The last untarnished hill in the UK?

jlloyd

On a ride the other evening, I followed a fairly regular route, but decided at the last minute to turn left onto a road that I thought would take me in the general direction I wanted to go.

It goes past some posh houses then onto rural a farm road, but unlike other such roads in the area, the tarmac was smooth and looked like it had been laid this side of the war. It runs for just under a mile with an average gradient of 7%, it twists and turns a little, flattens and ramps up, with a great view as you reach the top before emerging onto the main road. Cracking little hill.

So I get home, upload my ride to strava. I passed through 31 segments on my 24 mile ride. And this hill does not exist in strava land.

I set up a private segment on it to get the stats, thought briefly of making it public then deleted it. Am just going to enjoy riding it, until some twerp puts a segment on it.

Any more out there?

fenix

Don't understand why putting a segment on there would spoil your fun ? Weird.

lettingthedaysgoby

Fenix wrote:

Don't understand why putting a segment on there would spoil your fun ? Weird.

Quite, the way some people act over Strava is a total mystery to me.

dannbodge

I'd make a segment on it but have it private.

It's quite nice to gauge progress using them

Man Of Lard

JLloyd wrote:

Any more out there?

Dozens near me. In fact Stravasegmentosis hasn't broken out generally around here. Can ride 30-40km in most directions and cross fewer than 5 segments.

lettingthedaysgoby

Dannbodge wrote:

I'd make a segment on it but have it private.

It's quite nice to gauge progress using them

But what difference does it make if others can see it?

roger_merriman

I'm sure there are plenty, of places with out much segments. Going home to see my folks in the Breacon Beacons don't get anything like the number of segment or riders! last few trips down in the spring didn't see another rider! do get a few in summer but its still fairly rare.

rolf_f

I can sympathise with the OP. I found a 10 mile stretch of road in Yorkshire with no segments on it. A fantastic, undulating road that byepasses main roads or a dull back road with superb views. And no segments. I promptly put two on and felt slightly guilty about it but I named them carefully and reason that with the segments there, it might make more people notice the road which I think is a good thing. It's one of those roads that doesn't show up on digital maps unless you zoom in a long way and possibly Street View hadn't been there when I found it.
In Northern Norway I found very few segments and not many times on those segments I did find. I think I got a top ten climb on one segment which was a significant climb on a fully loaded touring bike!

Vslowpace

I don't understand there is a problem with the number of segments, but you continue to use the most popular site on the planet. Why not use something other than Strava then there are no or far fewer segments to worry about.

jlloyd

Weird? Possibly

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy strava, I enjoy trying to beat my own times particularly on hills. I especially enjoy beating my mate’s times. I like the fact that it logs miles and can show me where I’ve progressed (or regressed!). It’s probably got me out riding more than pre-strava days. It’s, on balance, a really great app.

But….

Isn’t it nice to just ride a hill? not to compete with yourself or anyone else (which would be my natural inclination). Start at the bottom, get to the top, enjoy the ride?

Am mass of contradictions

fat daddy

JLloyd wrote:

Isn’t it nice to just ride a hill? not to compete with yourself or anyone else
Am mass of contradictions

I have issues ..... I cant not compete, thing is I am a crap and slow newbie .... but I still have to race segments, try to beat people ahead of me ...... because of this when I am tired or feeling anxious I have to change my route home because I don't want to get in a situation where I have to compete. ... Its as annoying as feck ... but hey that's anxiety for you

so I get it totally ... I would love a road where no one else rode, a road I could go and ride at a comfortable pace without racing real people OR strava times

keef66

I guess I'm just too old to understand all this social media stuff. So I can ride around in blissful ignorance of my status as 39753rd out of 43562 on a segment I'm unaware of.

I prefer to smell the new mown grass, hear the buzzards calling as they circle over the woodland, feel the sun on my back and the wind in my face, take pleasure in the hum of the tyres on smooth tarmac and the near silent running of a well fettled bike.

Worrying about strangers on the internet, not so much.

rolf_f

keef66 wrote:

I guess I'm just too old to understand all this social media stuff. So I can ride around in blissful ignorance of my status as 39753rd out of 43562 on a segment I'm unaware of.

I prefer to smell the new mown grass, hear the buzzards calling as they circle over the woodland, feel the sun on my back and the wind in my face, take pleasure in the hum of the tyres on smooth tarmac and the near silent running of a well fettled bike.

Worrying about strangers on the internet, not so much.

It's possible to do both!

keef66

Rolf F wrote:

keef66 wrote:

I guess I'm just too old to understand all this social media stuff. So I can ride around in blissful ignorance of my status as 39753rd out of 43562 on a segment I'm unaware of.

I prefer to smell the new mown grass, hear the buzzards calling as they circle over the woodland, feel the sun on my back and the wind in my face, take pleasure in the hum of the tyres on smooth tarmac and the near silent running of a well fettled bike.

Worrying about strangers on the internet, not so much.

It's possible to do both!

Not for me it isn't. I'm old and slow, and I'm only getting slower. And my often flaky mental state doesn't need reminding of the fact.

I'm trying these days to focus on the positive things that life brings. Yesterday I stripped our laptop down to it's component parts and cleaned out the heatsink / fan and reassembled with fresh thermal paste. It's now running at a healthy 45c rather than the previous 95c which was causing it to randomly shut down. So I'm feeling pretty epic today

cld531c

Whether you buy into the 'Segments' or not, they do affect your ride.
I am fed up of nearly being taken out by idiots who care more for their segment times than road safety (added to the fact they then slow down to a snails pace when their 100m 'race' is over).
Be selfish - keep it to yourself!!

kingstongraham

This is social media, isn't it?

Garry H

B*gger off, the lot of you. This is anti-social media!

keef66

KingstonGraham wrote:

This is social media, isn't it?

Very true. I don't worry about chatting to you lot though. Which is in itself an interesting observation. I think this particular forum is less social media and more talking therapy for me...

svetty

In the spirit of cycling I think that the OP should do the right thing by his fellow riders by posting the location of his 'new' road so others can appreciate it

jlloyd

only if you all promise not to put MY OWN PERSONAL HILL on strava! :-)

sloppyschleckonds

Wasn't there a disckhead on here who posted a video of taking a KOM of a descent that only 2 other people had ridden, 2 weeks before a Sportive went down the same track.....

Tiesetrotter

I have found two sections of about 3m without a Strava segment on my commute to central London. I'll care about them when when I am training. But's only my stats (and my mates) I am interested.

Although I must say there are a couple of little slopes I am getting close to the moped speeds

ben@31

fat daddy wrote:

JLloyd wrote:

Isn’t it nice to just ride a hill? not to compete with yourself or anyone else
Am mass of contradictions

I have issues ..... I cant not compete, thing is I am a crap and slow newbie .... but I still have to race segments, try to beat people ahead of me ...... because of this when I am tired or feeling anxious I have to change my route home because I don't want to get in a situation where I have to compete. ... Its as annoying as feck ... but hey that's anxiety for you

so I get it totally ... I would love a road where no one else rode, a road I could go and ride at a comfortable pace without racing real people OR strava times

To be honest, nobody else cares about your times. If you were 100th or 1000th place so what?

And it works the other way too...Ive nothing to prove to anyone else, I ride for myself.

Simply do the ride you want to do and don't look at the segment times.