Being fastest or not being slowest?

I am not talking about when being chased by wild dogs but in terms of Strava bragging rights?

In a group of 10 people with a couple of dozen regular trails is it better:

To have 1 KOM but be slowest on 10 of the trails

or

To not be slowest on any of the trails and do without the KOM?

I reckon the second makes you a better alround rider but the first wins the bragging over beer.

Just for the record I am slowest on many of the trails and don’t have a KOM on any of the trails we regularly ride 🙁

create new trails and be the first to ride them 🙂

(Then hide the new trails so no one else can find them)

your faster than me round most of lordswood. not bad for an old man 😉

I’d have to be pretty slow to be the slowest round here. 🙂

Overall it’s better to be a happy and interesting person to spend time with on a bike. If having KOMs makes you a cock, then in my view they aren’t worth having. However, if you can spread some happiness, motivate others and generally be modest, humble AND fast, then that would be the ideal.

Its all just a new form of willy waving.

I think really its more important to compare you with yourself so you can see if your progressing. In your case in particular coming back from injury its a nice was to see your endurance and confidence returning.

Or is this a subtle way of saying you were bored with the volume of Strava talk last night! It’ll die off once the wet returns.

I prefer the old form of willy-waving.

Shirley willy’s are made for waving?

I’m not that fast but have managed to get some KOM’s. I did have over 20 at one point but have lost more than half over the past couple of months. Left with only 10 now in less ridden routes.

A couple are on a route that I did a couple of weeks before torrential rain washed away the surface and left it much rockier and with deep loose sand and gravel in parts. I suspect that I’ll keep them, especially the uphill section, until it gets repaired or smooths down.

I’m actually more pleased with being in the top 10% on some Hamsterley segments than any of the KOMs I have as they are ridden by 100’s of people.

To have 1 KOM but be slowest on 10 of the trails

To me this says the KOM was either a fluke, a GPS error or digital EPO. So yeah, the second scenario would be better!

Nothing about Strava is important, it’s only a toy.

The MSU component in Strava’s algorithm will one day be revealed and it will be worse than the revelation of Lance Armstrong’s cheating!

To me this says the KOM was either a fluke, a GPS error or digital EPO. So yeah, the second scenario would be better!

Nah, it’ll be someone who went out to ‘target’ a segment.

As far as strava is concerned, the only thing anyone sees is the top 10. No one goes around checking if your average segment is in the lowest quartile etc. So it’s either glory (KOM) or who cares?

Of course as others have said, it’s more about having fun and enjoying the ride. If strava helps you to do that, then great.

Okay, it is later on Friday so let me revise the question by omitting the contentious subject of Strava.

Which is more important being fastest or not being slowest?

Is it better to be generally consistent across the different types of riding or to be master of one type to the exclusion of others?

I’m happy to settle for not being slowest, the busier a segment is the more chance someone else will be slower…

Its a sliding scale I’m always happy to be in the top 50%, 30%, 15% bonus!…

Being in the top 10 individuals on a segment is a very nice feeling…. Till you find there’s only 11 people who have times on it.

Nixie’s right I don’t think it matters if your the fastest or the slowest , if you can come back feeling like you’ve had a laugh and a good ride that’s what matters and your return to riding the way you are Is pretty amazing considering how your ankle was, and as soon as the mud returns I don’t think there will be any koms being set.

Which is more important being fastest or not being slowest?

Surely any self respecting Stravaist would immediately make their ride private if they were the slowest 😉

Strava – Which is more important? – Being fastest or not being slowest?

Which is more important?, for me it’s being the only one to shun strava like the plague along with it’s group huddle fapping competition, it kinda reminds me of that game you played at school (or heard of perhaps?) sticky biscuit anyone? 😐 .

Personally i couldn’t care less bout how fast i go…..a few nights ago i raced alongside a badger on my trails, and sat and watched otters play in the sea as the sun set – **** ace ride!.

I’m gonna get a “stick strava up yer arse” t-shirt made up and wear it at work in the bike shop, Or i may join up wi a pseudoynm such as fat-knacker and upload my singlespeed gpx files of the trails taken by my Garmin back in 2005/6/7 when i was pretty fit…..that”d piss them off.

Put a tag along on and then try not to be the slowest, towing a 4year old is a good excuse for going slowly!

Being a girl there aren’t many of us about and that use strava, so I do have a few QOMs – but I do like it when I tale the gender filter off and come out ok compared to the boys.

I cant say I actual ride differently but I do like it when ive had a day where I feel quick and then look to see if I actially was. I did only start using it as I didnt have a computer on my new bike. I am sure when I sort that I will get bored of logging onto strava each time

Strava imitates life. There are pros, willy wavers who will go out on fresh legs to hammer up a climb and get a KOM, good riders, medium riders, slower riders and absolute beginners.

Aim for half way. If you get into the top third, happy days!

and come out ok compared to the boys

Or better than all the boys in this case.Kudos Jen!

http://www.strava.com/segments/4847007

better to get good results on longer sections i.e. ones measures in miles rather than ones measures in fractions of a mile

I would say, use strava as a training tool but don’t let it spoil a good ride. Without sounding big headed I do ha ve 9 out of 10 koms around my area and the only reason I don’t have them all is I think the trails have changed since I did them, resurfacing etc, but I don’t go out to achieve a kom, I simply use strava as a training tool and something I tell my clients to use to gauge there performance.

IMO there should be a KnOM, i.e. Knave of the Mountain for the slowest. I think I currently hold one KOM and one KnOM.

My failed post above should have shown about a dozen segments where I am close (0-10 seconds) to the fastest of the mob I follow and about a dozen segments where I am close to the slowest. Green segments are fast ones and red segments are slow ones. There are another dozen where I am somewhere in between.

The original thought behind this post was to work out what would improve my riding fitness most, increasing the green segments or reducing the red segments.

Looking at the actual segments, most of my reds are climbs and most of my greens are swoopy descents with most the rest being flat or mixed roots where my lack of fitness slows me back down.

Without getting hung up on Strava it has proved useful for rehabilitating myself and seeing the results. On 8/8/13 the total time for all my segements was 67:11, last week it was 66:29 and now it is 66:18. I want to get it below the 60 minute before the trails get too wet and slow.

Only ever racing myself but beating other sometimes is a consequence. 😉