Cecil:Challenging new segment, go get it if you dare: http://app.strava.com/segments/1218594

I wonder if there is a ranking of the riders with the most KOMs/QOMs?

;)

PS! My Strava iPhone app has been crashing repeatedly over the last couple of weeks, taking data with it: I deleted and reinstalled it today - we'll see if that improves things!

If you can handle dirt... take Nate Harrison Grade up Palomar Mountain... no idiots on motorcycles at all!

I want to try Nate Harrison Grade too. Figure if I run the 47mm Marathon Plus's at 55psi it should be ok.

Sigurd:So you said you like climbing hills?

:face-monkey:

Interesting--I was in Berkeley that weekend and rode one of the same climbs that day--Marin to Grizzly Peak. It is almost inconceivable to me that someone could do that after riding 18,000 feet, and I'm sure that by the end of the ride, there would have been a fair amount of traffic on Marin. The act of PLANNING to do this is perhaps even more amazing.

Here's a description of the Berkeley Hills death rides, starting with Marin:

http://inl.org/bicycle/deathride.html

sd_mike:I've done Nate Harrison Grade on 32's.

Tempted to try this. Would run my touring bike ( 1 1/4" tires) so I can rely on the granny to pull me up.

9.4% avg grade over 9 miles (or more) - that's about 20 back to back Texas Streets - oh yeah!

Going back down - just go slow, I guess.

Whatever you do, pick a cool day to go up Nate Harrison. The lower 2/3 of the grade is mostly exposed. You get a nice pine forest the last 1/3. Overall, much better views than South Grade.

If you want to follow a certain cyclist sometimes nicknamed "Mellow Johnny", here's his Strava page (he rode in Santa Cruz today): 3,000 followers, following nobody!

ShadyGaga:http://marcpro-strava.com/blog/2011/08/22/how-to-cheat-at-strava/

Clearly written in sarcastic tone - love this passage:

To insure you have a KOM that no-one else can break, create one that ends inside your house. That's right, ride straight through your front door (lock it behind you) and end your ride at the refrigerator.

Presumably you need to lock your front door in order to prevent other riders from poaching your KOM.
:face-monkey:

ShadyGaga:I followed one of the "Strava Cheats" and created my own segment:

http://app.strava.com/rides/7051844#133178436

Strava is able to apply the segment retroactively to my own rides. I'll be curious to see if it applies the segment to other riders...assuming there are others who take the same shortcut.

I checked your segment through Scripps (UCSD?): I can't see that it precludes other riders from riding it (locket door, etc.) and therefore wouldn't consider it a "cheat" as such: Unique, but not a cheat - IMO.

When I have created new segments, other riders who have ridden it prior do not appear on the list right away, but do so once Strava has churned through everybody's rides retroactively. For your new segment and at this point, I would have expected this to have happened by now - so perhaps nobody else has ridden it (I for one certainly didn't know of this shortcut): I might try it one day just to get a "2nd fastest overall"!

His picture shows him on a tri bike, and he's affiliated with twin six:

http://www.twinsix.com/team/bios

I would ignore him. Eventually all of the routes will be taken over by young, fit dudes on carbon bikes.

Sigurd:This dude named METAL Danly has been encroaching on - and picking off -- my Soledad segments recently.
:(

It's happening down here too. Somebody named Travis went and sniped a KOM that only the SchwinnLawyer and I knew about.
Just stick to the "I'm Following" or SDBikeCommuter" tabs for comparisons.

bikingbill:How do I get Strava to recognize a DOWNHILL segment?

There is no difference in the way Strava recognizes a downhill segment from that of segments in other inclinations.

Beyond that, I am not sure how to interpret your question: If the segment you wish Strava to recognize does not exist in the direction you travel, you need to create it from your ride.

If it does exist in the correct direction but Strava does not register you riding it when you think you have, you may have missed some critical section of the segment that Strava uses to uniquely ID it: For example, I know of a segment that starts at an intersection where, unless I make an extra wide left turn upon entering, Strava will not recognize me as having ridden that segment.

sd_mike:I've had bad luck today with Strava. It didn't record most of my morning ride and had two large errors on my ride home... I was hoping to see my average up Bachman today... I'll try again tomorrow.

Strava was repeatedly crashing on my iPhone. Somebody recommended to power-cycle the handset prior to every ride. After having been doing so before every ride for the last week or so I have not have any Strava glitches.

Cecil:It's happening down here too. Somebody named Travis went and sniped a KOM that only the SchwinnLawyer and I knew about.

That C St. segment must have been created either by you or TSL - I just noticed it yesterday when TSL KOM-ed it (and was promptly de-KOM-ed within hours by said Travis).

