A Real Existential Question

What’s a KOM? I think it’s a Strava created concept that is a leaderboard — or leader — on a particular bike riding segment. It could be on pavement or dirt. The segment could be long, frankly as long as someone wants to create; they could be short, to the tune of just a few seconds. They could be a loop or they could be a point to point.

What’s an FKT? In my mind it’s the fastest known time on a particular established route. It could be paved or off-road. It could be a loop or a point to point. As for time or distance, FKTs are understood to be longer than a KOM, but then where does that switch get flipped? Where does a route topple from an KOM to an FKT?

This question popped into my mind as I was planning to ride the Heart of the Greens. This is a recently established mountain bike route in the, err, heart of the Greens (…Green Mountains, that is).

When I first caught wind of this ride, I discovered it’s 38’ish miles. The fastest known time, as recorded in the form of a KOM, is a hair over 3.5 hours. And, for what it’s worth, has also been recorded on fastestknowntime.com, around seven and a quarter hours. It’s distance and time are long/short enough that in my mind they land in both categories, an FKT or KOM. I wanted to ride the route and delve into this question a little bit more: what’s the difference between an FKT and KOM?