This and the quips about the QOMs make absolutely zero sense. Drafting and pacelining is one of, if not THE, most essential aspect of bike racing.

That you would decry that in regards to Strava KOMs and QOMs is bizarre. It's what bike racing is all about.

I'm not a terribly experienced cyclist but for KOM/QOM (King/Queen of the, "Mountain", being the key word) are pace lines really that big of an aid when getting up serious climbs? Maybe I'm being pedantic but it sounds like we are mostly discussing what Strava refers to as CRs (course record, fairly flat stuff).

I've never received a CR on the bike, only KOMs. And all but one of those have been on descents. The only CRs I've ever gotten have been on runs...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

I agree rubik, I don't really understand the issue with pacelines and QOMs or KOMS. Lots of women ride with men, and some are just as strong or stronger, and some women can be the weakest in the group just like some men can be the weakest too. Any segment that is heavily influenced by pack riding and wind, will always be silly to care about. Not to mention if a pro race comes through!

I personally only really 'care' about some of the fun mountain bike segments in my area as they are all done solo, but even trail conditions can heavily influence these. Some mountain bike segments are also faster in the winter on fatbikes in my area if conditions are good.

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I agree with this. I don't care about pacelines at all, that feels fair. It seems silly to be mad about it, and yet different really silly things DO bother me for some reason. A guy beat me on a 10 minute climb recently by 8ish seconds. His comments on the ride are always something like, "just taking it easy out there today, surprised to grab a few KOMs along the way!" And I'm sitting there looking at his 30 mile ride in which he averaged 150 watts, but averaged like 400 watts over those three segments just SO ANNOYED that he's pretending like he wasn't gunning for them. As if anything matters!

There's a guy in my area who does something similar this. He'll ride out like 20 miles from his starting point to the local hill in my town at a very leisurely pace, HAMMER up this ~4% hill which is like a 3:00-4:00-ish minute climb depending on your fitness, then another leisurely 20-mile spin back home. Seems like a lot of time to invest in doing a single hill "repeat". He's pretty fast on the hill but his PR is nowhere near the KOM (there's a lot of good cyclists around here) so I don't understand why he rides like this.

I am not a bike racer, so give me a little leeway. What I don't like about bike racing is that I think it should be an individual sport instead of a team pulling a sprinter to the end and having him or her sprint to the end. I know all the teams are doing exactly that so I understand the current format. There is no way around drafting in a cycling race. I really do get it. It just feels sneaky for me when the other riders don't really get as much support that only 1 of their team does.

Maybe it is because of this. I was just starting that same 25km ride a while back. I saw a guy just coming down the ramp starting his ride, but I already had a good head of steam so I figured he wouldn't be able to keep up. Unknowingly, he latched on and stuck with me until I was almost done. I turned to clear my nose and that fooker was right there. I had pulled him the whole way, and right at the end he got out of the saddle and hammered as I coasted to the last 50 meters. Then gloated by lifting up and taking his hands off the bar.

Yeah, he may have gotten ahead of me for the last 50 meters, but we know who the real work horse was. I just hate that fooking crap.
As far as I know, no one around here is riding in a group to take all of the KOMs. Other guys are taking advantage of the wind and I have lost quite a few KOMs, which when I checked, were on very windy days. However, I never see serious groups on that route.

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

30 mile ride. His 284w. Hers 122w. Both averaged 22.8mph. She only pulled 1 QOM on this ride, but has managed to pick off multiple QOM's in almost every ride and piss off every female cyclist in our area. She is a true wheel sucker if there ever was one. Lol!

I wouldn't be surprised if she has 74,932 followers, get's at least 50K thumbs up on each of her rides within an hour of it being uploaded, which has at least one girly pose showing off her curves, and the comment section of each ride includes a fuckton of emojis and comments about her bike from the guys dreaming "What do you think the chance are of a guy like you and a girl like me... ending up together?"

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

Not sure I understand why the new "Local Legend" status awarded by gender, its based on participation not performance.

That made me laughing so hard 😂😂😂

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Morten Falk Størling
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I’m not really into the Strava KOM thing, but some guys I ride with may take off now and again chasing them. I may ride simply to ride hard during certain segments without knowing the specific Strava segments. But, I have always viewed a KOM as an individual thing, not something that represents who happens to ride with the strongest riders. I understand that drafting and pace lining is a major part of bike racing. But, since essentially all of us ride for exercise/fun, I can never quite wrap my head around the rider in the group—and there’s one in every group—who prides himself on exerting the least amount of power/energy during a group ride by drafting the most and pulling the least. That’s the same person who grabs a KOM by drafting off others. I don’t really care what others do, but, yes, it’s an odd accolade to claim if you don’t do it without help.

I have a similar strategy ready to go. Local guy is a beast. Has 100’s of them. Very competitive. Always taking them back ASAP. Quite snarky with his titles at times.

I have about 4-5 on private that I took. I’m waiting for him to reclaim one of my active ones then I’ll drop one of those hidden ones straight away. If and when he gets that one another will get dropped and so on. Getting 1-2 others to do likewise; they live further afield. He won’t know where to look.

I need to start collecting more to prolong the game.

Oh I’ll explain - it’s to get the KOMs

I'm glad someone got the movie reference ;)

And here I am stuck with 15 kudos on a pretty epic ride that almost had me hurling. 20 tops.

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

As compared to riding past grazing dinosaurs or through an active volcano...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

I do something similar. There's a .4 mile slight uphill segment with a little kicker at the end just a few miles from my home. A few years ago, I did a ride where I was surprised to see that I was just outside of the top 100 on that segment, out of over 16,000. So I decided to see how much higher on the board I could get. That segment is usually towards the end of a ride, so I'll have a 20-50 mile ride where my power is 3x higher than the rest of the ride for a minute. I'm up to #23, but doubt I'll get much higher, let alone get the KOM. I just like doing it, partly to see how high on the leader board I can get, and also as a fitness check. On rides that include that segment, I generally consider the sprint the finish line, and then the last 3.5 miles home are my cool down...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

No.

All that matters in bike racing and KOMs is speed.

That's what it represents.

How that's accomplished (assuming no nefarious means) really doesn't matter. It's what makes bike racing, bike racing.

At the end of the day, if you don't like it, you can simply go ride it faster and be the king or queen yourself.

:D :D :D

Well that was kinda my point. The post i replied to was stating it isnt about your speed. It’s about leaching onto the fastest group possible. In a sport in which we are all amateurs simply exercising for our own good. Pathetic.

This thread got way too serious... meaning too many people take strava KOMs/CRs too seriously. Yeah, flag e-bikes or those using bikes/wheels on run CRs, but beyond that, it doesn't fucking matter how anyone gets a KOM/CR. You want rules, go do a TT.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

"All Runners are Liars" - Bart Yasso
"Never trust a Cyclist" - Phil Liggett

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Then ask Strava to make a "King And His Court" title for the people who want a title for riding in a group and leave the KOM for the individual "King."
Problem solved.

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

/thread

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney