Originally Posted by
kv501
Now to my question. Strava has something called King Of the Mountain, (KOM). This is very ridiculous. It shows that you have picked a day with a tailwind, over a certain segment or ride. In turn, it makes other riders wait for a day with a stronger tailwind to get that elusive KOM, which makes you wait for a day with an even stronger tailwind. A completely pointless endless cycle.
Bahhh-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha! Isn't that the truth? As if anybody does a straight shot segment when there isn't a tailwind. I mean duh, right?
People also apparently make Strava segments out of their own cul-de-sac streets. Or their driveways. Or at least something that nobody else is likely to ride.
Having said that, I still like doing Strava segments - and I'm not even a member of Strava. Even if there's a monster tailwind, it's fun to get from point A to point B faster than ever and set the bar out there to see if I can beat that time when there's much less wind, which I've done numerous times and which is quite satisfying in a compete-against-yourself-only kind of way. And there are a few loop segments around where I live, so those can be used as
legitimate benchmarks.
As for the pros riding these segments ... naturally somebody decided to include Mt. Diablo, Mont Ventoux and other famous mountains as segments, and of course those are regularly ridden by top pros, making the amateurs look ... well, amateurish.