Oh, you were serious! I just thought it was a tongue-in-cheek response to a few other Strava threads. My mistake. My responses were flippant because I personally don't take Strava seriously. I'll never be fast. I just use it for social networking and to gauge my personal progress on familiar routes.

Nope, hadn't heard of Gaimon until this year when I read about his quest to take KOMs from folks suspected of doping or other forms of cheating. I don't really follow pro tour racing. But I enjoy Phil's videos and admire his tenacity and honesty.

I'd agree that climbing KOMs are valid milestones for anyone. Not much teamwork involved in real climbing, other than blocking, or if there's a really serious headwind. So I regard climbing KOMs as significant achievements. I'm lucky to crack the 50th percentile on most local climbs.

But the downhill KOMs? Heck, even I'm fast on those. Just depends on conditions -- pavement quality, the right tailwind. Love the downhills. Lets me indulge in the illusion that I'm occasionally fast.

KOMs on mostly flat terrain, meh. Depends on conditions and riding partners. I'm more impressed by the top riders who do it solo without tailwinds. But not everyone posts wind conditions for their rides. And I suppose a competitive Stravist who desperately craves a KOM could recruit one or two partners to help, who'd agree to withhold uploading their own Strava data to give the illusion of a solo effort. Or doing motor pacing/drafting.