I'm not sure, I didn't analyze the data that much. What do you believe makes it impossible? Some weekend warriors are pretty elite, I've been smoked by many in my time living in Boulder.

I'm genuinely curious as to why his segment is not realistic, aside from 18mph uphill. I'm not familiar with that climb though, I just know I can't climb at 18mph.

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Team Zoot 2023

Watch the last 6 and a half minutes of that stage of the tour of California this year, then imagine a guy in his upper 40s whom you've never heard of putting 8 sconds on Egan Bernal over that stretch. Over 2000 VAM for 6 minutes; this guy should've won multiple TDFs.

The thing about this guy is that I understand Strava should always be taken with a grain of salt, it's not a sanctioned race. However, I cannot stand a "living in your mom's basement" level 12 internet troll.

To me, if it's one of those "classic" Strava segments like Gibralter........you gotta come with power meter and heart rate data. No HR or power data, no KOM.

bored at work, I am reading the commentary, it's worth a read if you have the time but the case against it is very, very solid. A couple pro cyclists even chime in on it. It's the last 7 minutes that blow it open.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

I just saw some footage, definitely looks like a pretty solid climb. As far as the data is concerned, it does seem pretty impossible. Ferrari has stated that Lance had a VAM of approximately 1800, so 2000 seems pretty outrageous. Although, beating any pro on a climb is suspect. Pro riders are so far and away better than I could ever imagine

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Team Zoot 2023

Grew up in Santa Barbara, sometimes it takes that long to drive that road...

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Matt Leu, M.S. Kinesiology
San Pedro Fit Works, Los Angeles, CA
Endurance Athlete and Coach
Consistency/time=results

so he was only 45 when he got the kom... plenty of KOM holders in the bay area that old and more.

aerobean wrote:

I just saw some footage, definitely looks like a pretty solid climb. As far as the data is concerned, it does seem pretty impossible. Ferrari has stated that Lance had a VAM of approximately 1800, so 2000 seems pretty outrageous. Although, beating any pro on a climb is suspect. Pro riders are so far and away better than I could ever imagine

https://legacy.usacycling.org/...ex.php?compid=260369
His Lookout Mountain race time from 2013 works out to 1,258 VAM.
His Mt Evans HC race time from 2013 is 940.1 VAM.
There is no earthly way this guy rode 2,000+ VAM

Which one if you is "Coach Matt - Triathlon Engineer"

The age is not the issue. Check out the activity comments, it’s pretty clear and also priceless

Someone did point to another case of outright motor biking but I can't find that segment. As entertaining as this is, there are probably many, many more fabrications out there and will get worse with e-bikes popularity. I've heard it before and would agree that strava should maintain some climbs or lists or something that requires power & HR data with some algorithms to find and flag anomalies like what I think zwift tries to do.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

My favorite thing about that "freak of nature cyclist" is his typing syntax. Straight out of the craigslist scammers grammar guide...

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

I don't have any idea whether this guys KOM is legit or not, but there is no way that you can compare Mt. Evans to a sea level climb. Evans tops out 11,000' higher than this climb. It starts 4,000' higher. Also, mass start races are tactical not full gas from the gun. And VAM is very dependent on the gradient. Mt. Evans from Idaho Springs averages 5%. Gilbratar averages 8%.

I'd guess that this guy legit rode the segment and there was no funny business, but he's using the Strava iPhone app which is known for screwed up data.

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Kevin

http://kevinmetcalfe.dreamhosters.com
My Strava

Once he reached the top, while putting out 7watts/kg and beating Egar Bernal's pace, he simply did a you turn thru an unpaved area and started back down the road. No need to catch his breath after the super human effort, just turn around and go back down like he's on a Sunday stroll..............after putting out an effort that would be considered top of the heap even among the pro peloton

did you read the comments?

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Yeah I did. I think that if he had a Garmin on his bike that day it would have shown something different than his iPhone app. The guy is a legit good climber, but not like Phil Gaimon for instance (who he's tied with on the Strava rankings for that climb.)

I don't think that there was any funny business other than the Strava iPhone app. That is why he's defending himself. He's got no reason to believe otherwise.

A bunch of us in my area got notifications on KOM's on Mt. Diablo one day this summer. They were insane, 10.6 miles, 3,133' of climbing in 4:21. That's minutes and seconds. 155.9 mph. Probably faster than a moto gp rider could have done. Guess what. Iphone app.

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Kevin

http://kevinmetcalfe.dreamhosters.com
My Strava

A pretty sorry excuse or way of defending an obvious troll. Anyone with half a brain would recognize the issue and hide themselves from the segments for the ride. No, it's a troll.

I caught one around our local area. It was an online e-doped ride. Never lifted from 30mph for an entire 35mi ride around town, including going over sidewalks, down stairs, and other obstructions. Had about 20 kom's on the ride, flagged. Yeah, come to find out it wasn't an anomaly. Before the guy hid himself as a user where you need to request to see the activities, he had activities all over the US that was the same. Was a mid 50's y/o club rider from Canada that probably couldn't even ride 20mph, totally e-doping every ride to the max. It was kind of sad the comments on that one also. De-ni-al.

I checked up on an e-bike rider I saw around town the other day, and it didn't appear on any segments. But I suspect that e-bikes will be the ruin of Strava segments someday. I say give it another 2 to 3 years and it'll be a pandemic.

Sorry, but you're being an obvious troll. You've got not evidence that it's anything other than wacky data from the iPhone app yet you KNOW this guy is up to funny business. The guys results indicate that he IS a good climber. Sure, not pro tour, not Phil Gaimon level, but a very good climber. Is it so hard to believe that an app that had one guy going 155 mph up Mt. Diablo could shave a minute or two off this guy's Gilbratar climb?

Also, for a group of triathletes I'd expect a better understanding of the context of his ride. He rode up and back from Santa Barbara. Bernal was in the middle of a stage race, at the end of a long stage. Do you call everybody with a stand alone marathon time faster than Ironman winning times a cheater or troll also?

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Kevin

http://kevinmetcalfe.dreamhosters.com
My Strava

As someone noted in the comments, the turn around looks awfully like one that a car would do. A bike is unlikely to need the whole road plus the shoulder to turn around (you know, on top of the fact that an unknown 45 year old out climbed Bernal)

I've never understood why Strava doesn't have some sort of auto-flag feature for obviously bad -- I mean impossible -- data. For example, when a ride is done like you just described, with zero change in speed.

I cannot tell you how many times I've seen someone do a 10 mile "run" in which they managed to break the mile world record in the middle. Often more than once. It is trivial for software to recognize the problem. In the very least, it ought to alert the user who just uploaded it. I've occasionally had my watch on "Bike" for a run and not realized when I uploaded a workout.

Sometimes I don't think the users care. One of my CRs gets consistently broken again and again by the same guy on roller skis. He often forgets to mark it as a roller-ski session, but I know its one because he's always with his girlfriend (who manages to tag it correctly each and every time).

Sure he could be doing a run while she roller skis, but there are moments above 30km/hr on the downhill parts which give it away.