How to spot strava cheats who use digital epo

24

Comments

  • 97th choice
    97th choice Posts: 2,222
    The latter as in questionable gps data, as in the latter part of your question.
    Too-ra-loo-ra, too-ra-loo-rye, aye

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  • The Rookie
    The Rookie Posts: 27,812
    Riding home from work and feeling good one evening, do you casually ride up that hill, or hammer it and try and beat your best time?
    That's competition.
    No....read some dictionarys, you can't compete against yourself.
    Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.
  • YeehaaMcgee
    YeehaaMcgee Posts: 5,740
    Read some dictionaries? Really? Are you for real?
  • The Rookie
    The Rookie Posts: 27,812
    Well yes, otherwise you end up using big scary adult words you don't understand and so use incorrectly....
    Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.
  • YeehaaMcgee
    YeehaaMcgee Posts: 5,740
    And spelling things like "dictionaries" incorrectly?

    What the hell are you blathering on about anyway, you spazwangle?
  • The Rookie
    The Rookie Posts: 27,812
    Competition you Welsh sheep shagger.....
    Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.
  • YeehaaMcgee
    YeehaaMcgee Posts: 5,740
    Right.
    What?
  • thekickingmule
    thekickingmule Posts: 7,957
    Riding home from work and feeling good one evening, do you casually ride up that hill, or hammer it and try and beat your best time?
    That's competition.
    No....read some dictionarys, you can't compete against yourself.
    Pedant is a good word you'll find in the 'dictionarys' :roll:
    It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded.
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  • bennett_346
    bennett_346 Posts: 5,029
    Beginner, this thread is about digital EPO not the digital crystal meth you appear to have taken.
  • cat_with_no_tail
    cat_with_no_tail Posts: 12,981
    I think Strava is great. Been using it for just over a year now and absolutely love it.

    I do think it makes more sense on a roadie than on a MTB though. Of course, that's just my personal experience of it. I find I tend to push myself pretty hard when descending on the MTB, I always try to go as fast as I can anyway. And for the climbs, I'm not fussed about my time, it's just a means to get to the fun bits.

    On the roadie though, it's all about the climbs, and Strava provides me with that little bit of an incentive to just stay out of the saddle for an extra few seconds more, or hit something that I might normally just winch up with a bit more power.

    It's pointless if you're not a naturally competitive person. I'm always going for KOMs, top 10s, or PBs, I find myself wanting to push harder now, even when I'm tired towards the end of a ride, just because I know it's a strava segment and I want a good time.

    Plus, as Yeeha already said, it's also great for the challenges like the elevation ones, or the one this month to get 30hrs in 16 days.

    Yes, a lot of it is just showing off to random internet weirdos you'll never meet, I'm comfortable with that though. It also allows me to "race" against mates I don't usually get to ride with due to scheduling issues, or guys off here like Yeehaa who live in another part of the country altogether.
  • njee20
    njee20 Posts: 9,613
    Two new KOMs today, one I'd been chasing for ages, so happy days!
  • YeehaaMcgee
    YeehaaMcgee Posts: 5,740
    I do think it makes more sense on a roadie than on a MTB though. Of course, that's just my personal experience of it. I find I tend to push myself pretty hard when descending on the MTB, I always try to go as fast as I can anyway. And for the climbs, I'm not fussed about my time, it's just a means to get to the fun bits.


    It also allows me to "race" against mates I don't usually get to ride with due to scheduling issues, or guys off here like Yeehaa who live in another part of the country altogether.
    I agree wholeheartedly. The roadie is for training, and getting to work (apart from one race later this year), so that my mountain biking just naturally gets quicker, and more fun.

    As for this EPO nonsense, well, that's just stupid. The whole fun of it, is trying to push yourself to ride harder. What's the point of getting faster times if you're not actually riding it faster?
  • cat_with_no_tail
    cat_with_no_tail Posts: 12,981
    By the way, I'm off out in a bit yeehaa, so kiss goodbye to your lead :D
  • bennett_346
    bennett_346 Posts: 5,029
    You're gonna let him run around the woods off the lead today? Don't say we didn't warn you...
  • YeehaaMcgee
    YeehaaMcgee Posts: 5,740
    Burghh, you're welcome to it. Feeling really rotten right now. I think I need to eat more to keep up with this mileage.
  • Rad2474
    Rad2474 Posts: 162
    I never use any of this gps crap. If you need pretty pictures and numbers to enjoy your rides i suggest you quit mountain biking and become a statistical analyst in your spare time, or failing that get yourself off a big gap and realise it isn't all about being fastest down a trail.
    Yep..
  • YeehaaMcgee
    YeehaaMcgee Posts: 5,740
    Rad2474 wrote:
    I never use any of this gps crap. If you need pretty pictures and numbers to enjoy your rides i suggest you quit mountain biking and become a statistical analyst in your spare time, or failing that get yourself off a big gap and realise it isn't all about being fastest down a trail.
    Yep..
    I think you've missed the point somewhat.
    Who says we can't try to become faster, better riders, AND enjoy the ride? It's not a one-or-the-other situation, is it?
  • 97th choice
    97th choice Posts: 2,222
    True, but it's a poor imitation for your mate chasing your wheel.
    Too-ra-loo-ra, too-ra-loo-rye, aye

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    Radon ZR 27.5 Race
    Btwin Alur700
    Merida CX500
  • felix.london
    felix.london Posts: 4,067
    I never use any of this gps crap. If you need pretty pictures and numbers to enjoy your rides i suggest you quit mountain biking and become a statistical analyst in your spare time, or failing that get yourself off a big gap and realise it isn't all about being fastest down a trail.

