5 types of Strava posters unique to mountain biking

Strava has become a ubiquitous form of social media for athletes. Exercise fanatics around the world are posting and letting their friends know what they’re doing to stay fit. As with other forms of social media, certain online personalities emerge.

Many mountain bikers fall into the broader types common among all kinds of cyclists. There’s the generic poster, the social poster, the diary poster and the qualifying poster, who would have been faster on that segment, if…

There are a few off-road specific Strava personalities lurking in the woods, however. Here’s five unique breeds of mountain bike Strava posters

The King of the Road

You’ve just finished an awesome ride, high-fived your buddies and thrown your bike in the back of your truck, which is probably a Tacoma. The last thing on your mind is turning off Strava before you drive home. It’s not until you get that “Your ride has been flagged” notification that you realize your “bonus miles” behind the wheel resulted in a wave of stolen KOM’s.

Bonus points: Speeding while Strava-ing your drive home.

Double bonus: Excessive speeding while shuttling.

The eKOM hunter

eMTB’s are rapidly gaining traction in the mountain bike community. We’ve put them to good use here at CanadinMTB. But, if there’s one place where eMTB’s are still different than 100% human powered bikes, it’s Strava. We all know that guy who goes out on a casual eMTB ride and posts it, crowns an all, despite there being a specific ride type setting for electric bikes on Strava.

RELATED: Not your typical epic: Going electric on the Cowichan Triple Crown

Bonus Points: adding a photo of your eMTB to the ride or title, but not changing your ride type

The Strava Flagger

Closely related to the eKOM Hunger and King of the Road, The Flagger knows the minute your drive/ebike ride steals his/her KOM. (But it’s usually a 40 year old roadie guy, lets me honest), or even bumps you out of the top-10 leader board. The Strava Flagger will immediately flag your ride. They will also flag rides that look suspiciously fast, even if it happens to be a local pro using a Strava-pseudonym. They’re like the vigilante WADA of the Strava-verse, putting in the hard hours online to keep the rest of us safe from Strava terrorism. The Flagger might not be a mountain biker, but between shuttle KOM’s and eMTB’s, they have a very close connection to the community.

Bonus Points: Accidentally flagging a local or visiting pro who is using a Strava pseudonum.

Double bonus: Flagging Phil Gaimon’s rides

The Elevation Doper

“Woah! Alex/Alice put in a massive climbing day!” Or they were on vacation at Whistler Bike Park, or getting in shuttle laps on the local mountain. While it’s free elevation on the way up, the Elevation Doper is probably more interested in tracking the cumulative elevation they lost.

Bonus points: If you actually rode up a bike park, or did enough laps on a shuttle rode that it looks like Elevation Doping.

The Secret Sharer

Mountain biking has a long history of trails that are of … questionable legal status. In many riding areas, there’s still an expansive grey area between legal, unsanctioned, and blatantly illegal trails. Many now-legal networks were once illegal, but Strava didn’t exist back then. It’s not going to help your local loamer get sanctioned, or stay secret, if you’re blowing up the spot on Strava. If you’re posting rides in areas that are clearly not above board, you may be a Secret Sharer.

Bonus Points: There’s no bonus points. No one wins.