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What's the lowest you've gone to get a KOM?

A friend in my club told me recently that he drafted behind his wife's car with a massive tailwind to get a KOM. So dangerous...

What is the weirdest thing you have done?

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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11 comments

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Jimmy Ray Will | 1 year ago
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I'm not too proud (yet equally ashamed) to admit that I've followed certain individuals on Strava only to identify their longest held and most recently aquired KOMs and take them off them. 

On a couple of occasions, I have also worn a skinsuit on a training ride. The shame! 

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IanEdward | 1 year ago
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Here's a twist on the original question - what's the pettiest thing you've flagged?

Got 10th on an obscure local hill today, pretty chuffed with that although it really is quite an obscure dead end climb...

Anyway, 4th and 5th respectively are both the same guy, same day, same time, so appears just to be a duplicate profile?

1st place though screams e-bike. Is 30 seconds faster than second place on a 2:43 segment, is someone with virtually no followers and a picture of their dog as their avatar and just generally doesn't look like the profile of somebody who's likely to be smashing local KOMs. In early January 🙄

Still can't bring myself to flag either even though my OCD is screaming at me that they're mucking up the leaderboard.

Maybe I need to take a break from Strava 😂

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HLaB replied to IanEdward | 1 year ago
3 likes

Not me but I think a 4th place I snagged in the back of an Ambulance was below petty, it was sad! I got knocked off in London and had a title along those lines with in brackets (I'll crop it when I get home on Sunday), it was Saturday. Before I even got home it was flagged. 4th place or whoever it was must be a sad individual!

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andystow replied to IanEdward | 1 year ago
1 like

I flag obvious ebike or car activities on Strava, but I don't go looking for them and I'm certainly not going to end up with the KOM after doing so. I'm reasonably fit, but my times on climbs are fairly consistently double the time of whoever has the legit KOM.

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IanEdward replied to andystow | 1 year ago
1 like

Yeah, my case is causing me to question my own unconscious bias, it could just be someone super-fit but super modest who's gone out and taken two very steep 5 minute KOMs on the same ride in the depths of winter OR... e-bike 🙄

That being said, does Strava keep the flagger anonymous? 😎

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Organon | 1 year ago
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Became an expert in surfing speedbumps. Became an expert in Big Data analysis (searching for peoples cheap KOMs with few riders, including ghost segments where the creator deleted their account and the segment is empty, just need to ride it to KOM.) Make segments, and steal dozens from an uber-maker until he blocks me. Examine anyone who beats me and viciously flag anyone suspect of driving (Cav Rule, if you can sprint at 70kph why are you riding in my area?)

oh, and got fitter and ride faster.

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IanEdward | 1 year ago
4 likes

Not 'low' just 'committed'...

Massive tailwind along a bumpy farm track, was on my 29er but with gravel tyres so was perfect bike for the job. Hit a bump so fast my phone shot out of my back pocket but I figured f--k it, KOM is on, I'll come back and try find it later, which I did, and the KOM has withstood three years of actual genuinely fast guys trying it too 😎

Other than that just the standard practice of using segments as intervals on training rides so I arrive at the start fresh and warmed up, whilst of course checking I have the wind behind me also. Quite humbling to see the person in second place is only a few seconds behind you but rode the segment as part of some 100km 32km/h epic 🙄

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carlosdsanchez | 1 year ago
4 likes

Made my whole 22 mile commute a segment so that I could be KOM. Other one wasn't deliberate, got overtaken by a tractor towing a tall tipper trailer, just about managed to sprint hard enough to catch a tow and then followed it for about 8 miles picking up 2 KOM's in the process. Could have picked up anther one riding to work in gale, tail wind was so strong that I was free wheeling and having to brake lightly to keep my speed below 30mph. Didn't have the balls to go flat out in that one though.

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ktache replied to carlosdsanchez | 1 year ago
10 likes

What is this "tail wind" of which you speak?...

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NotNigel | 1 year ago
5 likes

I once laid under a glass table whilst my then girlfriend ...oh, sorry weirdest thing to get a Strava KOM..? Never had one, just about the PBs for me.

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Hirsute | 1 year ago
4 likes

Joined a forum as a WUM.

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