Monday, June 27, 2016

Was A Bike Used To Cheat?

Rob Young's Facebook video upload today confirms a bicycle was used to move the TomTom GPS watch.  How many other of his activities are really bikes?



Duplicate Activities


While going through Rob Young's Strava activities, I noticed what appeared to be a duplicate - 2 activities of very similar distance covering the same ground.

Source: https://www.strava.com/activities/617303327 (mirror)


I mostly disregarded this anomaly, until his own Facebook upload today.

Facebook Video


The Marathonmanuk Facebook page uploaded a video today depicting Rob running, as the narrator says, "nine miles outside Farmington, NM".  In the video, Rob is followed and filmed by a cyclist, likely Dustin Brooks, and the cyclist weaves to and fro alternating between rear and profile views of Rob:

View from behind
View from the side

Revisiting the Duplicate Activities


Nine miles outside Farmington, NM puts Robert Young and crew in Kirtland, NM, and inspection of landmarks seen in the video - for example an Alco Discount Store seen at the end of the video - confirms this as the location.  This location is that of the duplicate activities above.  So why are there 2 activities, and how are they dissimilar? After all, if they were identical, Strava would not allow their simultaneous upload.  Let's zoom in and take a look:

Comparison of "duplicate" activities

One activity is a relatively straight line along the right side of the road.  The other darts into parking lots and such, corresponding to the behavior of the cyclist in the video as he goes for profile-view footage.  Clearly, one activity was recorded from a device with Robert Young as he ran, and the other was recorded by the cyclist.

Conclusion


What purpose does the running GPS watch, which is recording a transcontinental run, have on a bike? And even if there was some legitimate purpose, what is Robert Young doing uploading it as a "run" to Strava?  I submit this is proof positive that not only may an RV been involved in any cheating, but the bike may have also been used.  There's no way to know how many other Strava "runs" are really bikes without any cadence data.

1 comment:

  1. Excellent work. I think RY was so accustomed to lying about his past accomplishments that it simply didn't occur to him that anyone would scrutinize his 'record attempt' in any detail. He's been lying about everything for so long that I'm not sure he knows where fact and fiction begin and end anymore. These fraudulent escapades should be exposed as they only serve to tarnish the truly remarkable achievements of much greater athletes in the public mind.

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