How to spot strava cheats who use digital epo

YeehaaMcgee

bennett_346 wrote:

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.


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.

You REALLY don't think that's offensive?
Now this is just my opinion, so don't get offended, but you're a CNUT.

Oh yeah, I see what you mean, not offensive at all is it when you add that is it?

bennett_346

No i don't think that's offensive, maybe if you're hypersensitive. What you have written however, is pretty offensive. Since i'm not a hypersensitive pillock i'm not gonna cry over it like you have.

cooldad

That's why his girlfriend told him she has to get drunk before he can get lucky.

97th choice

@bennet_346. out of interest, Have you used strava?

bennett_346

Tried it twice, never bothered to use it again as i didn't feel it added anything to my day. Tried endomondo too but didn't bother to use it more than a few times.

YeehaaMcgee

bennett_346 wrote:

No i don't think that's offensive, maybe if you're hypersensitive. What you have written however, is pretty offensive. Since i'm not a hypersensitive pillock i'm not gonna cry over it like you have.

You're saying that Strava users are "doing it wrong", and insinuating that they're riding for the wrong reasons. That's pretty disgusting.

I don't care if anyone "gets" it or not, but I find it highly offensive that someone would claim that other riders aren't doing it right, simply because they don't do the same as you.
It is the single most deplorable statement I've ever seen here.

bennett_346

Fair enough. If you disagree that's your opinion and i'm not going to argue against it. I know it isn't your strong point but personal attacks aren't the way to put it across. I know you believe what i said was a personal attack but i stand by it wasn't and wasn't intended to be so.

Remember this thread is about people cheating at strava and that's who my comments are mainly aimed at, not sure if i made that clear or not so that's my fault if i didn't.

So yes, i believe that if you care that much that you have to miss parts of a trail out and cut corners etc to beat a time posted by someone you don't know and have to do that to enjoy riding, well i'm sorry but it's frankly sad.

YeehaaMcgee

bennett_346 wrote:

Remember this thread is about people cheating at strava and that's who my comments are mainly aimed at, not sure if i made that clear or not so that's my fault if i didn't.

Bullsh1t. Read what you wrote again

bennett_346 wrote:

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.

That's not aimed at Strava cheats, it's aimed at a group of riders that do something you don't.

What you wrote was nothing EXCEPT a personal attack on strava users. There is simply no other way it can be read.

bennett_346

The fact that cheating with the service is so widespread says a lot to me about it as a whole, tbh. But it was absolutely aimed at the people using strava who abuse it to get up the leaderboards or however it works. I thought it was obvious enough from the topic of the thread but it clearly isn't.

Why does this touch a nerve so badly? Even if i was referring to all strava users, which i'm not, i still don't see how it would cause so much offense. It's just an opinion at the end of the day, move on, get over it.

YeehaaMcgee

It's offensive, because you are dictating what people should do with their bikes. Who THE HELL do you think you are to make such suggestions?

bennett_346

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

It's offensive, because you are dictating what people should do with their bikes. Who THE HELL do you think you are to make such suggestions?

No i'm not. I'm not telling anyone what to do, i'm expressing my opinion of them. Anyway i'm bored of this since you don't seem to have grasped the idea of a personal viewpoint and it's akin to talking to a brick wall, with all the intelligence of one too.

Get a grip, fucking crybaby.

YeehaaMcgee

For fukk's sake, you're comparing people to alcoholics, and you're the one telling ME to get a grip?

bennett_346

Yeah, whatevz.

welshkev

bennett_346 wrote:

[. 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.

I use it to track my rides, so do most of the people I ride with. should we all turn it off if we're not riding on our own? some of the guys I ride with are WAY faster than me up hill, but i'm way faster than them downhill. using strava allows me to see if i'm actually getting any fitter and climbing the hills faster (I am) and it also allows me to see how far I've ridden - again to see if i'm capable of riding certain distances for certain events, club rides etc.

since I've started using it I've begun to push myself more, ride further and faster than I would have without it. it's not because i'm bored, it's because (as has been said before) to try and improve, get one up on your mates for bragging rights...whatever it may be. I for one don't care if people use it or not, why should I?

cat_with_no_tail

I think that suggesting strava cheating is widespread shows you don't use the service. I've ridden over 2,000miles this year, well over 100 rides (all that information comes from Strava by the way) and I've not seen a single person cheating on a segment yet. I have seen a few people who have left their garmin on after a ride and it's recorded their drive home. But all you have to do is message them and let them know and they crop their ride to exclude it.

I'm under no illusions that there will, of course, be people who do use things like that scummy cheat site. But they are very much a minority amongst users as it goes against the very point of using strava in the first place.

pilch

Cat With No Tail wrote:

I have seen a few people who have left their garmin on after a ride and it's recorded their drive home.

