Friday Thread. Ludicrous Strava Segments

daragh_

Idly browsing Strava the other day I noticed that some dedicated Rouleur has created a Strava Segment for the Wilton Terrace Bike Lane.

Looking at the leaderboard I see I'm an epic 658 in this fiercely contested bit of Tarmac.

I can't for the life of me see why anyone would need to track their 'performance' on a stretch like this.

Any other examples?

devonp

think there's a segment in Maynooth going over the railway bridge/canal going towards Rathcoffey (mainish rd) which is down as 24% or even more gradient ??? 3rd on the boards.ie for that:p
might have been discussed on here prev ??

I'm 24th on that Wilton Terrace segment

In my defense I used to give it a go on the way to Howth on Saturday mornings when it was deserted.

OldBean

There's one in Dublin 3 that I quite like.

'Hurry up or they'll rob your bike'

wanderer 22

There's a ridiculous one for an obscure 50 metre stretch of elevated ground near Bray. But I created that one :-P

seamus

I guess someone using the commute to do interval training will pick out lengths of road to start & finish their intervals and so make that a segment to track their time?

Most of the sections of the canal cycle lane seem to have a segment on them though. It's a bit crazy seeing as the time you can achieve varies massively depending on the number of other cyclists around and whether you can get a rolling start and end.

Someone created a 100m segment at Clanwilliam Terrace to see how quickly someone can sprint across the cobbles to the railway bridge. It's the most utterly pointless segment, but I've had people flag my rides for bad GPS traces because it beat their time

tommy_tucker

East bound along runway, great segment, get that wind at your back and drill it

Psydeshow

My personal favorite around Cork is the 'Cross river ferry lol' segment at Passage West.
Seems I travel slowly on the boat and I'm down around 390th, this bugs me greatly!

No idea what kind of training I need to do for that, motivational speaking for the captain?

Idleater

Psydeshow wrote: »

My personal favorite around Cork is the 'Cross river ferry lol' segment at Passage West.
Seems I travel slowly on the boat and I'm down around 390th, this bugs me greatly!

No idea what kind of training I need to do for that, motivational speaking for the captain?

Doesn't the runway at Dublin airport have a segment?
Ryanair pilots use it to proove they are minimising turn around time.

youwhoglue

Psydeshow wrote: »

My personal favorite around Cork is the 'Cross river ferry lol' segment at Passage West.
Seems I travel slowly on the boat and I'm down around 390th, this bugs me greatly!

No idea what kind of training I need to do for that, motivational speaking for the captain?

Board boat at the back, move to front during crossing! :pac:

Lusk_Doyle

Pretty much any segment that Beasty is top of is not worth the effort of creating the segment! :pac:

Beasty

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Pretty much any segment that Beasty is top of is not worth the effort of creating the segment! :pac:

I appreciate how embarrassing it is for you whenever someone of my age takes one of your KOMs from you, but you really shouldn't discredit all of those performances, particularly as not all of those segments suddenly "appeared" just after you rode them...

buffalo

This thread is useless without links, so that Zyzz can go KOM hunting later.

irishrover99

walkinstown roundabout to ballyfermot, passes through long mile road and naas road junctions.both very dangerous intersections. think i've made it through once in all the times i've passed through it with green lights which is monday to friday every week.
whoever made it must commute when there is no traffic

mcgratheoin

Anything flat and under about half a kilometre seems just pointless to me. GPS units & phones just aren't accurate enough to give any kind of reliable reading over these short times & distances. I actually hold one of these KOMs myself, but can't bring myself to humble brag too much by posting it up. Suffice to say that my average speed was more than twice my recorded top speed!

http://blog.veloviewer.com/41mph-the-evidence-against-the-sunday-times-article/

There was another one a while ago that's very clearly an uplift service at a downhill MTB trail - think it's in NI somewhere.


This one as well - WTF

dragratchet

there's a stupid segment heading from sandyford towards the junction @ the goat.. 100 metres, -2 gradient sandwiched between two busy crossroads.

irishrover99

this one, 10% for 1.1 km that peaks out at 1,675m and i can do it at 35.9 kph. its in tempelouge :eek:


https://www.strava.com/segments/4401388

Lusk_Doyle

Beasty wrote: »

I appreciate how embarrassing it is for you whenever someone of my age takes one of your KOMs from you, but you really shouldn't discredit all of those performances, particularly as not all of those segments suddenly "appeared" just after you rode them...

