KOM, QOM, Local Legend: what if your segment deserved a trophy?
There are two types of feats on Strava. The KOM clinched on an October morning, tailwind at your back, after three months of studying the weather like a Vendée Globe skipper. And the Local Legend title on that false flat behind your house, won through sheer attrition, simply because you are objectively the only person to pass through there 47 times a year.
Both have one thing in common: they live in an app, and an app has no memory of panache. A faster cyclist, a recalculated segment, a deleted account — and nothing remains. That is why some feats deserve to leave the screen.
KOM, QOM, Local Legend: a quick reminder of the rankings
For the uninitiated who might be reading over your shoulder:
- The KOM (King of the Mountain) and QOM (Queen of the Mountain) crown the fastest time ever recorded on a segment. This is the noble rank: only one crown per segment, thousands of contenders.
- The Local Legend rewards… the number of efforts over the last 90 days. Not the fastest: the most diligent. It is the rank of persistence, and it must be defended every week.
One is won in seconds, the other in consistency. Both can be lost overnight — which is precisely what makes them precious.
The problem: Strava always takes its crown back
A KOM is never yours. It is on loan, in shared custody, until a 19-year-old hopeful hits their peak form. The Local Legend is even worse: three weeks of vacation and your kingdom goes back to the neighbor. Strava hands out crowns the way one lends an umbrella.
And the day the crown falls, what remains? A notification. No object, no trace, nothing to put on a shelf or show to someone who doesn't have the app.
The solution: engrave the feat while it's real
This is exactly the kind of story for which an Epic Trace exists: the GPX track of your segment — or the entire ride containing the effort — transformed into a 3D topographic relief, printed in France, and mounted on a solid oak base. And above all: the engraving, two lines of 40 characters that freeze what Strava will eventually erase:
- "KOM — Col de la Madone" / "30 min 12 s · Oct. 2026";
- "QOM — Alpe climb" / "beaten 3 times, reclaimed 4";
- "Local Legend" / "47 efforts · roundabout included";
- "The Post Office wall" / "400 m · 12% · a lifetime".
No one can ever take it back from you. It's marked in the oak.
Does a segment make for a good relief?
Excellent question: a segment is often short, and that is precisely where the relief becomes spectacular. A tight framing on a pass or a climb highlights every hairpin turn and every change in gradient — much more so than the same climb lost in a 90 km ride. Two approaches:
- The segment alone, tightly framed: the climb becomes the sole subject of the piece. Our guide on choosing the framing of your relief shows how to get the most out of a short track.
- The entire ride, segment as hero: the complete loop from the day of the KOM, with an engraving that explains why that specific ride matters.
In both cases, the 3D preview in the configurator lets you rotate around the piece before ordering — you will see immediately if your climb has the stature.
Retrieve the track in two minutes
The simplest way: connect your Strava account directly in the configurator using the "Import from Strava" button and choose the activity from your day of glory. Otherwise, the classic GPX export always works — our step-by-step guide for both methods.
One important detail: export the activity that contains the segment (Strava does not export a segment alone from your history). The configurator's framing tool does the rest.
The gift idea no one sees coming
Do you know someone who talks about "their" segment at the dinner table? Who checks their crowns on Sunday night? This is the perfect gift, precisely because it is both absurd and sincere: giving an oak trophy for a roundabout is saying, "I have seen your obsession, and I validate it." Their track is public on their Strava profile — or get an Epic Trace gift card and let the legend choose their terrain.
All our ideas by profile are on our personalized gift for cyclists page.
The trophy Strava will never make
Strava measures, compares, and takes back. An Epic Trace does the opposite: it freezes. The pass at sunrise or the false flat in the industrial zone — if the feat matters to you, it deserves an object. Yours was real the day you achieved it, and it will remain so.