Hi everyone — Over the last few years, I’ve had a number of people reach out with concerns that someone (“a friend”) used GOTOES to “cheat” on Strava. In response, I built a verification / cheat-detection tool and kept it online from 2022 through the end of 2025. It allowed third parties to check whether an activity showed signs consistent with being modified by GOTOES, and it alerted the accuser (and me) when a match was identified.

In spite of a huge number of tests and lookups, I only received about 5 match notifications across those years. That strongly suggests that almost nobody is using GOTOES for “cheating” on Strava.

I’ve also been personally commissioned a few times to take a deeper look at athletes or activities that seemed suspicious. I have been contacted as a witness for stories in 2 publications and even a couple high-profile cases. Because I’m curious by nature, I did detailed analysis — including looking at historical weather and wind reports. In many cases, the performances being accused were in the “cat 3–5” range (strong, but not extraordinary), and I often found a real-world explanation (for example: a tailwind in one direction and a headwind on the return). Every time I was contacted, my findings were too boring for the article/investigation; even after carefully scrutinizing "suspect" activities, I never found any clear evidence of cheating. And in ALL cases, the suspect clearly hadn't used the GOTOES timestamp tool to make their GPS tracks.

For those who are still concerned, the GOTOES timestamp tool leaves an artificial “speed signature” that you might be able to recognize by eye in the graphs. For example, a modified activity may look unusually smooth and most importantly: it will NOT stop at traffic lights. That isn’t definitive proof by itself, but it can be a useful clue if you’re evaluating an activity.

Since 2025, GOTOES has been dealing with an ongoing DDoS attack. My priority right now is protecting the site, maintaining reliability, and improving security and features for legitimate users (including donors who help keep the site online). Rebuilding the cheat-detection tool is not my focus at the moment, and I haven’t migrated it yet. If/when it returns, I’ll announce it clearly.

Here is the tldr; version of the "cheating on Strava" saga