Guilty :oops:

I didn't even realise until I got a very curt message from an indignant Daily Mail reader, threatening to expose me to the Strava illuminati...

felix.london

welshkev wrote:

I use it to track my rides, so do most of the people I ride with. should we all turn it off if we're not riding on our own? ....using strava allows me to see if i'm actually getting any fitter and climbing the hills faster (I am) and it also allows me to see how far I've ridden - again to see if i'm capable of riding certain distances for certain events, club rides etc.

this - although Endomondo is my poison (although I do have them both running on most rides)

Last September I failed miserably at a big AM-marathon type race - only about 26km but with 2,600m of positive altitude gain (3 big mountain ascents)

Endomondo told me that on Saturday I did a 44km route with 1,300m of altitude gain and I felt fine at the end so I'm feeling on track to complete this years event in a decent time.

I also like the fact that Strava lets me setup sections for certain climbs, descents, whatever...although I'm not racing anyone it's good to gauge my fitness on the climbs and speed on the descents.

These apps don't take away or add anything when I'm actually on the trail...that's the beauty of them

njee20

I think that suggesting strava cheating is widespread shows you don't use the service.

+1.

Anyway, it's a bit of fun, I really don't understand what business of yours it is to suggest that people who enjoy it are "doing it wrong"! As for corner cutting and what not that's nothing to do with Strava, folk have been doing that for as long as there have been corners!

These apps don't take away or add anything when I'm actually on the trail...that's the beauty of them

Agreed, it hasn't changed my riding at all, other than giving me the odd bit that I may go a bit harder on to claim a KOM, easy and fun interval training.

thekickingmule

bennett_346 wrote:

If you have to race against numbers to enjoy your riding, then you're not riding the right stuff IMO.

On this basis then, you see no point in any races, or you don't think people enjoy them. Races are for people to compete against numbers mainly, but people do it for the enjoyment. What's wrong with using Strava to have racing whilst out and about.

I use Strava because I like to see if I am actually improving, or as others have said, so that I can push just that little bit harder next time. It's sad when I see the number of times I think I've rode a bit of trail like a bolt of lightning to find I'm 348 out of 400 riders that have done it, but I like it because it means I CAN go faster, thus improving my skills and my enjoyment levels.

YeehaaMcgee

njee20 wrote:

As for corner cutting and what not that's nothing to do with Strava, folk have been doing that for as long as there have been corners!

I've been scratching my head pondering about this, and, thinking of all the trails that I ride, I can't see how any corner cutting would work. Most (maybe all) of the trails here started off as some kind of natural trail, be it a sheeptrack, or some old drover's path or something like that. Due to the nature of these paths, they don't snake unnecessarily, they just kind of meander along a route.
So, I'm having trouble visualising exactly what kind of corners people are cutting.

The only place locally I've seen corner cutting, is on the Penmachno trail - where, if you go extremely fast, you can hop a corner and miss out a short section (there's a bit by a little waterfall f'rinstance, if anone knows the area). Now, that's the kind of thing that can only really be done if you're REALLY tear-arsing along, and it's a pretty substantial gap jump to nail.
Is that the kind of cutting you're on about?

njee20

There are trails here, which are generally loamy without the sort of natural boarders that rocks provide, whereby people run closer and closer to the apex, so the corner gradually straightens, or if there's a really wide sweeping bend some folk just ride through the undergrowth and cut it off altogether.

Both of these things have been happening for a long time though, and are nothing to do with Strava and everything to do with being a crap rider.

YeehaaMcgee

Ah, I see. Yeah, the loamy ground would allow that whereas the facecrushing rock here kind of prevents it! The trail is faster than the undergrowth here, I mean.

Northwind

njee20 wrote:

Straight lining of trails is not Strava, that's always happened!

It's worse now, though. I don't think it's just strava but I don't believe it's a coincidence. On my local trails it's still mostly puddle-avoiders and incompetents but at trail centres I bet an entire scottish pound that it's a factor. The amount of straightline damage at glentress is unreal these days.

njee20

It's the rise of those ungainly 29ers!

felix.london

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Ah, I see. Yeah, the loamy ground would allow that whereas the facecrushing rock here kind of prevents it! The trail is faster than the undergrowth here, I mean.

I'm hearing that...face crushing rock or drop down the side of a mountain to certain death!

njee20

I think the trail is generally still faster here, but I think it's a gradual thing, particularly where corners are outright cut. It's rare that it suddenly changes, it's more like trails morph over months and years.

Thewaylander

njee20 wrote:

It's the rise of those ungainly 29ers!

Damn right Njee its the fricken hippies!!! persecute them!

cat_with_no_tail

Thewaylander wrote:

njee20 wrote:

It's the rise of those ungainly 29ers!

Damn right Njee its the fricken hippies!!! persecute them!

Agreed, I heard they cause more accidents than they prevent.

ncn

I'm quite enjoying using strava. As I'm fairly new to getting back into it all I find its helping me to find routes around me. Also I can use it to remember parts I particularly enjoyed riding.

YeehaaMcgee

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Thewaylander wrote:

njee20 wrote:

It's the rise of those ungainly 29ers!

Damn right Njee its the fricken hippies!!! persecute them!

Agreed, I heard they cause more accidents than they prevent.

What's more alarming, is that everyone who comes into contact with a 29er eventually dies.