E bikes and Strava

rockmonkeysc

The local Strava specialists are bitching about e-bikes ruining Strava. Kind of amusing really, they all straightline the twisty trail sections to cheat on Srava and now they are moaning that e bikes are cheating and stopping them getting to the top of the Strava times.
Is it even an issue? I have never seen an e bike on the trails but I cant imagine they would be particularly quick anyway. I also cant imagine that anyone riding one would alsi be using Strava.
I think the truth is that someone fast has started usin Strava and the bunch of lardy old farts cant accept that they are slow.

Angus Young

On the downs they're, give or take, just about like any FS. But on the ups they kill anyone relying on leg power alone. If you haven't tried one you should. They're definitely not for me, but I was highly amused when I did ride one. They're so fast up hill that you ride up more like you'd normally ride down. It changes the lay of the land completely.

Got to laugh at Strava guys crying about their times. Some people need to get out more.

rockmonkeysc

Strava boys should get out less and stop opening up straight lines on all the trails and blocking the twisty bits.

Angus Young

I get it as a tool for keeping track of your progress. But obsessing about times so that you can post on the net so that a load of people you don't know can not give a sh!t? Mmm... there's a whiff of Norma No Mates about that.

BloggingFit

I do like using Strava from a progress monitoring point of view but seeing berms flattened off and trails straightened as a result really gets on my goat and for me defeats to whole point of riding off-road.

kajjal

Best person to race on strava is yourself. At least then you know what you are up against.

Ferrals

There is someone's name I've seen a few times that has ''(disabled rider)" appended so I guess they must use an e-bike. I'm obsessed with Strava but I can't see why you'd care who else uses it and if they use an e-bike or not. for training I'm only looking at my time in relation to my pr and if I'm close to the top where I come in relation to people I know to be very good riders.

I still struggle to believe people deliberately straighten trails just to get better Strava times but maybe I'm just naive

stretchy

I've seen loads of KOMs that have been blatantly straight lined, but who really cares there isn't even prizes on strava. It's great for tracking personal progress but you can't take overall leader boards seriously, unless you beat your mates!!

paul.skibum

http://singletrackworld.com/2015/04/strava-we-have-a-problem/

I like using Strava - not overly bothered by the climbs, more about the down or downish tracks for me and then just to see how fast some can be on the same tracks as me. One short little segment near me my best time is 48 seconds, the record time, held by a local xc racer chick is 22 seconds - I cant even get my head round how they can more than half my time on that section!

But mostly I am comparing my recent time to past efforts. Times at the start of this year have been fast vs last which is a good start to the season for me.

Ferrals

See I'm the reverse, I only really care about the climbs and flat/tech stuff. I've stopped looking at descents as i realised i was over-stretching myself to try and beat my pb's.

ben@31

So where do these people get their money from? Full sus Trek e-bikes start at £2800.

Sounds like someone is physically fitter.

What I like about Strava is seeing how much mileage, accent you've done and how often you've been out on the bike. From this data it should be easy to see if the KOM cycles regular and is bike fit.

The Rookie

ben@31 wrote:

So where do these people get their money from? Full sus Trek e-bikes start at £2800.

If you have a threaded BB you can get a mid mount motor to add to almost any MTB for around £750 that will give you upto 750W (geared).

Like many others, I use Strava just to track my progress whilst I ride for fun, yes sometimes I think I'll go for it on a particular segment, but only aiming to beat myself. I see no personal satisfaction in getting further up the leaderboard by cheating 'myself', If someone is faster than me following the route, great for them, if they beat me by cheating 9and they don't need to!) then I hope they feel some satisfaction.

ben@31

So if someone is fitter than you, they must be cheating? But if your time is quicker, then it's ok?

poah

I'm faster on my old crapy bike than my current one - I hate strava

RevellRider

paul.skibum wrote:

One short little segment near me my best time is 48 seconds, the record time, held by a local xc racer chick is 22 seconds - I cant even get my head round how they can more than half my time on that section!

Shorter segments have a greater percentage of error. It averages out your time between the nearest gps points to the start and finishes of the segment. Add in a little tree coverage and the gps from a phone (which is designed for cars) and you have the potential for massive time differences

poah

RevellRider wrote:

paul.skibum wrote:

One short little segment near me my best time is 48 seconds, the record time, held by a local xc racer chick is 22 seconds - I cant even get my head round how they can more than half my time on that section!