It is a rare day when I KOM any segment and I am not emotionally invested. Go get 'em. And this Travis clown probably has a small penis.

I could take it back for SDBikecommuter... LOL

Yes. Get it Pana!

Quick tip: If you are concerned about clogging up your public Strava feed with insignificant (e.g., short commutes or grocery rides) or private rides you can label them "Private": Labeling them private will make them invisible on the public feed but still allow them to be recorded and accumulated in your overall stats (Weekly and YTD distances, time, elevation, number of rides, etc.). They also remain visible on your private feed with a padlock icon on them, indicating that they have private status.

The only downside (that I have been able to identify) with marking rides as private is that they will not count towards any of the Strava Challenges you may be signed up for. So if you want your insignificant or private rides to count towards challenges you should not label them private.

svelocity:On Strava the Rose Creek Bikeway is now a segment. It has been named "If Jesus had a bicycle" and Sigurd's favorite rider (METAL Danly) owns the KOM.

I got 2nd overall on the La Jolla Farms segment today - guess who is KOM!

Aargh!
:face-monkey:

Haha; who got 2nd overall? Now that we know that stretch of La Jolla Farms is a segment and are more familiar with the road I'll definitely hit it harder next time.

I just learned that one can define a segment as private: Not that many real-life applications perhaps, but if one makes the same static rides over and over (e.g., commute or training routes), one can keep a record and ranking of all own total riding times on those "custom" routes.

So defining a private segment can be pretty handy whenever maintaining a public segment is nonsensical, or for keeping other riders out of your own personal rankings on custom segments. Once defined, Strava will process your past riding record and populate the new rankings with past rides that fit your custom segments.

So - towards that goal I have created custom private segments for my standard commutes in both directiions to create my own personal rankings for these rides.

Doubt it. Ha!

The Strava Climbing Challenge is in its final day today: 11,000 riders have climbed a total 420 mill. feet over the 47 day duration of the challenge - this climbing total amounts to about one third of the distance to the moon: To me, this says more about how far it is to the moon than anything else!

The "Ride Hard to Breathe Challenge" 30-day challenge also closes today: 5,000 riders have completed a total of 2.3 mill miles. That equates to traveling to the moon ten times.

The "Twice the Tour Challenge" starts tomorrow (duration is the month of May) - so today is a good day to sign up!

SDBruce:

Sigurd:Quick tip: If you are concerned about clogging up your public Strava feed with insignificant (e.g., short commutes or grocery rides) or private rides you can label them "Private": Labeling them private will make them invisible on the public feed but still allow them to be recorded and accumulated in your overall stats (Weekly and YTD distances, time, elevation, number of rides, etc.). They also remain visible on your private feed with a padlock icon on them, indicating that they have private status.

The only downside (that I have been able to identify) with marking rides as private is that they will not count towards any of the Strava Challenges you may be signed up for. So if you want your insignificant or private rides to count towards challenges you should not label them private.

I emailed the Strava Support team thru the website and inquired about private rides counting towards challenges. I imagine if enough people write about the same topic they may be more inclined to look into changing how it's accumulated. If I hear anything back from them I'll share it here.

Reply from Strava Tech Team:
Your request (#8879) has been updated. To review the status of the request and add additional comments, follow the link below: http://strava.zendesk.com/tickets/8879

Thanks for the feedback. I definitely understand your reasoning. I believe the primary reason that we have it set up this way is so that an athlete's rides can be verified by the Strava community making it less likely that someone would try and game the system. I'll be sure to share your thoughts on this with the team though.

Cheers,
Travis
Strava Support Team

Two other guys have found my LJ Shores shortcut, and fortunately they haven't beaten my time. So I have my first KOM. Maybe my last.

http://app.strava.com/segments/1259773

ShadyGaga:Doug Mowen, I call bullshit

How about this KOM and this one, Mr. Mowen?

Having said that - I am perfectly happy to call BS on myself:

Airport Sprint For Your Life

Not intentionally cheating, of course - but there is some kind of GPS signal anomaly on this stretch of Harbor Dr. giving most, if not all, riders inaccurate speed readings. The owner should delete the segment as it distorts the stats.

I had hoped to do far better in the "if Jesus biked" section, but I had to brake just before it due to peds and pets.

Next time.

I usually ride LJ Hermosa and the trail, but on a whim I decided to ride LJ Blvd. today for my commute in: I noticed there is a segment on LJ Blvd. between Turquoise and Nautilus. I was slowed down quite a bit by car traffic through Bird Rock, and there is plenty of room for improvement: 3 sec. better and I may beat Pana for the #1 spot for People I Follow on the segment!

:face-devil-grin:

Chris Kostman and Daniel Norman are right behind...

"If Jesus had a bicycle" is securely back in the hands of SDBikeCommuter.