Phil Gaimon has a bigger filming crew and mechanic crew and more attention getting KOMs that when he was a pro.
Of course the kind of races he was doing made a win likely more significant. He won San Luis › Villa Mercedes Jan 20, 2014. Other than that, not so much winning. Phillip Gaimon

When a local racer compares a local *significant* KOM to a local race - I think the KOM takes it. Not over a national race, but certainly a local one.

I didn't understand where the wind speed was captured in the picture above. If it was captured in Strava - somehow, I would think it would be useful for that power calculation. Before folks get on my case for that - weight is captured - and used for the power estimate, so any other scalar could be entered in too.

I dont race, but I know what you mean. If some stupid ass like me can get KOMs then anyone else can providing they are in decent shape and don't mind riding in heavy winds.

+1.

I'm a firm believer that no one ever captured a KOM into a headwind.

Depends on the KOM
https://www.strava.com/segments/15738866

It is a separate attached image from the Strava screen capture. Given that I have never seen wind data in Strava and that no one else has ever mentioned it, I feel safe in assuming that the weather data shown is not from Strava.

It depends what you think is important - the numbers behind it, or the actual accomplishment of it.

Here's how I see it. Even at a small local race, a dozen or so folks can see what you do when you do it, and that can be pretty thrilling for all. A Strava KoM, not so much; it's just numbers, and even the best imagination about what those numbers mean is no match for the visceral, automatic thrill of a victory in a head-to-head competition as it happens. With a Strava KoM or trophy, unless it's part of an organized event, the winner and witnesses (if there even are any) don't know about it until well after the fact, and the competitors have to imagine their competition, and often have little or no conception of who they are or when they may be competing. Any "victory" is completely abstract and the result of analysis after the fact.

One may take more pride in some KoM's than some races, but I can't imagine even the most "important" KoM being half as rewarding or half as much fun as the smallest head to head race. If it wasn't earned in a race, a mere Strava crown seems like having a baby by artificial insemination by comparison.

Seriously, how many people cheer when anyone else gets a KoM? Do people take victory laps after? Does even the most enthusiastic Kudo have a fraction of the energy of a handshake or a pat on the back? Can you ride home with a Strava trophy under your arm or a crown upon your head? No, I don't think colorful ribbons and shiny bits of plastic and metal are important, but they are real, here and now, tangible things, and that's what's important about races and what sets them apart from Strava accomplishments.

And by the way, of course Phil Gaimon has cameras following him now - he's created a context for himself as a sort of celebrity weirdo. I don't say that to be insulting, though. I read his book and he seems like a decent guy. But I don't think his celebrity has anything to do with how "important" his Strava KoMs are. ;)

https://www.strava.com/segments/764232
Most in SoCal don't know who won the 2016 Victorville P1 race, but they do know who holds that KOM.

But to your point, that is why I was there to film both, just nobody cares about the race.
https://vimeo.com/106442187
https://vimeo.com/184952256

That would come as no surprise. People can learn lots of things as matters of record, and Strava records are much more widely published, if you will, than race results. But widely published does not equal important. (Lord knows how many garbage stories on the internet get millions of hits.) In any event, the fact that someone would make a point of filming a KoM attempt necessarily makes it something more than a mere Strava activity. That it happens to be a Strava segment may define its limits or make it recognizable, but it's essentially a coincidence. No doubt there was something notable about the climb or course before anyone marked it as a "segment."

I won't deny that climbing Mt. Ventoux is more of an accomplishment than racing around Central Park, but I just don't see how getting the KoM on the former is any more important than winning the latter if it isn't also part of a race. If Mikel Landa goes out there tomorrow and just happens to get that KoM, a lot of people might notice, but who (besides maybe Laurens ten Dam) would really care?

I guess it just depends. Yes, you are correct, certain segments were special before Strava came along. Mt Palomar. I have times from Lemond, Romenger, Landis. Horner owns the KOM, and it was part of a 100mile ride, before he won the Vuelta that year. Rumor is he was trying to demonstrate he was in shape at 40 and used Strava and that segment to show it.

The Palomar KOM is as good as any amateur race outside nationals.

That race I linked - the Victorville one, had a small field. It was one of my kid's more significant wins and nobody cared. Nobody knew who was there - despite who was there.
A KOM can be pointed to and checked and folks see it and it lasts.

I've won races and also have some pretty cool KOMs and honestly for the KOMs where I worked really hard and there are thousands of people going for it it felt just as good as winning a race, if not better. The thing about a KOM that's better is you've got the best time not for just that day as you do in a race. I do get your point though and there is a huge difference between a hugely contested KOM and a less traveled one that you pick up on the first try.

+1.

Garmin's website pulls in weather info that it overlays on your ride info (temp, wind speed/direction), but it gets it from Weather Underground (I believe), and doesn't generate it itself (although some Garmin devices monitor air temperature).

I'm not going through 9 pages to see if this was touched on, but what is people's opinion on flagging obvious e-bike KOMs? As in, the KOM is 50+ mph...As in, half the time as known pros, done by some rando. As in 3000+ VAM. As in the guy's profile pic is his freaking motor.

