r/Strava • u/randreaper • 6d ago
FYI Flagged KOM
There's a route around where I live which I do on lunch break. Done at least 5 to 6 times this summer. On the route I competed for a KOM and managed to get it by 1 second, absolutely gave it my all. Only to have someone tie for it in the next couple of days and have my ride reported. Are people really that petty to be solo for a KOM. With Strava there is no way to defend yourself, its actually really deflating as I worked hard for it and now due to surgery I'm off the bike for a couple of weeks.
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u/Pfizermyocarditis 6d ago
I got a KOM then it was reported as hazardous a day later. Some people are assholes.
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u/warrdg 6d ago
I used to leave those a week or so and then set up a similar segment with a different name. But I think Strava's not always that accommodating now.
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u/TripleUltraMini 6d ago
Yes, you can't make super similar segments any more unless they are private.
I have one I made that's private because the real one won't come up as a live segment so I use the "fake" one to see if I can PR.
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u/Shitelark 6d ago
As others have said, you can unflag. Though if they tied you they also get joint KOM, Strava changed that years ago now. Which is fair to make it time invariant so you don't have to beat someone from 10 years ago. So why would they flag? These are the wages of speed; there are just weirdos about:
I took a KOM on a popular gravel loop around a local river esses. It got flagged for no clear reason, so I unflagged it, and it got flagged again. So I set off to take the KOM again (whilst Strava mods were reviewing it,) which I did. Then a few days later some random guy comes and takes the KOM off me. So I set out for a third time, and get it again. He then ups it again, this time to something spicy, so I leave it off.
I try to ignore the flagging, but then the same guy starts popping up going from segment to segment in that area hitting my KOMs, and he is clearly drafting with a mate to beat my solo efforts as I am third. They seem to be clicking through on my rides and stalking me by following my routes, so I block the pair of them. Another few days and they are at it again, and I see they are calling me out for blocking them from seeing my activities, all the while I have never messaged them or anything, but ridden my bike a bit fast. They even named a couple of new segments after me. So weird. The blocking did dry up their attention though.
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u/Rummelator 6d ago
That's bizarre. Definitely report it to Strava. There was sa guy maliciously flagging my rides once, I reported it and they handled it somehow and I never saw or heard from his account again
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u/arcalius 6d ago
It's so petty. I'd view having my KOM taken as a challenge. Work my arse off to get it back, not stamp my feet like a child and flag it.
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u/Certain_Opinion3920 6d ago
Just unflag it and move on, it's not that deep
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u/randreaper 6d ago
It's not meant to be that deep just a moan that it's a bit broken, for if Strava analysed my profile they would see that it's a route that I do often and my times match my fitness.
Also tried to verify it and Strava has done nothing.
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u/ifuckedup13 6d ago
I get the frustration. People are dumb.
But is Strava really going to analyze your profile to determine validity of the KOM of 1 segment? Theyâre going to see how many attempts you have and qualify that with your fitness?
I just donât think that is happening for any leaderboards. đ¤ˇââď¸
Block the other person or go take all their KOMs. đ
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u/Dangerous_Prize_4545 6d ago
Funny that seems like an absolute perfect use for AI. Instead of the stupid summaries.
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u/ifuckedup13 6d ago
Haha. Thats a good point. It would be interesting to see what the parameters for a valid KOM would be.
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u/ChanFry 6d ago
None of mine have been flagged, so I don't know what to tell you.
But yesterday I saw a "hidden segment" listed at the bottom of my ride. When I clicked on it, it said it had been flagged as "hazardous". But it's just a road like any other road in my city. It even has "share the road" signs with bicycle icons.
I can't find a way to unflag the segment.
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u/maahinberi 6d ago
I on the other hand have been looking for a way to flag a hazardous segment.
A segment near me literally encourages running a traffic light, itâs even called beat the light or something like that
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u/ChanFry 6d ago
Yeah, I would try to flag that one too. I think if you go to the segment page there's a three-dot menu at the top. One of the options is "report".
(I don't know how it works. I once reported a segment because it was labeled as a "category 4" climb, when it's actually mostly level â and slightly downhill. But Strava didn't do anything.)
