...will trigger a Garmin or Strava segment. It's getting to the stage where plotting routes on a Garmin in some areas has to be done with the segments removed or you just can't see the roads. I am partially to blame!
Until reasonably recently I was only tracking myself on the segments set up by others - there were enough after all. Cheddar - choose which version you want to use; Burrington - start from the road, start from the cattle grid, finish at the car-park, finish at the 'genuine top'... You get the picture - many. Why so many I wondered. The last few weeks may have given me a clue on this, I feel. First - let's take the case of Harptree Hill. We rode this on a club ride a fortnight ago. I thought we'd ridden it pretty well so I was interested to see how we compared. Having loaded the activity onto the computer - no possible comparison. A segment had been posted, but it continued across the flat section on the top as well as taking in the hill. No comparison possible. However...
...by virtue of creating a segment myself it was possible to investigate the bit I was interested in. 13th for weight and age group - not bad, not great, but decent. Improvable. Given that it's improvable I decided that I'd leave the segment up - some more green pollution on the Garmin map.
We have an agreement in the club that you can basically do what you want on a hill as long as you stop at the top and wait for others. This works; everyone gets to climb at a pace that suits them and fools like me that want to take things on can do so. Today was such a day. I've been getting steadily better at doing Bleadon Hill over the past few years. Today I gave it a real blast. I knew the time would be good. It was with keen interest that I opened up the segment file and - 17 minutes and basically on the bottom of the pile. What? On closer investigation I realized that the segment as created by someone else went to a rise further along the crest than the point where it was sociable to stop and wait for the group to catch me up. The 17 minutes was going to include a lot of standing with a bike. Time to create another segment - I wanted to know how I'd gotten on. So I did...
Wehay! Not just a good time compared to age group and weight but 6th of all male riders! 2.3 seconds behind Mike Wall (whoever Mike may be) and he had a following wind, I had a headwind. So, the competitor in me says that I can improve on that 6th; I can get into the top 5. Does that matter; probably not. Does it give a reason to go blast up that hill again at some stage; oh yes! So the segment has to stay. More pollution.
Back to Mike Wall. I don't think I've met you/him. Somehow though I feel a familiarity. Mike's is a name that sits above me on a number of segment time lists, and below me on a few. Shalice, whoever you are, the same applies - though I don't think I've ever beaten you on anything. Paul777d, Clubrunnerlive, Retromop, DaveBRC, AlThomoThomson; all familiar names that I've become used to seeing on the lists. And not just the local lists. Retromop appears on the 'Descent to Llansoy' over the border in Wales. There are other familiar seeming names on the lists for the Cotes des Cochons in the Vezerre Valley in France; certainly English names not French ones; Nick Orme, Adrian Cogger. If there weren't so many segments it could be fun to have days where everyone that had recorded a time was invited to come and have another go, or eat a burger at the bottom/top/end, or - well anything really. How many of these people would we actually find we recognize?
So what are segments for? Personal challenge? Unlicensed racing? I guess that there's a range of answers to that. How long will the craze last for? I don't know. Fun though... and makes my legs ache!
Dave
Until reasonably recently I was only tracking myself on the segments set up by others - there were enough after all. Cheddar - choose which version you want to use; Burrington - start from the road, start from the cattle grid, finish at the car-park, finish at the 'genuine top'... You get the picture - many. Why so many I wondered. The last few weeks may have given me a clue on this, I feel. First - let's take the case of Harptree Hill. We rode this on a club ride a fortnight ago. I thought we'd ridden it pretty well so I was interested to see how we compared. Having loaded the activity onto the computer - no possible comparison. A segment had been posted, but it continued across the flat section on the top as well as taking in the hill. No comparison possible. However...
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| Location, gradient profile and list of top times - Harptree Hill (the steep bit) |
We have an agreement in the club that you can basically do what you want on a hill as long as you stop at the top and wait for others. This works; everyone gets to climb at a pace that suits them and fools like me that want to take things on can do so. Today was such a day. I've been getting steadily better at doing Bleadon Hill over the past few years. Today I gave it a real blast. I knew the time would be good. It was with keen interest that I opened up the segment file and - 17 minutes and basically on the bottom of the pile. What? On closer investigation I realized that the segment as created by someone else went to a rise further along the crest than the point where it was sociable to stop and wait for the group to catch me up. The 17 minutes was going to include a lot of standing with a bike. Time to create another segment - I wanted to know how I'd gotten on. So I did...
 |
| Garmin Segment Times List - Bleadon Hill to West Mendip Way |
Wehay! Not just a good time compared to age group and weight but 6th of all male riders! 2.3 seconds behind Mike Wall (whoever Mike may be) and he had a following wind, I had a headwind. So, the competitor in me says that I can improve on that 6th; I can get into the top 5. Does that matter; probably not. Does it give a reason to go blast up that hill again at some stage; oh yes! So the segment has to stay. More pollution.
Back to Mike Wall. I don't think I've met you/him. Somehow though I feel a familiarity. Mike's is a name that sits above me on a number of segment time lists, and below me on a few. Shalice, whoever you are, the same applies - though I don't think I've ever beaten you on anything. Paul777d, Clubrunnerlive, Retromop, DaveBRC, AlThomoThomson; all familiar names that I've become used to seeing on the lists. And not just the local lists. Retromop appears on the 'Descent to Llansoy' over the border in Wales. There are other familiar seeming names on the lists for the Cotes des Cochons in the Vezerre Valley in France; certainly English names not French ones; Nick Orme, Adrian Cogger. If there weren't so many segments it could be fun to have days where everyone that had recorded a time was invited to come and have another go, or eat a burger at the bottom/top/end, or - well anything really. How many of these people would we actually find we recognize?
So what are segments for? Personal challenge? Unlicensed racing? I guess that there's a range of answers to that. How long will the craze last for? I don't know. Fun though... and makes my legs ache!
Dave
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