[Closed] Strava ettiquette and Electric Assist

There's an e bike category on strava in the drop down bit to select activity

If you're not getting told you're using a powered vehicle by strava you're not going quick enough 😉 On non assist strava.

On the ride edit function there is a category for sport. Scroll down to e-bike. All your rides will be in that category and won't feature on the normal leaderboards.

If a ride is marked private, it won't count for KOMs - you can set that to be the default. But then your mates can't see them either.

You're not the bloke who glided effortlessly past me in Nidderdale the other day, then waited at the top of the hill to mock me?

If it's just for your benefit, make the rides private. It will still show your times.

As above, mark all your rides as private.

Put EBike in your username I have MTB just to annoy the roadies

[i]If a ride is marked private, it won't count for KOMs - you can set that to be the default. But then your mates can't see them either. [/i]

But I WANT to humiliate my mates, it is the innocents I don't want to harm.

I will try to find the e-bike option

Change it to e-Bike Ride and all segments disappear 🙁

Oh well, I guess the Southampton locals will soon work out what is going on and ignore my times

I have MTB just to annoy the roadies

Philjunior don't judge others by your own thoughts, if a user is naturally competitive then seeing a mtb beating them when they know they are on a 5kg road bike then I can't imagine they like it,

I like strava for finding new off-road routes and rides, the Tarmac sections don't really matter to me, I know from riding a commuter with skinny wheels that a mtb within a quarter to a third over a road bike time is generally good going, so my competitive streak doesn't care

.

Oh well, I guess the Southampton locals will soon work out what is going on and ignore my times

That's one possibility, but probably not the most likely if you're pinching KOMs and the holders suss that you're on an e-bike.

Well I have crafted a strongly worded letter to the guardian about how ebikes are ruining strava....

Out of interest, how much extra watts does the assist give you and did you have it on full?

Good on you for getting out....I had assumed it was on your new toy unless you'd had some form of bionic leg transplant.

Means I definitely need to buy a CX bike now....

Change it to e-Bike Ride and all segments disappear

That's because the segments were created for bikes, not e-bikes. you need to create your own for e-bikes.

As an aside - what e-bike did you go for? Similarly crippled (actually probably not similarly but will never be the rider I once was before hip surgery).

Currently on crutches but looking enviously at Scott E-genius 710 plus, Mondraker Ecrafty RR+ or a Haibike of some flavour when a bit more mobile.

The bike has a nominal of 250W and the assist only works up to 15mph regardless of the settings.

Most of the time I keep it on Eco or Tour (1 & 2) and only use Sport and Turbo (3 & 4) for deep mud or Toot Hill.

The biggest advantage I find the boost gives is getting the bike up to speed more quickly. If you loose a load of speed in deep mud or going through a gate it is just a few pedal strokes and you are back up to max speed.

The trails I KOMed were not not exactly technical so it was just pedaling as hard and as fast as I could. I sprinted from the entry of the woods to the motorway and my legs were knackered and I could hardly breath. It was as hard as I could possibly pedaled. The assist meant I was slowed far less through the mud and the gate as I could regain speed more quickly. The idea is that I might repeat this straight line in a few months time to see if I have improved.

I don't really want to have to map loads of the trails that are already mapped as 'EBike trails' as I would like to be able to compare my times to my mates but if there is enough upset caused to others I might.

It might be worth raising your point on the Strava forum, IIRC they have a system where ideas can be supported by other users.

Seems a shame to waste all that hard work of other people in creating the segments when they could introduce another category just like they do for KOM/QOM.

I thought Strava was designed for push bikes?

So it shuts off at over 15mph? That's interesting, will probably explain why you didn't get every kom then.

In some ways its a little annoying as I'm having quite a good virtual battle with a chap I've never meet stealing kom's off each other. He has spent most of winter on zwift and I've been on trainerroad. Was waiting till the weather is nicer to unleash the can of whoop ass and have a go at his times and enjoy the banter.

All it means is I have to train harder now, and get extra kudos for being faster than an ebike.

I know I would be a good chunk faster on a cx bike on those fireroad climbs 🙂

If I didn't have to spend all my money on a massive mortgage you would have given me the perfect excuse to begin an arms race.

Lifetime ban now for you, I believe. And good for you being back on the bike after the injury.

Is there some kind of Southampton riders group on Strava?

I'm feeing quite protective of some of my Lordswood KOM's, now the weather is sorting itself out I'm fancy going and targeting a few more.

I wouldn't worry about being on an ebike, I got a few recently and obviously the person I took them from was obviously bit sour faced as they flagged my ride, so it will probably happen regardless..

If all the segments disappear when you change your settings to e-bike, this means you have carte blanche to create your own.
Be in at the beginning, become a guru, segment everything and stand back in awe at all the KOMs..

And...