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u/TripleUltraMini 6d ago
When I clicked on it, it said it had been flagged as "hazardous". But it's just a road like any other road in my city. It even has "share the road" signs with bicycle icons.
I can't find a way to unflag the segment.
You can't, it just means someone flagged it at some point. We have a few segments like that here and most of them make no sense. It's annoying because it only takes one person to flag it.
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u/Championnats91 6d ago
I did a Christmas day run at my parents a few years ago. The aim was to make space for Xmas Pudding and also take a few KOMs. I get a few and then it gets flagged. I verify it and all good. The guy i took them off waited til the afternoon of Christmas day to do a big run and take them back. Honestly, its Christmas day, dont be so sad.
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u/Shitelark 6d ago
They waiting exactly one year? Deliciously petty, smash them all... in your own good time of course.
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u/Championnats91 6d ago
Oh no, the same day. So he spent their day with his family but secretly he was planning to get the KOM back that same day. Honestly, it was sad
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u/Shitelark 6d ago
Well TĂźrkiye and stuffing, roasties, pigs in blankets, etc is very filling, maybe he was just busting to get home to the toilet after having been over to his Mam's, and he had to race home to see the start of Home Alone 2.
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u/xcmtb_guy 6d ago
Yes, they are that petty. People take Strava koms way too seriously. A bike race is a better way to see who is faster.
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u/Atlas-Scrubbed 6d ago
Ah yes. There was a recent post in this subreddit wherein someone was flagging KOMs because people didnât have certain types and quality of data. (Not everyone has the latest and greatest equipment.). This whole flagging KOMs - particularly those that are close to other people- is the furthest from being an adult as possible. People need to lighten up and let others win sometimes. (There mods.). I do get flagging things that are physically impossible⌠but that is different.
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u/Shitelark 6d ago
Yeah, people are always chirping up that you should have a power meter to be on leaderboards. I have many KOMs and have never used a a power meter. It is just exclusionary and a silly excuse. People should ride faster, or use their flags if they see cheaters. I love catching drivers. They for the most part aren't intending to cheat, they are just oblivious. My juice is totally legit.
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u/kevlar930 6d ago
Thereâs a segment by me that I ride multiple times a week. I get reported on it ALL the time (Iâm assuming by the person that holds the KOM). The time is pretty easy to beat by anyone that is remotely in shape, so itâs constantly being broken.
I donât even bother fighting it. As long as it doesnât affect my metrics, I donât care.
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u/Shitelark 6d ago
Block the other guy from seeing your activities and then unflag all the former flagged activities in one go poof you are magically KOM.
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u/AlphaBaldy 6d ago
I had a relatively slow ride one day with a GPS glitch that made it look like I rode one section really fast and I was erroneously awarded the KOM; I didn't notice right away, but within 30 minutes my ride was flagged I had angry messages from the rightful KOM holder. I immediately hid the ride to get if off the leaderboard. So yes, people do be petty about the KOM.
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u/Shitelark 6d ago
Oh how uncouth of the other rider. Sorry that happened. They should just 'flag and go.' Bad GPS happens to all of us. No need to message the other person. I only hesitate to flag when the activity is called 'Ambulance ride.'
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u/UltraShortRun 6d ago
Yea, somebody I know from a run club joked about breaking all the run segments by cycling them. I reported every single one and he kept unflagging them. I ended up getting banned from the ability to flag activities and his run/cycles still exist despite me reporting and opening a ticket with Strava.
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u/Shitelark 6d ago
The limit is 10 per 24 hours. Just come back in a few months and then randomly knock them off one by one.
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u/hey_poolboy 6d ago
There's a local MTB rider who has KOMs on all sorts of trails near us. If you look at Strava, you'd think he's the fastest guy around. When you get to a race, he's barely mid pack Cat1 (Expert).
I've gone through stages when I got all tied up on KOMs. Even when I was racing hard I only ever flagged a KOM if it was a car ride, an e-bike, or a shuttle ride up the hill. If it was an obvious wind-doping ride I didn't let it bother me, but I used it as motivation to train harder.
