How to spot digital epo cheats on Strava

I did La Marmotte last Saturday, didn't get lost or throw in an extra col just for fun. Strava still had me pegged at 7,400m of vertical ascent. That shows how well they handle accuracy!

Surely the greatest 'race' of all (initially anyway and for sometime after)is about your own improvement? Stravas a good tool for logging rides and speed/distance etc. But like drfabulous mine is in my pocket and stays there till I am safely home, if I improve great, if not then its not the end of the world, the improvement will follow with more rides and less weight. By extension cheating Strava is cheating yourself. So whats the point in that?

One of the great pleasures on a bike is getting lost. That to me is incompatible with Strava obsession. (BTW I wear SPD shoes not sandals!).

The best thing about Strava is that it is on my phone in my pocket, so I neither have my ride tarnished by the display of real time data nor have to fix unsightly equipment to my bikes. Obviously I mustn't be serious or fast as I don't feel the need for a readout to tell me that I'm pedalling fast.

Hmm, I use strava a fair amount but I really wouldn't want to take it too seriously. For starters all GPS units ate prone to inaccuracy to varying degrees - eg in a marine environment it is not unusual for a unit to map you on dry land when at sea - what you really don't want is vice versa :-o !
So yes, you might lose that KoM to someone by gps error (or worse) but shouldn't you really be competing against yourself ?

I take Strava quite seriously, both for the competitive element, the social side and for my own progress. I have a heart rate monitor, but never owned a cadance monitor. With a limited budget, it's simply not anywhere near the top of my list of purchase priorities but I would say I am more than 'vaguely serious'.

I'm always suspicious of fast people riding without cadence monitors. Lack HR monitor I can understand, I don't always wear mine.... but cadence? Nah, I reckon if you're even vaguely serious you'll have one on all the time if you're putting rides on Strava.
Any segment recorded by the Strava App on a phone I'm instantly suspicious of, the GPS isn't accurate enough.

So I guess cheat codes do exist in real life...

So if I 'juice up' my ride using a moped, will the segment smell of two stroke?
I think chiv30 has hit it on the head here

I've an idea - why not go for a ride with them?

After all, if their Strava says they can do the hill in 40 seconds, but two minutes later they are still huffing and puffing up it, something's amiss.

As for "your own training and monitoring", there are plenty of other good apps for that. What Strava adds is the competitive element.

Tbh if you use strava for its intended use , ie your own training and monitoring, then why worry about digital epo?

Depending on the privacy settings they've chosen, you won't be able to see that info for everyone.

Is the sort of thing Strava could put in to look for automatically I'd have thought.

Oh dear...bordering on obsessive. You're really not a fan of Digital EPO, are you?