Crown, PB and Warden: How Segments and Leaderboards Work
How segments (stretches) work: Personal best, Crown by category and age, Warden and anti-cheat rules. Free for cycling and running on Velunite.
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Segments, leaderboards and Crowns: what they are in two minutes
A segment is a stretch of road with a leaderboard: anyone who rides or runs through it with a recorded activity is compared with everyone else on exactly the same section. On Velunite segments are called stretches and they produce three kinds of recognition. The Personal best, or PB, is your own best time on the section. The Crown goes to whoever has the best time overall, or in their own gender and age category. The Warden is whoever has made the most passes in the last 90 days, the keeper of the stretch.
The convenient part is that you press nothing: stretches are recognised automatically inside your activities, including those uploaded from files and the history you import. Below you will find the real rules, taken from how the system works, because a leaderboard only makes sense if everyone knows what counts and what does not. You can find every section on the Stretches page.
The Personal best: your private leaderboard
The PB is the reason to go over the same section more than once. For every stretch you ride or run, Velunite keeps your best valid pass and shows it on the stretch page and in the "My stretches" section. It is your most honest thermometer: same road, same distance, no excuse about the route. A climb done every two weeks, with the same kind of effort, tells you whether you are improving far better than any feeling.
The PB does not depend on anyone else and requires you to declare nothing: the activity just has to be recorded with GPS. If your time is then the best of all, the Crown is born.
Crown: best overall time, by gender and by age
There is one Crown per category, so on the same section there can be more than one holder. The categories are: overall (everyone), women or men, age band, and gender plus age band together. The bands are 18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60+. To compete in the gender and age categories you need to declare your gender and date of birth in your profile: they are optional, only you see them, and the leaderboard shows only name, avatar and time. If you do not enter them you still compete in the overall ranking.
The detailed rules: only one time counts per athlete, their best; on equal seconds the one who did it first wins; minors compete only in the overall ranking and you must be at least 16 to use the leaderboards. Gender is declared only with consent and you can delete it whenever you like. The practical result is nice: if the section is dominated overall by two former pros, you can still aim for the Crown of your own band, perhaps the 50-59 one.
Warden: how to become the keeper of a stretch
The Warden rewards consistency, not speed. You become Warden by making passes on several different days in the last 90 days: only one pass per day is counted (the day is calculated on Rome time) and you need at least 3 days to earn it. Whoever has the most wins. On a tie the current Warden stays; if nobody holds it yet, whoever made their last pass earlier wins.
The advice is predictable but it works: pick the stretch near your home, the climb of your midweek ride or the riverside path of your easy run, and pass through regularly. Going over it five times in one day is useless, going over it on five different days is not. The Warden title is the most accessible one and you lose it without regret: you just stop passing.
How a pass is recognised: the real rules
An activity "passes" through a stretch when it meets all these conditions: it starts within 30 metres of the beginning of the section, ends within 30 metres of its end, follows the same road in the same direction and lasts at least 10 seconds. In practice at least 95% of the section must have a point of your track within 30 metres, and the distance you covered must be between 90% and 125% of the stretch length. If you take a shortcut or another road, the pass does not count.
There is nothing to start: the comparison runs when the activity is saved or imported. If you propose a new stretch and it is approved, it is also applied to your past activities; for very busy sections this can take a little while. The time is that of the track between the start point and the end point, second by second.
Anti-cheat rules: what does not count
To keep leaderboards clean, the system discards passes that are not credible. These do not count: an average speed above 30 m/s on a bike (108 km/h) or 13 m/s on foot (46.8 km/h); a speed peak between two points more than one and a half times those limits, typical of a GPS error; inconsistent track timestamps; a time under 10 seconds. Sections where two consecutive recorded points are more than 60 seconds apart do not count either: a pause of over a minute inside the stretch, such as a bike computer's auto-pause or a lost signal, makes the pass invalid.
Indoor or manually entered activities do not count, and rides you chose to hide stay out of the public leaderboards. When a pass is discarded you see it on the activity page, in the "Invalid passes" section, with the reason spelled out: pause, time too short, abnormal peak, different road. That way you are not left wondering where your Crown went.
How to create a stretch (and what you need)
You can propose a new section from the page of one of your activities: choose start and end on the map, give it a name and submit. You need a verified email, at least 14 days since signing up and at least 5 recorded activities: it stops maps filling with pointless sections. The section must be at least 200 metres and at most 40 km by bike or 21.1 km on foot; you can have up to 5 proposals pending and create at most 3 a day. A section almost identical to an existing one (start and end within 30 metres, similar length) is rejected as a duplicate.
Every proposal goes through approval before appearing in the leaderboard. Once approved, the stretch is also applied to activities you have already saved, which is why it pays to import your history first: read how to import FIT and GPX files. Choose sections that make sporting sense: a famous climb, a straight on an open road with no dangerous junctions, a loop in the park for running.
Privacy and safety: private zones, hidden rides, open roads
You can define up to 5 private zones, with a radius from 100 to 1,000 metres (200 by default), around home or work: no stretches are created there, and your passes stay out of public leaderboards if the zone covers the start or the end of the section. If you hide your rides you do not appear in any leaderboard. These choices are reversible: you can change them whenever you like from your profile.
A common-sense note worth more than any Crown: the road is not closed. Do not run red lights to save a second, do not cut corners, do not take risks on a descent or in traffic for a time. A segment is a game: if a leaderboard tempts you to do something dangerous, that section is not for you. To train at an easier pace find company among the group rides and the routes for cycling and running.
Practical tips to beat a time without cheating
Record with a device that samples every second and wait for the GPS to lock before you set off: a start with an uncertain signal is the quickest way to see a pass discarded. Never stop the recording inside the section, and turn off auto-pause if you know you will stop (at a light, say) on the climb you want to beat. Time your approach so the start of the section comes at cruising speed, not from standing: you want a good run-up.
Study the conditions. A tailwind, dry road and rested legs make a visible difference. If you are aiming for an age Crown, check the current time: it is often closer than you think. And if you want to plan next year's goal, the 2027 calendar lists races and gran fondos to test yourself in.
FAQ
What are segments and what are Velunite stretches?
They are road sections with a leaderboard. Each time you ride or run them with a recorded or imported activity, Velunite recognises them automatically and compares your time with everyone else's.
What is the Crown?
It is the title of whoever has the best time on a stretch, overall or in their own gender and age category. If two times are equal, whoever did it first wins.
What is the difference between PB, Crown and Warden?
The PB is your own best time on the section. The Crown is the best time of everyone in the category. The Warden is whoever has made the most passes on different days in the last 90 days.
How do you become Warden of a stretch?
By making more passes, on different days, than anyone else in the last 90 days: one a day counts and you need at least 3 days. On a tie the current Warden stays.
Why is my pass not valid?
It happens because of a pause over 60 seconds inside the section, a time that is too short, an abnormal speed peak, inconsistent timestamps or a different road. The reason appears on the activity page.
Do I have to declare age and gender to take part?
No. They are optional and only you see them. Without them you compete in the overall ranking; with gender and date of birth you can also compete for gender and age-band Crowns (18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60+).
Do activities uploaded from files count for the leaderboards?
Yes, if they have a GPS position and timestamps. Manually entered or indoor activities without a track do not count.
Are my times visible to others?
The leaderboard shows name, avatar and time. You can hide your rides or create private zones around home: in those cases your passes stay out of the public leaderboards.
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