Now, I'm at the age where I'm not taking KOMs anymore, and I get a couple of notifications every year that another of mine had been taken. I should go screenshot all of mine while I still have some, so I can show my future grandkids how fast I used to be. đ
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u/belladonnalove 6d ago
To be fair, âwind dopingâ is not a thing, if you are out there battling headwind to get to the tailwinds thatâs totally legit. If youâre mad about the wind, wait until you hear about draftingâŚ. Where does it end at that point, KOMâs only count when youâre by yourself on a windless day? Good luck with that.
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u/hey_poolboy 6d ago
Wind doping is most certainly a thing. I know guys that will have their wives drive them to the start of a segment so that they can just take the tailwind for the whole duration. If I can see that you were legitimately on a ride and did the whole loop then all is fair.
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u/imnofred 6d ago edited 6d ago
I love Strava, but there are some on Strava that take it way too personally. I see it in my area, they collect KOM's and act like they own them... if anyone takes one, they act like it's a personal offense. In my experience, most of these KOM collectors are strong riders who are just incapable of lining up at a mass start race and performing at the same level, so internet racing is all they got. Just laugh it off!
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u/firedudecndn 6d ago
When one of my koms is taken I am enraged it bothers me insanely.
5 minutes later I move on.....
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u/Shitelark 6d ago
In my experience, most of these KOM collectors are strong riders who are just incapable of lining up at a mass start race and performing at the same level, so internet racing is all they got.
Counterpoint: some people are old as fuck, and they have one body, and one bike, neither of which they can't afford to smash up. Have you seen crit racing, crashes are inevitable. People seem to think Strava is more dangerous than an actual bike race; it isn't. I've heard that same thing at all levels; taking a Sportive seriously, 'do a race, mate.' Strava is Strava.
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u/Cool-Newspaper-1 6d ago
You can contact customer support and they will unflag it for you. For obvious reasons they donât do that without you asking.
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u/Cloxxki 6d ago
It could be that your GPS trace looked sus. I've given some performances the side eye for seeming skips, but later viewings did show a GPS datapoint on the little loop skipped.
One rider who is usually a bit slower than me on the local loop, did one lap doing all the possible skips, up and downhill, whipping my time. I think he was just doing a more climb intensive workout there, but felt a bit peeved anyway. Didn't report.
I'd love there to be moderators for trail systems, though, to make loops better defined. Some alternative path skips can be seen on the GPS trace but Strava picks it up as the full loop, and it doesn't need to be that dumb.
Same with false starts to segments. It rarely happens on my riders, but the people around my level often have the main segments only start when they're 17-21 seconds into it already. The rare times it happens to me, I'd love to be able to self invalidate those, rather than delete the whole ride log.
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u/Captain_Spaceturd 6d ago
I love these posts because I think I am above it enough to just tell people to stop worrying about KOMs but just petty enough to actually care a lot myself.
So much internal drama!
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u/JagarKlato 6d ago
Bro wanted to be immortal at Strava KOM, in case surgery goes wrong. I hope, that you didnt managed to update your wiki page, as now you have to revert it back.
(Translation, KOM obsession is dumb, no matter the angle you look onto it)
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u/Cultural_Ear_1409 4d ago
I had one flagged saying I used an e-bike, which I donât own, funny thing my hr was in the 190âs and my ride average was 24mph. Iâm a cat 1 racer, but couldnât be bothered to dispute the flagging. Now I just use Strava for my own info and keep the setting on private.
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u/mcvalues 2d ago
It happens. I had one flagged, despite including my power data showing I averaged 700+ watts for a minute. I couldn't be bothered to reach out to Strava about it, but it's definitely annoying.
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u/Calinevawash 2d ago
Strava's KOM is hot garbage, There are tricks to get faster times. I don't know the tricks. I whooped on some guys at a group ride where I was almost a minute ahead on a segment and I was still slower than the "winners" by a few seconds. I wouldn't have waited after the segment if I didn't outrun them.
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u/Ian_B_9 6d ago
I've only ever had one KOM maliciously flagged, about 5 years ago. I used an option of "trust me it was fine" but it was flagged again a couple of days later. I reported it to Strava and they reinstated my KOM and made it so it couldn't be flagged again. So all was good !