Get that chamois cream out.
Foo's be butthurting.

Funny, I know people would use that as well. I know of a female that already messed with her garmin file and tried to pass it off as real, and I know a male co-worker that didn't know chip times were posted online and was lying to everyone on FB about his correct times.

I freely admit I'm slow though, Strava just helps me prove it.

Yup.
On group rides consisting mainly of decent racers, they still spent half the time talking about various Strava segments and who's trying to win what. They cheat by getting 3-4 people and TTT the flatter segments.

And what about us nondopers? I've been commented on Garmin doping for years. Yesterday my legs felt good on a group ride and I fired up a hill, blood streaming from my eyes and puke welling up in my gullet. I crushed the segment I was sure.

When I got home I discovered I was 414 out of 534. I wanted to give my bike to the poor.

After a nights sleep, though, I'm good.

Gotta love the guy who sucks wheels the whole ride, then puts on the gas for his Strava segment, then is spent for the remainder of the ride. It has become a joke.

It's not always the fastest racer that wins the race, sometimes it's just the smartest.

.

Man, I am so glad I never got into Strava.

Luckily strava isn't racing. See racing on open road without sanctioning bodies and the safety they bring is not just stupid but life threatening as well.

I'd considered getting a garmin 800 or so for routing as I'm new to an area and had thought about strava as a side benefit with getting motivation from trying to move from DFL to 2nd to DFL, but maybe I'll just go back to my old method of paper maps when I get myself good and lost and tracking myself by writing down numbers I get off my old wired computer. Sure is a hell of a lot cheaper and I can "dope" my own numbers just as easily on pen and paper.

I would have put it a bit more nicely, but yeah.

Eh, I enjoy it but I don't take it seriously. I've found some good loops for intervals, some nice little remote ramps for hill repeats, made some acquaintances, and can keep up with what my friends are doing on it. If it's not your bag, that's fine too -- there's plenty of room in this world for cyclists who don't care to use it.

fix'd

I have a Garmin although I don't use it much and think maybe it was a waste to get it. I like seeing how hilly some of the more scenic rides I've gone on are though. I thought maybe I should share some of these with people looking for interesting rides, but my avg. speeds are pretty pathetic so actually I could get some use out of this website...juice up my ride and then share it with someone, "Yeah, here's a nice, hilly ride...that one was a killer, only averaged 22mph that day..."

Is Strava as meaningless as someone buying a custom wheelset in hopes of being a tad bit faster?

Strava isn't meaningless, but using it as faux competition is...especially when the KOM segment things are easily duped. Now the duping is just easier using a computer program. I enjoy using strava just to see routes that I haven't though up. KOM is pretty pointless, IMHO.

gotta love the sprinter who sits in the whole crit, then comes around the last stretch and wins the race.

You fail

Get in your car. Activate tracker. Drive route. Post log. Win.

Comparing a Strava KOM on a group ride to a crit?

I race and I also use Strava and like it. The guys who are on the segments we look at a lot are the guys who are also racing against me. It's interesting to see how fast the really fast guys are on a certain climb or segment. When i have a good day and move up on a segment, it's fun. If I get smoked on a segment i had KOM on by a guy I race with then I know he will let me know the next time he see's me.
I guess if you think you're the man getting segments on the local park, that's one thing but we use it on the pro Tour course to see how we compare with the pro's when they come to town each fall.
It's also fun to use it on race days and see how fast different guys go on certain parts of the course (climbs, downhill sprint section etc) and how we compare to the elite riders on the same day, same conditions.
Like anything, if you use it right, it can be fun and cool.

They're the same. No one gives a sh8t about a cat 2/3/4/5 crit just like no one gives a sh8t about a Strava KOM. If it's important to you and your friends, then thats what counts.

Thinking that your cat 4 crit matters is hilarious.

And I race.

this.../thread.

To each his own. Personally I love Strava. For me it's not just about competition although that's one of the enjoyable aspects of it. It's also a motivator, fitness tracker, training tool, and route planner. I've also made friends through it so it's a way for us to have fun, keep in touch, and encourage each other. But this thread has quickly gotten off topic. It's not about Strava it's about this digital EPO thing. Maybe it's supposed to be a joke but I think it's sad that there's probably people out there who actually use it. You'd have to never ride with anyone to get away with it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^this!!!!!