    Could say a similar thing about people recording PoV video on their GoPro's :wink:
    "Why have that extra tooth if you're not using it?" - Brian Lopes

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  • bennett_346
    bennett_346 Posts: 5,029
    I never use any of this gps crap. If you need pretty pictures and numbers to enjoy your rides i suggest you quit mountain biking and become a statistical analyst in your spare time, or failing that get yourself off a big gap and realise it isn't all about being fastest down a trail.

    Could say a similar thing about people recording PoV video on their GoPro's :wink:
    Disagree, totally different thing.
  • Chunkers1980
    Chunkers1980 Posts: 8,035
    Not really. Some people are best seeing their ride in film. Some keep it in memory. Some like to see their ride in numbers and stats.
  • bennett_346
    bennett_346 Posts: 5,029
    The gopro isnt there to enhance the ride itself like strava is, it's just an ancillary to provide some entertainment afterwards. "Racing" random people on the internet and having to cheat by cutting corners to get a better number time me is nonsense.
  • YeehaaMcgee
    YeehaaMcgee Posts: 5,740
    The gopro isnt there to enhance the ride itself like strava is, it's just an ancillary to provide some entertainment afterwards.
    er... come again?
  • angry_bird
    angry_bird Posts: 3,786
    I like strava on the roadie to keep track of what I'm doing and how I'm riding, it's a training aid.

    The GoPro is just a bit of fun, I like watching clips from when I've been riding, cheers me up when I'm stuck in doing uni work and can't get out on the bike. Having said that I rarely use it these days, I've got enough footage and the novelty has worn off.
  • bennett_346
    bennett_346 Posts: 5,029
    The gopro isnt there to enhance the ride itself like strava is, it's just an ancillary to provide some entertainment afterwards.
    er... come again?
    In my eyes, and this is just my opinion, but i feel as if people use strava as a way of making their rides interesting where they would otherwise be bored. To me that says they aren't doing it right and need to focus on trying new things and actually enjoying the ride itself. If you have to race against numbers to enjoy your riding, then you're not riding the right stuff IMO. Bear in mind i absolutely understand the appeal for roadyness so i'm not including that in any of my past or present comments.

    The gopro, to me, is something that you don't use to enhance the ride but just as some light entertainment afterwards, so it isn't just a way of using some techy stuff to cover up the fact you're bored of mtb or scared to try something new.

    I understand this won't apply to 100% of people using it, but from what i see on a day to day basis people just use it in the same way people use alcohol to enjoy otherwise very dull activities just to make them somewhat entertaining.
  • Chunkers1980
    Chunkers1980 Posts: 8,035
    Going to the pub is not dull.
  • bennett_346
    bennett_346 Posts: 5,029
    Who said anything about a pub?
  • YeehaaMcgee
    YeehaaMcgee Posts: 5,740
    In my eyes, and this is just my opinion, but i feel as if people use strava as a way of making their rides interesting where they would otherwise be bored.
    I feel quite offended, since as a strava user, I'm in the group of people you're deriding.
    I love bikes. I ride pretty much every day. I ride because I enjoy it. I ride to work, because it's enjoyable, and far more so than travelling by car. I also ride mountain bikes, because it's where I find my centre, so to speak. It's what I do to find that zen place, that dissociative trance state where the general problems of day to day life disappear. I ride because it makes me feel happy. I ride because it's who I am.
    If I didn't enjoy riding, or if I found it boring, I wouldn't be riding 100+ miles a week.
    If I didn't enjoy riding, I wouldn't enjoy training for upcoming endurance events and races.

    Strava is just a bit of fun, like a social network if you will, where you can see the times of riders in your region, and how you compare. Now, I'm naturally competitive. Probably to the point where it's a powerfully negative trait. Who cares, it's part of who I am.
    So, if I see that some on some particular climb, I've only to to shave 30 seconds off to become the fastest in the area, hell yeah I'll go for it.

    Now here's you, who's obsessive enough about bikes and related things, to be driven to post on a public biking forum, accusing me of not "doing it right", or not "enjoying the ride". You yourself find entertainment in "light entertainment" related to cycling things, yet you're not prepared to allow others to do the same?

    You know what? Riding is many things to many people. But if you're going to actually come out and say that others aren't "doing it right" in your eyes, then YOU are the misinformed prat.

    TL:DR version
    FUKK you for trying to be the arbiter of what people should do with their bikes.
  • bennett_346
    bennett_346 Posts: 5,029
    Now, I'm naturally competitive. Probably to the point where it's a powerfully negative trait. Who cares, it's part of who I am.
    Quite clearly. I think you need to calm down a little bit.

    I'm not sure what part offended you but none of what i said was offensive... Like i said it's just my opinion and i'm entitled to it. I did acknowledge it doesn't apply to 100% of riders. Fair enough to people who ride on their own, i admit i didn't think about that as i'm used to riding in groups. I can see why it would enhance the solo riding experience. But i still see an awful lot of people using strava to race their mates who are physically beside them and personally i ride to get away from all the technology of every day life. It's the equivalent of sending your mates a group text message when you're stood right beside them.