Digital EPO: smash your Strava times… by cheating

so I'm taking all those pharmacuetical preparations and training like a dog for nothing?
Bloody cheats

Cars are for amateurs.

I came across this one while looking for hills to climb (I really need the practice).

http://app.strava.com/segments/2389526

It had me really confused for a while until I zoomed in and realised it started at an airfield. Does make it kind of hard to compete...

What happened to going for a cycle to just enjoy it

Am I the only one that found this article really funny? I don't use Strava, but one of their free competitors, Mapmyride GPS. It's great, I regularly get KOM points because no-one else in my area actually uses it (despite my user name)

Would never use it, but tempted against my KOM stalker! I am sure he followed mine around and smashed them. It's an empty victory for him as I really slow.

The guy leading the Junedoggle has taken it a bit far...18,000km in 4 days!

Is it Cat?

Seems like a way to save gas and get your KoM I guess.. Funny article, lol'd at Lance.

This webiste has been around for a while and there are other similar sites out there. We have a chap round here who blatantly uses it. Every solo ride results in at least two new KOM's on the local routes. But when he's out with his club, or on an officially timed sportive he's consistently last out of his peers. We have a name for him and it rhymes with hat.

Amusing . . . nearly as funny as some of the "real" performances I've seen by riders on Strava itself.

Sc**w carbon wheels. All they gave me was a 5% higher speed on a steep hill near my house DigitalEPO is the real deal. My speed went up almost 25% in no time!!!
Peter Sagan, Mark Cavendish etc. BE AFRAID. Be VERY afraid.

I cant think of anything to prevent digital EPO. IMO this will not be detected nor it will be prevented unless someone creates a computer software to detect it.

But with regards to people cheating by using cars and motor bikes, would it help if Strava makes KOM a monthly thing? what i mean is segment KOM's are reset every month to give way to other riders to post new KOM's(the previous months KOM's stays in the archive of course).

In this way we would know who is consistently doing KOM's in a particular segment. and it may also prevent people from creating fake KOM's on their cars or motor bikes. unless they are sad low life people who waste their time making fake KOM's just to take a piss on genuine KOM's.

just a thought

Maybe Strava could deal with this by looking for consistency over a given period - an equivalent of a biological passport. Would also be nice to get rid of the car driven KOMs.

Plus one for the old fashioned stop watch!!

Virtual cheating in virtual racing; a pleasing symmetry.

Use of this clearly rates you as the douchiest of douchebags!

Until there is someway to detect its use, I expect the uptake to be pretty prevalent amongst those with self-esteem issues and/or sexual organs below societal norms!

I had to go test it. It works well...I wonder how the guy will feel when he gets the "your KoM has been taken" for the second time by me, then goes to look at its not been taken at all

How pathetic do you have to be to boost your 'performance' that way? Answer: VERY!

more reason to abide rule number 5 of the velominati and just get on with it now that strava will be just about as tainted as Vini-Fantini

Now making it even easier to convince yourself the reason you're not even top 20 is nothing to do with you sucking...

I swear half the KOMs are by people on/in motor-vehicles anyway, but there are some sad ****ers who will ruin the whole thing by using this site as well.

There should be a strava section for boris bikes, I'd get a few KOMs for that

Dear Dog! So Strava is even more unreliable a guide to performance than even I had suspected!

Tested it to see if it works, slow, but can confirm it does work. Have now deleted the URL from memory, never want to see it again.

If everyone starts using it we'll never be able to trust Strava times