So the Strava local legends feature has just been rolled out here in GA. Not sure it is really important to me, but I'm wondering how the segments are chosen as not all segments I've seen have local legends.

Dave

Seems like there needs to be at least a good 10+ unique riders before it gets that eligibility, because I have dozens of rides of segments that I've ridden 20, 30+ more times than anyone else, ever, and I'm NOT the LL. Then there are a few that I've ridden about 3-4 times in the last 90 days, and I'm famous, according to Strava. Go figure... I really don't care, but it's a puzzle nonetheless.

It's one of the recent features they've rolled out that gets a universal eye-roll from just about everyone I know. I find that it's a distraction from the simplicity of a conventional leaderboard. I don't know anyone that judges their ride by how frequently they visit a certain segment. In fact, most of us try to mix things up specifically to avoid the same old ride. I get that it helps broaden Strava's appeal, but I think it's kind of silly. Even the name is hyperbolic.

It's absolutely stupid. I commute the same route a few hundred times a year, and there are a few segments on that route. So I'm the 'local legend' on these segments. Big deal.

so I guess Strava will not make you jump on the subscriber pool

Have to agree. There is a descent near my house that is a segment and I almost have to ride it to get home. I would much rather have a KOM than a local legend. Just curious what the method is to the madness. Seems like the segments are almost picked randomly. I try to mix up my rides often and rarely ride the same route, so if I become the local legend maybe that will mean my riding has stagnated and it's time to create new routes lol.

Dave

It's cute. Candy for the OC's.
Would be nice to have an opt out option. Some of us only have one route out of the neighborhood.

I'd rather see a feature to track who has the highest average speed in past 3mo over >5 attempt on different days.

It's underdeveloped feature released before it's ready (assuming Strava marketing ever knew what it was for). It's barely functional under the various smartphone OS and absent from computer/web based use. And of course the non-existent tablet version of Strava. As DC Rainmaker pointed out, Local Legends is your reward for failing to to get a KOM.

Je suis déjà abonné.

In Agile software development, features are typically released in a form that's barely usable. Then, they're incrementally refined and enhanced through subsequent software releases. Feedback from users drives the definition and prioritization of improvements. But sometimes, premature negative feedback causes abandonment of a feature with really great potential. If you have ideas for how Local Legends might evolve into something cool... why not propose them? (How could Strava be more interesting or valuable for commuters?)

If there are other features you'd like Strava's developers to focus on instead, advocate for them. Being negative won't help Strava improve.

I don't know what yet-to-be-added features I'd like, cuz frankly I don't give much thought about it, but I do know I don't like this one. Feedback is feedback, whether negative or positive, and both can help developers refine their product.

Frankly, the local legend bs is embarrassing and cringe-worthy.

turn by turn itinerary
to become a local legend

The name itself is terrible. Better something like Local Obsessive.

Or Frequent Flyer. I'd setting for that.

Yeah, that is perfect.

I want to be a legend.

I got one for a ride I do regularly and wasn’t quite sure what it was.

I have a few of those "local legend" things on my usual route. It's cycling's saddest trophy. Nothing tells the world "I'm an unimaginative drone who rides the same boring route every day... slowly" like Local Legend.

It made me discover a cyclist that is doing the same 20 km loop over again in the country side instead of doing the nice 90 km ride that goes around the mountain. I was surprised someone would do that

So y'all are alright with denigrating people just because they ride loops, or cover the same routes multiple times? How very elitist of you both.
Just think of how boring racing must be, where people cover the exact same ground dozens of times in one day.
We have an area locally called the Sunset Loop, some guys will lap it 20 times a week, and they're faster than all of us combined.
I've ridden the same 50km route at least once a week for all of 2020. I have a 3.5 mile lap around the neighborhood that I've covered over 350 times since I started cycling.
There are only 6 segments in that 3.5 mile lap, and I only have 3 of the KOMs (plus two 2nds and a disappointing 13/2,449.) Just covering that same loop slowly.

For those who ride from the front door, many will become LL for that segment that takes you out of the neighborhood.

Short loops are good if you don't want to get too far from home.

Yeah well sorry but I'm also in the camp that the Local Legend thing is just a bit of a crap Strava gimmick designed to take heat off them after all the negative comments from users after they changed the free/subscriber user access.

I live in an area that, due to the pandemic, not all public restrooms are open and all fast food is drive thru only. I do a lot of loops close to home.

Someone from the Big Ten conference must have named this.

I'm not particularly interested in attaining a Local Legend status (don't even know what segments around me qualify), but I don't see getting undies ruffled over the feature, either. If they were selective, as in actual, local humans having input on which segments qualify, I could see it being a cool feature - maybe it's a particular climbs, or well-traveled and hotly contested segments - but if segments are qualifying willy-nilly via algorithms, I think that the significance is going to be hit and miss.