I have a few top tens on some moderately difficult roller segments of 2-6 miles long. It tickles me to see my name alongside cyclists whom I know are much stronger and faster. But it's because I loaf and conserve energy to warm up until I reach those segments, then give it maximum effort before loafing again. And I take advantage of tailwinds, but pretty much every noteworthy Strava segment is dominated by riders taking advantage of tailwinds, or during a race, or by a small paceline of 2-4 people working together. So I'm not ashamed to be a tailwind mooch.

The difference is, at the end of a ride my average speed will be 16 mph, while those folks are averaging 18-21 mph on the same routes. So I'm not fooling anyone, least of all myself. I'm not even particularly strong or fast for my age (61) -- I know several guys close to my age, and a couple of women, who are faster. I just enjoy the personal challenge of tackling a new PR once in awhile.

I have one KOM, which surprised but didn't impress me. I wasn't going for it, didn't even know it was a Strava segment. It's just a one-mile loop in a quiet residential neighborhood. I rode it several times, beginning in 2015 when I resumed cycling after a 30+ year hiatus. I'd ride it maybe once a month, getting a little faster as I got fitter. One day Strava notified me I had a KOM there. It had been there all along, I just hadn't noticed. My average on that flat loop was 21 mph. I figured I'd quit since it's a 20 mph speed limit and I don't want to annoy the folks who live there and make other cyclists look bad. All the other folks on that segment are casual neighborhood folks puttering around about 8 mph. If conditions were safe to do so, a strong cyclist could easily average upwards of 30 mph on that one mile loop. It would be an ideal crit circuit if not for the curbside parking.