Originally Posted by
drewguy
Well I can't exactly singlehandedly "kill" a segment . . . Anyway, a segment's a segment, and it shouldn't depend on which direction a rider came from. If there's a reason to have a limitation like that then the segment should be a lot longer. Otherwise it just feels like an intentionally "hidden" segment. As for where to start/stop on crests, IMO it shouldn't be past the logical stopping point for someone taking a breather - besides, at that point it's not a climb! Descents are silly, but why would it make sense to start a descent segment before the descent actually begins?
Anyway, my bigger peeve is your point re segments and stop points like lights - I've come across a number in my regular riding area that do just that, although the worst was the one that started in a parking lot just before a stop sign and continued on through another stop sign before it ended. (The parking lot was close enough to the road that it got picked up by pretty much everyone riding by).
Well, when it's not really any kind of monument like a mountain pass or some hilltop with a scenic overlook, extending a segment well past the crest (on a flat, especially) is probative. In order to do well, one has to have the strength and stamina to keep going and it rules out those who blow up and have to "take a breather" when it's just the end of a positive grade in the middle of an ordinary route. Here's a great example:
https://www.strava.com/segments/5440091 or better yet, if you have VeloViewer:
https://veloviewer.com/segments/5440091 This is the uphill side of a little bowl on the return to the George Washington Bridge, so VERY well traveled by folks returning to the city from long rides. Just about everyone in the area with even the slightest awareness of Strava is familiar with it, but many experienced Stravatizers fail to notice where the end is and blow up prematurely in their attempts to get a
PR - until they take a closer look.
As for where they start, sometimes one can approach a climb from more than one direction, and one of those directions is advantageous. For example, there are a couple of fairly short but steep little climbs near me that begin at an intersection. The most common approach in both cases is via a right turn. However, if one approaches them by coming straight through the intersection, one can get a terrific advantage. By starting the segment shy of the intersection approaching the turn, one can exclude the riders who come zooming up at it from the other direction without making the approach portion any more significant than that. As it happens, the popular Strava segments for these little climbs have not been set up that way - they don't start until one has gone through the intersection - but they could be, and I think it would be fair.