I guess if it were my KOM, I might be upset, but people generally don't seem to care. And can we get all the "Strava isn't real racing, who cares, a Strava KOM means exactly nothing" comments out of the way, and if you don't want to post on the actual subject, feel free to refrain from adding a comment, kthx! I just flagged an activity which was clearly obvious, but I wouldn't flag anything I only suspect is done on e-bike, and of course if there's HR data to back up an effort, I'd never flag that either. But after I flagged this particular ride, I was exploring more segments, and it seems like this is becoming a thing on Strava. I found a few other segments with ridiculous speeds as the KOM, and no one has flagged them, so it seems like most people don't really care. Thoughts?

I guess I understand how it matters to some, but at my age, Strava challenges are limited to my own efforts. I have, on occasion, narrowed the view to my age group and weight, but not often.

I only bother to flag activities when I'm shooting for a running KOM. There are lots of bike rides tagged as runs, which are very obvious when you know what to look for. If it's a popular enough segment that I'm mired down in the teens I don't bother.

Strava is fun, but I can't take it seriously on the level as even low-level racing because of crap like this. Racing is at least theoretically controlled for doping and cheating; Strava isn't.

As for your specific question about HR, I've been thinking for a few years that running races should require GPS files for podium slots or the like. Too much course-cutting, so I'd be on board with your Strava idea.

You are correct, the screen shot of the wind speed was from the weather site "Accuweather."
And for those who didn't catch it, my point in posting it was that getting a KOM without technically "cheating", particularly in some areas isn't so difficult. A much stronger cyclist can easily get that KOM with less wind, and if he really wants to get and keep it he can go out during the next typhoon and smash it so bad.

It really is silly isn't it? :speedy:

My view expressed pages back is you flag what is not normal for that page. I'd say an e-Bike / big time difference is not normal. Look at who did it, look at their other segments and have good reason why it is off. It seems more appropriate to flag rides that are similar to the ones you care about. I know, there are no rules, but rank 300 place flagging the KOM is weird. Where those top 10 are likely all aware of what is going on with that KOM.

Also if you think 1-10 were done the same way, leave them. It is an e-bike KOM segment. The cool thing would be to name the segment "e-Bike" something.

There is an insignificant piece of road (not trying to offend those that built it) near where the team got together. One teammate got the KOM in the sport where they are supposed to be just tooling along, warming-up with the team. Another teammate, took it, on another day. Then...another holding on to the support car. And another holding onto the support car. I'm not a fan of the safety of that at all, and it is not legal in CA, but it is pretty obvious what is going on on that segment, and I think the only ones that care, are on it. Strava should take that segment down, but the riders on it shouldn't - other than the fastest non motor holding rider, who was already "in trouble" for attacking in the warm-up.

My KOM Defender update for this week had me flagging about 30 rides, and all but one of them involved finishing a ride, putting the bike on the car, and going 60-90mph on the freeway for 5-10miles. The one outlier was a run logged as a ride... with the last half of it in the car at 50mph. I'm equally surprised by the number of uncropped rides as I am how fast people drive on freeways at public streets. Getting caught doing 90mph on the freeway here in California will earn you a ticket that costs as much as my first car.

90 is the new 80.

Edit Add: I have a clean record.

More people know who holds the KOM because it's easier to find that information. It doesn't mean that anyone, outside of a small circle, cares much about either.

I don't go hunting for obviously fake segment times, but sometimes they pop out to me. In the past few weeks I've flagged several rides while I was looking at how I did on my own rides, clicked on a segment of interest, and saw that the KOM time was set by someone going 50 mph on a route leaving a popular mountain biking park, where the rest of the guy's ride was obviously done on his mountain bike at conventional speeds. There's no reason not to flag those, and shame on the guys who logged those rides and didn't fix them themselves when they saw KOMs show up on roads they knew they hadn't even ridden on. Just dumbasses forgetting to stop their Garmin before driving home, then can't be bothered to clean up their mess.

I haven't seen any rides that were obviously e-bike. I don't even know what e-bikes there are, or what they're capable of. Plus, given the "mechanical doping" videos I saw on GCN where they showed some hidden e-motors in the seat tube, I'd think if someone actually had one of these it would be incredibly hard if not impossible to prove it on Strava. The guy might show very high heart rates because he's actually riding really hard, but getting that little however many watt boost from the hidden motor. You'd never be able to recognize or prove that, especially if the boost were small enough that he only beat the #2 time by like a mph or two.

80 is legal on large amounts of Texas highway. It is glorious.

My record is clean, in that I got a bogus ticket once in Clayton, NM and a legit on in Iowa that nonetheless left a bad taste in my mouth because there was nothing around to hit except some errant corn. I'd have more respect for highway speed limits if they weren't blatant cash grabs.

Interestingly, both of my speeding tickets were with my mother in the car.

Geico owns a large stake in a radar gun company and all the insurance companies lobby for artificially low speed limits.

Back on topic, I flagged a ride yesterday. Rider left the MTB park and drove to McDonalds with his GPS still running.


-Tim-

Back in the 90s, the Maryland State Police were evaluating LIDAR speed laser guns for possible purchase. Eventually they decided they weren't worth the money, but at the last minute GEICO bought and donated them to the police.

Had to flag my first E-bike rides today, as I awoke to the "Uh oh, you lost your KOM" notifications on my phone. Checked out the guy's ride, and he went from averaging 13mph on rides about 2 weeks ago, to 19-20mph since then. Helps that in one of his activity photos... an E-bike. These folks do know there's a whole activity type just for E-bikes, right? But why bother to change it? MTB guys never spend the 5 seconds it takes to crop the car ride off of the end of their activities.