Reactie van Strava

Vandaag ontving ik een bericht van Strava naar aanleiding van de 'flag' die ik van Strava zelf mocht onvangen:

Thanks for your honesty and cooperation. At this point in time, we can not permit your activities to be allowed on the segment leaderboards with other bicycles.
We do not consider velomobiles to be a recumbent bicycle. While velomobiles are derived from recumbent vehicles and use recumbent drivetrains they are very distinctly their own vehicle. Velomobiles exist in a category of their own due to their fully faired bodies which allow them to benefit from drastic aerodynamic efficiencies not available on any other recumbent or standard upright bicycle.
Allowing these vehicles on leaderboards would be very unfair to other cyclists and not in the spirit of Strava. You'll have to mark any activity ridden on the velomobile as private for the time being or change the activity type to "workout". I apologize for any inconvenience or confusion.
Best,

Tja, deels waar natuurlijk. Een velomobiel kan best een voordeel hebben van z'n stroomlijn. Downhill of op lange rechte stukken bijvoorbeeld. Maar ook nadelen. Het grotere gewicht heuvelop of bij versnellen in de sprint bijvoorbeeld. Dan de 3 wielen die in bochten de nodige problemen veroorzaken.

Ik heb gereageerd:

I agree about velomobiles being a own vehicle. You say it’s unfair to allow these vehicles on leaderboards. I agree but also disagree.When going downhill, I mainly agree (except for point 1 below). The aerodynamic body is a great advantageWhen going flat, I partly agree.:1)      If a segment is on a coarse with many curves, the 3-wheel velomobile is in disadvantage because it can’t take Sharp curves like an conventional upright.
2)      If a segment needs major accelleration and a track is too short for a sprint for a velomobile, the velomobile is in disadvantage because of it’s much greater body weight (mine is 45 kg including daily luggage! Big difference with an 10 kg upright which needs to be accellerated)
When doing uphill, I completely disagree. The much bigger weight is a great disadvantage. It’s way to easy to say a velomobile benefits from its Shell. It has it’s disadvantages also. This also goes for the 3 wheels compared to the conventional 2 wheels. What I’m puzzled about is the fact I didn’t hear any other velombile rider complaining about Strava blocking rides (I have heard about other Strava users flagging a segment but, again, not Strava flagging).I’m by far a fast velomobile rider. There are many upright bicyclists who are way faster than me, even in sprint. So how come this ride has been flagged by Strava? Last but not least a (almost pleading) question: Please add the velomobile as a vehicle. There have been many request by me and other velomobile riders for a few years now. Can you tell me if velomobiles will get their own category? Best regards,

Ik hoop dat velomobielen toch eens een eigen categorie krijgen..