Except I don't give a hoot unlike you!

seamus

irishrover99 wrote: »

this one, 10% for 1.1 km that peaks out at 1,675m and i can do it at 35.9 kph. its in tempelouge :eek:


https://www.strava.com/segments/4401388

Ah, the infamous Col du Kimmage.

lescol

Found the segment "Knightstown-point" on one of my rides, it's the Valentia ferry crossing!

check_six

irishrover99 wrote: »

this one, 10% for 1.1 km that peaks out at 1,675m and i can do it at 35.9 kph. its in tempelouge :eek:


https://www.strava.com/segments/4401388

seamus wrote: »

Ah, the infamous Col du Kimmage.

Am I missing something here? Is there a hill there? Is this a mistake on the Strava tool, or has someone painted in a mountain there?

Thud

check_six wrote: »

Am I missing something here? Is there a hill there? Is this a mistake on the Strava tool, or has someone painted in a mountain there?

if you create that as a route in strava it's downhill from 64m to 56m

cython

This is probably one of the more ridiculous ones I've happened across on my commute: https://www.strava.com/segments/1640329

It only came to my attention when it turned out that one day I had gotten what will probably be my highest ever placing on a strava segment!

check_six

Thud wrote: »

if you create that as a route in strava it's downhill from 64m to 56m

So how does it show up as a mountain? What witchcraft is at play?

gambeta_fc

check_six wrote: »

So how does it show up as a mountain? What witchcraft is at play?

I think it's when a Garmin unit or similar with a barometric altimeter for measuring altitude has a bit of a freak out and gives a dodgy reading. If the user who uploads the ride creates a segment off the back of it then you get the "Col du Kimmage".

gambeta_fc

Or a better explanation:
https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/20965883-Elevation-for-Your-Activity

Wishbone Ash

mcgratheoin wrote: »

This one as well - WTF

I appear to be joint 5th (out of 301) on that one averaging 71.6km/h! Do they think I'm Zyzz?

.....And the leader - 119km/h! :rolleyes:

Glass Prison 1214

check_six wrote: »

So how does it show up as a mountain? What witchcraft is at play?

Strava has loads of segments where the percentage is comically wrong. I wish there was a way to change them.

https://www.strava.com/segments/2586748?filter=overall - 18%
https://www.strava.com/segments/5969443?filter=overall - 28%
https://www.strava.com/segments/5747993 - 26%
https://www.strava.com/segments/4361744 - 29% :rolleyes:

Unknown Soldier

My only KOM is a Strava segment with a "kissing gate" in the middle.

People who make those should be shot.

Those who make ones that include the Walkinstown Roundabout should be shot also.

I don't mean shot in the foot either. We're talking a double tap thing.

Strava doesn't help itself though. I've asked them on a number of occasion to make the default "segment making" map" non "terrain" which allows you to zoom in more, for better accuracy.

Not that anyone gave a fupp. I may be bitter over this issue.

Wishbone Ash

Unknown Soldier wrote: »

...Strava doesn't help itself though..

First world problems and all that but segment which have incorrect names irritate me such as the one called "O'Connell Street" in Dublin city centre which is not near O'Connell Street.

There's also a few insulting/libellous names used on segments e.g.:

https://www.strava.com/segments/3318252

Lusk_Doyle

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

First world problems and all that but segment which have incorrect names irritate me such as the one called "O'Connell Street" in Dublin city centre which is not near O'Connell Street.

There's also a few insulting/libellous names used on segments e.g.:

https://www.strava.com/segments/3318252

What's libellous about that you big FF head?!?!

ThisRegard

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

What's libellous about that you big FF head?!?!

Presumably libellous to the creators English teacher?

Inquitus

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

First world problems and all that but segment which have incorrect names irritate me such as the one called "O'Connell Street" in Dublin city centre which is not near O'Connell Street.

There's also a few insulting/libellous names used on segments e.g.:

https://www.strava.com/segments/3318252

I have 15th on that one, and that despite the Haugheys trying to rob my bike as I went past!

Wishbone Ash

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

What's libellous about that you big FF head?!?!

Me...a FF'er! Jesus wept! :eek: (Blueshirt tradition down the generations in my lineage).