Shorter segments have a greater percentage of error. It averages out your time between the nearest gps points to the start and finishes of the segment. Add in a little tree coverage and the gps from a phone (which is designed for cars) and you have the potential for massive time differences

this is why I'm KOM on so many short local segments

njee20

BloggingFit wrote:

I do like using Strava from a progress monitoring point of view but seeing berms flattened off and trails straightened as a result really gets on my goat and for me defeats to whole point of riding off-road.

That's happened since long before the days of Strava. It happens more now because more people ride the trails!

If I saw a KOM on a segment from someone on an e-bike I'd flag it, just as I would if they were in a car, or it was clear GPS error. Maybe that makes me "Norma No Mates"...

And yes, short segments are pretty pointless.

Chunkers1980

KOM is the biggest load of shite ever to happen.

njee20

Why? Not got any? ;-)

cooldad

I have one around my garden. And I'm keeping it.

Chunkers1980

For this and every other threads reason about cars, powered bikes, cutting corners, loss of GPS, wind ect, all not totally ratifiable.

The only real way to judge how quick you are is to race, like for like.

However, Strava itself is cracking.

njee20

I can't really think of any segments of more than a couple of minutes where I think there's foul play though. Plenty of short ones it's just a bit daft admittedly. Some people are just fast...

BloggingFit

cooldad wrote:

I have one around my garden. And I'm keeping it.

I'm going to E Bike your garden while you are on holiday.

cooldad

BloggingFit wrote:

cooldad wrote:

I have one around my garden. And I'm keeping it.

I'm going to E Bike your garden while you are on holiday.

Unfortunately you could beat my times on a kids tricycle.

rockmonkeysc

Strava can be quite inaccurate for distances which means it there must be inaccuracies in positioning and tracking.
I have ridden in groups where we have all ridden the same route but over 40 miles there were differences in total distance of up to 3 miles recorded by people in the group.

Maro

I don't use strava but my girlfriend does, she uses it mostly to track her progress and that of her/my mates.
She has noticed recently how inaccurate it can be, in one instance it showed her being 30s slower than a friend during the same ride when in fact we had to wait for said friend to catch up, also we have noticed discrepansies (sp?) in distances from one rider to another on the same route.

Angus Young

ben@31 wrote:

So where do these people get their money from? Full sus Trek e-bikes start at £2800.

What's the big deal about £2800 when you can easily spend twice that (and more) on a regular MTB?

poah

Maro wrote:

She has noticed recently how inaccurate it can be, in one instance it showed her being 30s slower than a friend during the same ride when in fact we had to wait for said friend to catch up.

That would be correct though.

Angus Young

POAH wrote:

Maro wrote:

She has noticed recently how inaccurate it can be, in one instance it showed her being 30s slower than a friend during the same ride when in fact we had to wait for said friend to catch up.

That would be correct though.

Only in a different space/time continuum.

BloggingFit

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Strava can be quite inaccurate for distances which means it there must be inaccuracies in positioning and tracking.
I have ridden in groups where we have all ridden the same route but over 40 miles there were differences in total distance of up to 3 miles recorded by people in the group.

Big difference between devices as well especially with elevation. Mobiles use maps to measure elevation so they can miss changes gradient changes that are close together and on a gradient line on the map. A GPS like Garmin will use atmospherics to measure elevation and is more accurate.

I can do a ride and show say 1200ft elevation on my mobile and have someone with a Garmin show over 2000ft for the same ride where the mobile has missed some of the elevation changes.

paul.skibum

RevellRider wrote:

paul.skibum wrote:

One short little segment near me my best time is 48 seconds, the record time, held by a local xc racer chick is 22 seconds - I cant even get my head round how they can more than half my time on that section!

Shorter segments have a greater percentage of error. It averages out your time between the nearest gps points to the start and finishes of the segment. Add in a little tree coverage and the gps from a phone (which is designed for cars) and you have the potential for massive time differences

To be fair most of the top ten on any given local segment are elite level athletes either xc or enduro racers.