Bigger Gear wrote:People cheat on Strava. Locally I know of a few riders who will draft a dump truck or bus to get the fastest segment time. I have also seen rides posted that look suspiciously like they were done on a moped. And I'm pretty sure I've spotted a few digitalepo enhanced rides as well. It's called life, people are always going to cheat! I have raced against more than a few guys over the years who were doping, I've raced against guys who've been dropped on a circuit and cut the course and re-joined the pack to contest the finish, I've raced against guys who have been dropped in crits and taken a "mechanical" free lap too. All cheaters, and they would probably all "cheat" on Strava as well.
I'm slowly rehabbing from my early Strava addiction. I started using it in May 2012 and I was hooked. As a retired former cat 1 racer it was kind of fun to make riding into "racing" again, even though I am WELL AWARE what real racing is after doing it for 20 years. There were a few other strong guys using it locally and were having fun taking KOMs from each other all summer long last year. But this year things have soured for me. Firstly, I do see guys cheating as described above. There are more users in my area on Strava, so there are more group rides. Some group rides have become Strava takedown missions - the group's average speed for the ride is under 30 km/h but they hammer every flat segment in an effort to get the KOM. I can't imagine a more stupid group ride. I ride with mostly ex-racers and we ride nice and steady 2-up, and I never ever go looking for a KOM on a group ride and the guys I ride with would probably punch me if I did. Secondly, I have started to realize that Strava can be very detrimental to one's happiness if he is uber-competitive. I had some rides earlier this year where I was choosing my route based on wind conditions. I found myself finishing rides and not thinking about how much I enjoyed riding, but rushing my Garmin to the Mac to upload my data. Sheesh. So in the past 3 months I have started to rehab, I still use Strava because I like its interface and I like to compare my data to my previous data, but I have let go of the targeted KOM chasing and KOM defending. "My name is Joe and today is my 74th day without stressing about a Strava KOM".
This sums it up for me perfectly.
I was on it before it 'hit' - the good old days, do 150km ride and only go through 5 segments. Which were terrific to plot progress, as they would all be climbs of varying lengths. It's a little out of control now, but hey that's just the way things go.
Still use it for my training on the TT rig and uphill power tests, the rest is by-the-by now. Aside from winding people up of course
but even that has started to lose its appeal.