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podcast episode 35 (original image licenced under CC BY-ND 2.0 by Greg Heywood on Flickr Creative Commons)Why can't Strava stop motorbike riders nicking KOMs? Plus tech nerd-out with Silca's CEO on the road.cc Podcast
On episode 35 of the road.cc Podcast, George is joined by myself and our resident record breaker Matt Page to discuss an issue that is less about losing out on Strava leaderboards, and everything to do with preventing danger on our roads.
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It all started when Matt noticed some of his own KOMs were getting stolen by Strava users posting rides with absurd average speeds, and top speeds as high as 112mph... and when it came to flagging this to the world's largest social fitness platform, he discovered there was no way of reporting the activity for what it really is: putting other road users in danger.
> Strava KOMS are being hijacked by motorbikers going as fast as 112mph
Should Strava be doing more to stop their platform from being used in this way? Could they even work with local authorities? We discuss what we'd like to see happen, but here's the statement we got back from Strava in the meantime:
Being part of the Strava community is a commitment to respect: we respect each other, ourselves and the rules. When we all share mutual respect, we all win. Read our community standards here.
That means that we rely on our global community to help us monitor the integrity of our segments and leaderboards. We ask our athletes to flag anything that doesn’t match our community standards – including mechanical cheating – which will be addressed.
Strava values sportsmanship and fair play, and we want members of our community to earn spots on the leaderboards through clear and safe competition."
Part 2 of this episode is also part 2 of Dave's extensive interview with Josh Poertner, CEO of bike accessories and technology maestros Silca, and if it's an epic bike tech nerd-out you're after then you've come to the right place. Find out why Josh thinks 3D printing is "100% without a doubt the future of how everything will be made", hear some predictions on what decade you'll be buying your first 3D-printed bike and eavesdrop on some hardcore tyre pressure chat...
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Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story).
Latest Comments
- wtjs 1 hour 57 min ago
it seems that most places just rely on sufficient policing to reduce the issue...
- Matt Page 2 hours 41 min ago
Many manufacturers, including Scribe, can give you methods to reduce the noise level. On Scribe, and other ratchet designs it's usually just adding...
- wtjs 3 hours 19 min ago
It wouldn't work at all where wtjs lives...
- Sriracha 3 hours 35 min ago
Pretty sure AI could skim through hours of footage in a few seconds to identify suspicious events. Of course someone in authority has to care in...
- chrisonabike 3 hours 43 min ago
Bonsai samurai? Or is it just a case of "they seem to get smaller every year"?
- IanGlasgow 4 hours 46 min ago
Sorry to see Endura struggling. They're based in Linvignston, not Edinburgh, which puts them very close to where I grew up....
- mdavidford 6 hours 27 min ago
I dunno - seems like it's coming round on a regular basis...
- Rich_cb 8 hours 9 min ago
The mistake is to focus on the US....
- chrisonabike 8 hours 21 min ago
I mean it seems silly to complain in detail when we're firmly in the territory in the UK of "you will have to live with this the rest of your life ...
- eburtthebike 10 hours 52 min ago
I thought students were supposed to be intelligent?
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23 comments
Why can't Strava stop KOMs etc. being bagged by those using motorbikes? They don't want to 'cos by doing nothing they get to generate all this free press.
Those of you who are bothered by this are far too hung up with KOM's, just get out and ride it really doesn't matter there are far more important things in life
Of course there are far more important things in life, that doesn't mean that people can't also have time for less important things. If Strava KOMs exist and people find it motivating to go for them, why shouldn't they be annoyed if the statistics are being rendered meaningless by people cheating on them? I'm sure it's not a major thing for them but I understand why it could be a part of their life and one they don't want messed about. You could say "there are far more important things in life, it doesn't really matter" about virtually any nonprofessional hobby or pursuit, if their hobby is KOM chasing, good luck to them.
(I'm far too old and slow to care about KOMs myself so I'm not bothered either way, I just use Strava as a mileage log)
What sort of eejit puts a GPS trace of themselves doing 112mph on a site anyway? Like the 200mph Audi driver who had every police force in the country looking for him... It's basically an admission of guilt, cops should be all over this.
It can't be that hard: to get a K/QOM you need power meter data and a heart rate reading. Not dissimilar to the elite levels in Zwift.
It's self-enforced by whining ex KOM's in my experience.
I had a bad mechanical, missus picked me up in the car, bike on the roofracks without remembering to run off my Garmin. The ride home was 60-80 km/hr with a HR around 50-60.
My KOM cups and ride were flagged by the local whiney tosser half an hour after I had got home (auto upload from Garmin). After that the Strava police deleted it, meaning I had to fiddle around to keep the first 80km's of the ride, so didn't bother.
Honestly if people are complaining about their KOM's etc. they are the issue.
You're complaining about the fact that your ride got flagged when part of it was in a car and you're calling the person who flagged it a "whiney tosser"? There certainly appears to be a WT in this scenario but...
Thanks for following me around, and I'm sorry I took your KOM. Well done for posting again though.
I'm not complaining, because whiney types like yourself don't phase me. It's their choice to be boring whiners and they're obviously good at it. The other whiny tosser had lost his KOM for all of 30 minutes or so, enough no doubt for him to post a few times here as well. I'm just pointing out that (insert choice of pronoun here) may have just got on with (their) life.
I think the whiney tosser probably got the ping - saw it was 80kmh had a chuckle, flagged it and then definately did get on with his life, without being scarred by the experience.
Ah, straight out of Troll 101, post nonsense, get challenged on it, claim your challenger is following you around. Classic, if wearyingly predictable.
Complains about people flagging ride. "I'm not complaining".
These people don't phase me. "whiny types", "whiny tossers"
Seems there is only one person whining away on here.
And yet here you are...
Case in point WT #2.
So again, pointing out it is ironic you calling others whining tossers whilst whining about it makes me WT#2. As the majority of your posts involved "whining" about the content of this site, do you consider yourself to be "WT Prime"?
That's you not complaining? I'd hate to see how miserable and self pitying you get when you are complaining about something!
Just curious, how long ago did this flagged car ride take place, and how much longer will it be until you are able to get on with your life?
Now look at the trolls posting these comments...
Are you whining about other users of the site?
Lots of whining going on today.
Quote Strava:
"Being part of the Strava community is a commitment to respect: we respect each other, ourselves and the rules. When we all share mutual respect, we all win.
That means that we rely on our global community to help us monitor the integrity of our segments and leaderboards. We ask our athletes to flag anything that doesn’t match our community standards – including mechanical cheating – which will be addressed."
Seems to me "the local whiney tosser" was doing exactly what Strava expect from their community.
Presumably if you have any respect for the Strava community you would have deleted the car ride home anyway? Why would you want to spoil it for others?
Don't you have to do something in the first place to get it on strava ?
In this case, Roulereo recorded his car ride home (in error)
I know but not what I asked. It can't be that automated for an upload ?
Yes, when I finish an activity on my garmin device, it automatically uploads to Strava
So at the point to finish it, it must have obvious that it was recording the car speed. So why continue?
It's crowns for KOM/QOM, cups are for placing 2nd - 10th on a segment.