Include ebikes in challenges

[serpollet]

I agree that recording an ebike activity as a powered human is incorrect because it distorts the ranking of segments.But the challenges are personal and do not concern others.Why then make ebikes ineligible for challenges?Personally,i use equal parts of a human road bike and an e gravel bike with as much energy expenditure in one case as in the other.Not being able to count my electric outings in my challenges will lead me to forget about it.Or not to declare them as electric.

[sburstall]

I agree.  With ebikes (aka mopeds), the amount of work needed to get to the same speed is quite low.  I've seen many ebikes go as fast as mopeds (up to 20 miles an hour).  Ebikes should be eliminated from the list.

[CreakyCrank]

@serpollet : It sounds like you want ebikes to be able to participate in challenges that are competing against non-ebikes (if I understand correctly).  The problem is that there are leaderboards in the challenges, and you (on an ebike) would unfairly be gaining an advantage over the human-powered people on that leaderboard.  Perhaps having a separate leaderboard on challenges for ebikes could be a solution? So that you could still participate in a challenge, but only compete against other ebikes in that challenge.  I could support a separate leaderboard approach, but would be against having to measure my human-powered activities against those on ebikes.

[MMurph]

"But the challenges are personal and do not concern others..."

Fine, if someone rides an E-bike and wants to challenge themselves, I have no issue with that. However, if it involves any leaderboard (segment or Official Strava Challenges) then I think it is a mistake to include E-bikes times/results. Keep "full human effort" exercise challenges and leaderboards separated.   After all, Strava is/was  a physical exercise tracker.

[Sunny415]

Thanks for posting here, @serpollet! This is a fantastic point to explore, and I hope more athletes post their thoughts here.

Some of the comments in this thread raise a valid point, many pedal-poweredcycling challenges include leaderboards, which many athletes value for motivation and training goals. As noted, this experience is negatively impacted when assisted activities, like e-bike rides, are included, as comparing their human-powered efforts to motor-assisted efforts can feel rather deflating. There are also, periodically, other challenges in the gallery where e-bike challenges do qualify, though, they tend to be multisport challenges with time-based goals. Do these challenges work for e-bike riders?

If not, we invite you and all interested athletes to add your thoughts about what e-bike riders would like to see from e-bike-eligible challenges on Strava.

• What types of challenges motivate e-bike riders? Single activity challenges? Cumulative challenges? Streak challenges?
• Do e-bike riders value distance goals for challenges over activity-time-based goals? Are elevation-based goals of interest? Something else?
• What level of difficulty are e-bike riders looking for from cycling challenges? For pedal-powered cycling challenges, there are several tiers to accommodate multiple levels of ability. Are e-bike riders looking for a wide range of difficulty levels?
• Do e-bike riders want to compare efforts on a leaderboard, or is tracking personal progress and goal completion more valuable? Some athletes value the challenge badge–if they earn the badge, they've hit their monthly goal, for example. Does comparing motor-assisted efforts on a leaderboard provide value?
• Anything else?

We would love to hear your thoughts, thanks for sharing!

[Stifensore]

I'd like to see separate segment and leader boards for e-bikes.  I ride just as hard (based on heart rate and power) on my e-bike as my road and mountain bikes (I just ride further and faster) so it would be motivating to see leaderboards for e-bike riders.  If these already exist,  how do I create e-bike only segments and view the leaderboards?

[N00DlesHead]

Agreed.  I'd like to see a challenge of say RIDE 400KM THIS MONTH and do it using an ebike.  No chance I could do it on my mountain bike, but my pedal assist ebike I could try.  Furthest ride I've done on it to date is about 31km, it's not like they go forever, neither do I.  Being disabled things like this are quite motivation to get out, hardly my fault an ebike makes it easier to get out.

[anchskier]

@Stifensore - Yes, there already are e-bike segments with their own leaderboards.  They have been around for years.  If you upload your activity and mark it as an e-bike ride, you may see some segments that others have created.  If you don't, or at least don't see ones you would like to see, then you can create them yourself.  You would do this just like someone would create a "regular" segment.  Open the activity in a web browser (can't do it on a mobile app yet), look down the segment section.  At the bottom, there should be a link that says, "Create a new segment".  Click on that and follow the directions.