I was poking fun at myself, nobody else.

The "local legends" thing just reminded me of how seldom I explore on my bike anymore.

I'm actually fortunate to live near some good training loops that are relatively free of vehicle traffic. Some folks, including the former local pro team (I think they've recently disbanded), would drive or ride miles to train on the same loops that I just consider "my neighborhood."

After being hit by a car a couple of years ago I avoided some routes that required tricky navigation with cars. One of my favorite routes includes three or more loops, but connecting the loops requires navigating some tricky merges between the lightly traveled access roads and highway off ramps. If my legs and lungs feel fresh and I need a challenge I'll ride the longer route and treat those interchanges as sprint zones. But when I just want to relax or do intervals I tend to avoid any routes with traffic. Which means lots of loops.

I'd prefer it if Strava made that whole local legends thing opt-in, without tying it to whether we set our activities to public, friends only, or private.

Yup, I use the nearest 5-mile loop for harder training sessions. It's just under 2 miles from my door so even in summer I can take only a single water bottle to save a little weight. Usually I take two or three large bottles. Ditto the heavy saddle bag. I usually overpack for most rides so I'm prepared for almost anything. But with the loop I can take a minimal flat kit, skip the multi-tool, etc.

That or opt out.

Or just a leaderboard that shows number of attempts for a segment instead of top speed - then end user can break it down by This Year, This Week, This Month, All-Time, M/F, Club, Followers, etc. just like the top speed leaderboard.

The first one I saw went to a strong riding friend and it was for a significant climbing segment. Cool, I thought. The next day I got one for a plodding flat segment along a creek where I usually amble along at under 10 mph, watching for birds and beavers. Funny, I thought. Now it seems all my Strava friends have at least one. It's easy to poke fun at folks riding the same routes day after day but it's often not a choice. I'm spoiled for choice now but I once lived where there was only one viable route and it maxed out at 50 miles. It's a commitment to remain an enthusiastic cyclist in that situation.

I like the idea, but given there are so many segments it does seem like it just becomes too much.

Maybe they should do an opt-in for certain segments (that you really care about).

Maybe they can implement some sort of combination between just number of attempts and time (and maybe even rank for each day, as in maybe you come top 3 on any day you ride, but overall are juts top 10% because over the years many strong riders have dropped a faster time than you can).

I just got a Local Legend status yesterday. There's a road with a certain segment I ride a lot because it allows me to access other roads. It's completely pointless, but it's going on my resume anyway.

;-)

It's a participation trophy.

Haven't they gotten rid of "leaders" and "legends" yet?

They got rid of it years ago.

it’s not because other people call your habits surprising that they are elitists.
when you have the most beautiful 90km ride on amazing road around your house and you do the same 20km loop 4-5 times instead, everyday. It’s surprising.

I don't think I'm unique in that some days, it's just about turning the pedals. A 90km ride takes up a decent chunk of the morning, at least. Most people can't/won't go that far without eating or stopping. My sweet spot is 50km, as it takes about 100 minutes, I can do it fasted, I can ride it in the afternoon, I know exactly how much water I'll need. So I tend to ride the same exact 50km loop, over and over. I see folks on the river trail, and if I look at their activity histories, that's what they do. They ride up and down the trail a couple of times a week. They don't go anywhere else.

What I think a certain group is failing to recognize is that most cyclists cover the same ground over and over, either out of preference, convenience, or whatever other reason they might have. Now, in our current situation, the convenience of a familiar, sub-2 hour route is greater than ever. Local Legends seems to be at least partly aimed at that. Because while I have too many of them to count (the system doesn't seem to work right, I get notified in the app maybe once out of every 8-10 rides) I see other folks on fly-bys that have Local Legend on segments local to them with 40-60 efforts.
Here's a snip of someone I follow on Strava, from a few months ago, and it's not uncommon-- at all.

I got one yesterday. Woohoo! It involves a loop that only climbers would take. Did it 7 times in 90 days. Would have done it more, but the park was closed a bit during the first COVID closures.

Oh great, my hill repeat workout is going to look like I'm chasing local legend status.

It’s gonna bring a new kind of repetitive segment intense cyclists

I guess it’s a good motivation for some

Half of my cycling miles are/were from my weekdaily commute. If I was not now working from home I'd be getting 64 efforts per 90 days on each of those 20 or so segments on my commute. Two of them are also on my weekend route start for another typical 12 efforts per 90 days = 72 total if things were normal.

Now since I started working from home I still for sanity ride my 24mi round-trip commute in one go about every other morning to keep a sense of routine. So now I have ~44 attempts on those segments with LL on most of them.

And have now started a new morning route

Is anyone else finding the ongoing local legend push to be annoying? Emails, banners in the feed, large laurel leaf on activities when someone gets one. It really needs an opt out not just from getting the label, but also for getting anything about it from Strava. Yeah I know there are more important things to concern oneself with and I should be able to ignore it, which I mostly do, but I want simple and less clutter.

Do any Strava users want this? I have a few friends who use Strava very non-competitively, never cared about speed leader boards and care just as little about LLs. Who is this for?

Local legend is even dumber than when they decided to have a "new year KOM" thing a few years back.

I've gotten 4 different local legend titles for riding a segment a grand total of 2 times.

So ridiculous. And they email me about it! I'm going to have to block Strava emails soon.

I don't get emails, and don't even notice the LLs, because they actually pop up on my activities (on mobile) about 1 day a week.

I have a few local legends for only doing a segment one time. LOL.

Dave

Just wait until you get the email about someone taking your Local Legend title. Oh no!

I get emails telling me I got one, emails telling me I lost one, emails telling me I could get one with X more rides and emails telling me generically about it.
In my mobile feed I get banners telling me generically about it, a narrow banner on top of others and my rides when we get one, etc.
And also in the web feed there are banners and ads for it.

Some examples "See if you got what it takes" Like riding the same loop over and over and over and over again.


And this over and over again in the feed

yeah...got a local legend moniker for the san diego zoo parking lot. a parking lot...albeit a famous one. not sure how i feel about that.

Somebody felt the need to make a segment for it, must be awesome, lol

someone told me it’s all happening at the zoo.