Keep it chipped 😉

I think I will change all my rides to EBike so you get your KOMs back and I can create my own set of trails. At the moment there are hundreds of the bugger up there.

[i]Keep it chipped [/i]

I don't know what you mean. That would be on private land only surely?

🙂

Hob Nob, what's your strava name?

There is a Thursday slow group yes, don't know of any others.

Strava will only record Ride or Run so I will have to edit every bloody ride
🙁

Is there no longer the option to edit it when saving?

All rides marked as EBike now so you have got your KOMS back including whoever flagged my ride from yesterday

You should be able to change it easily when saving it. It'll take an extra 10 seconds, like picking the bike you rode (if you have more than one set up) or changing the title.

I also need to get myself a nice full sus like my old anthem, I can't get close to my old times on the rooty segments now that I'm on a hard tail and I'm a lot fitter than I used to be.

Flagging wasn't me btw

The eBike vs non eBike question is similar to your point about Full Sus vs Hardtail etc and what follows is not about you or me, just a point about bikes.

The eBike is a very obvious advantage so has its own KOM list.

I used to cycle up Lordswood on a full rigid fixie while you were on your full suss. You had a very real advantage but if I set a KOM on my bike and you beat it then your KOM would still count.

How valid are KOMs, even within a category such as normal bike?

I know some people will be fast regardless of what they ride but the quality and features of a bike will make a difference to how fast it goes.

I guess it comes back to Strava only being good for comparing your own improvements.

I guess you can do comparisons with others if they were riding with you so you had identical conditions but then the bike differences come into play.

Even then if you ride with someone who can leave you for dead on the climbs but then blocks you on descents your times become compromised.

Anyway. Hopefully eBike etiquette is established and I will try to save my rides to the right categories. Who knows, if I keep riding lots I might get enough power in my right leg to ride one of those old fashioned non-assist bikes - proper retro

🙂

IMO you are in at the forefront of a great movement, a game changer for so many folks.

You of all people know this industry, the riders, the bikes and us lot who ride em'. Add a class to you're Big Bike Bash and I expect you will be pleasantly surprised at the number and quality of the entrants.

Can't see this going any other way than up.

There will definitely be eBike racing at the Big Bike Bash as well as at the Baby Bike Bash on the 23rd April at the Southampton Bike Park.

Mainly so I can ride but all welcome 🙂

If anyone is eBike curious and wants a test ride at Southampton Bike Park come along on the 23rd and for a small donation to the Southampton Bike Park funds I will let you try mine.

8)

Without stirring up the hornets nest, will you be checking for chipped e bikes in the races?

Hob Nob, what's your strava name?
There is a Thursday slow group yes, don't know of any others.

Found the group & joined it, thanks!

[i]Without stirring up the hornets nest, will you be checking for chipped e bikes in the races? [/i]

I think you are overrating the seriousness of the racing at the BBB. If the electric bike category really takes off the we will seek to address the issue.

It is fairly easy to check for chips - you pedal up to 15mph and if the pedaling suddenly gets difficult then it isn't chipped.

Alternatively ride the ebikes next to each other and if the speedos agree then they can race. If they differ then they are either chipped or chipped to different extents.

Leave it, no one with a life will give a shit

WCA is Lordswood like the Somme at the moment, or is it rideable?

Quite nice at the moment. Still muddy but nothing higher than your hubs at present

I'm going to start doing my Strava road bike rides on a BMW S1000RR

-it's all bikes, innit.

The whole e-bike thing puzzles me a bit. They are MOTORbikes.

Quiet, and mostly low-powered (although some are multi kW and definitely not limited to 15mph) they may be, but they do not rely solely on human or gravity power.

Pedal cycles are human powered.

Does doing runs on a Segway count on Strava?

Would it be considered acceptable to ride around Llandegla on a small 50cc MX bike?

Raised an eyebrow when you mentioned it in the the other Strava thread, I don't thinks its fair on other users tbh.
Why not drop a note to the helpdesk and ask if theres a way to configure your account so your rides don't register in the leagues?

Everything now recorded as eBike so no-one else is affected.

Not quite a motorbike as it is pedal ASSIST, not replacement. If you don't pedal you don't move. It nearly killed me getting the times I did on the last fast ride. Definitely not like a motorbike.

I am off for a ride now to re-record all the trails I want as EBike trails because I can't use the existing trails which are marked for normal bikes.

Good news is that there are no eBike trails currently recorded around here so I should be KOM of everything for e while 🙂

This leads to the related Strava etiquette question; is it acceptable to log non ebike times on the ebike leader boards :D.

I demoed an ebike the other week it was glorious. I've had shit knees since I was 13 (three operations between 17 and 30), and am currently pregnant (so I'm not supposed to let my heart rate go too high), so it was massively good fun to ride up a hill at 11mph (I'm normally sub 3mph, my Garmin autopauses as I'm going so slowly!). Awesome to ride uphill with no pain.