct, but the speed and distance are wrong.

IBOHUNT

Strava has no clue if you are going all out or just out smelling the roses.
If you want to make a half-arsed comparison look at your heart rate or power vs the others but that's even a crap shoot as you don't know if the others HR or power output is them giving it all.

IMHO - Strava is best for you to compare yourself over segments... Make one that you can do as an interval (all out) and then compare yourself over time. You can even make the segment private so, like me, you don't fall to the bottom of the list continually.

jimc101

It's the users who set up the segment, not Strava, if you ride where a segment has been setup, you see yourself on the leader board for that segment.

For the speed / distance, what are you basing this on? Strava will only show the fastest time you have ever done on the ranking, it will show your actual time with in the ride you have done, if you have done a loop, then this will be visible in your ride as well, as seperate events.

Where you may be seeing a mismatch in the figures, is that Strava is only counting both passing of the loop as one single event, I have seen this on time trials, which have had a segment setup for a course, then the course is used for a longer event, where more loops are added, Strava doesn't take this (the additional loops) into account, so gives a lower average speed than you actually did.

Podagrower

IT looks like Strava used the time I was on the segment, as the segment time is a little shorter than the actual ride time, but used the segment mileage and included 2 breaks, so the bike computer shows a ride of 15 miles, time of 1:30, avg speed 12 for the ride, Strava decide it was 1:24, 11.4 miles, avg speed 9 for the segment.
I just wasn't sure about the added loops, but I got it now. The top speed on the segment is 24.4, so I'm not gonna get there any time soon.

TrojanHorse

Strava doesn't care about your speed - it takes the start time and end time... so if you take a long break, your time is hosed. I had a funny one yesterday - i had a flat in the middle of a segment and still set a PR! I guess the other times I did that segment I took longer breaks, so that's funny.

The funniest part of all is that despite my PR (ha ha) I'm DFL in that segment - 539 out of 539

https://app.strava.com/activities/46529392#805350217

But yeah, go with what IBOHUNT says... it's great for comparing to your own self.

nkfrench 

I've noticed little differences in mph on any given ride through a segment depending on which Strava webpage is showing it. It could be that one is a summary using just the "official" segment start and end points, whereas another view is more detailed taking into account your actual GPS tracking. Likely you aren't tracking the exact same "line" on the segment as everyone else. Lane position, passing other riders.

It sure would be a lot easier to do a long segment faster if you stopped to rest every few minutes. That wouldn't be fair to make breaks magically disappear when calculating segment speeds.

Stops skew results. There are a few segments on charity ride routes that go through intersections. During the charity event, the intersections will be controlled by law enforcement so riders don't have to stop and wait 2 minutes or more on a red light. The other 364 days of the year, it's the luck of the draw whether you get a green light or not.

One of the areas I ride frequently has several segments but Strava isn't catching them. Construction is in progress so the bike trail is diverted 5 feet over onto a temporary hardpack surface.

Another area I headed off-route to a restaurant and skipped a portion in the middle of a segment ; it still gave me an embarrassingly slow time. But I didn't want to discard the entire ride.

Not very many women use Strava in some areas I ride. It would be more fun if I wasn't 1st out of 1 cyclist.

Why hurt yourself on a southbound segment when winds from the south are unusually strong? Find a northbound segment instead and blast it. Or if winds are typically from the southwest but today's winds are from the northeast, that's the time to rock on that predominantly SW route.

It's a fun app and somewhat useful for tracking your own individual progress. Don't read too much more into it.

Mr. Beanz

Strava is designed for competition. If you joined, well then.....

IBOHUNT

539! You need to move away from there.
There ain't that many folks in the town I live outside of. Sheeeesh!

TrojanHorse

Meh, that's nothing... on the semi-famous "gate to the shack" segment on GMR (the first 9 miles of the climb to the village...about 2k+ of uninterrupted climbing) I'm 2074th / 2569 and that's actually putting some effort into it too. Oy.

AerobaticDreams

I stopped comparing my Strava results to my Bike Computer results. Its sort of like the idea of having two watches...how do you know what the actual time is? Even the two computers on my wife and my bikes never agree...when we've riden side by side for the whole trip. I use the computer to have an idea what I am doing while I ride, the Strava to see a better idea overall once its done.Oh...and to show off to non-cyclists the routes I take so I can try and get them to start riding and have fun...