Since I ride a number of MTB loops repeatedly I like using Strava to see how my fitness and skills are doing.
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Main benefits for me:
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Route planning: their interface works well in conjunction with the segments/heatmap & plays well with my Elemnt Bolt.
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Segments: informs planning but I can also track my progression (not particularly fussed with KOMs).
I’m not majorly into the social aspect, have a few friends/clubmates added and don’t get into the kudos stuff. I basically use it for the same reasons I am still on Facebook, all my stuff is on there and I don’t have anywhere better to go for the same.
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I don’t pay any more, but I’ve moved all of my rides to upload with the “ONLY ME” setting. Occasionally I’ll change an outdoor ride to public if I hit the sections hard. I don’t care about KOMs, and with the privacy setting I can still how my times compare, that’s all I care about. KOMs are kind of pointless, there is always someone faster. How I, and my riding mates do on a segment over time, is much more valuable.
I still have Strava. Still really enjoy using it. Never paid for premium so I’ve only used the free version.
I only follow people I know or who I’m interested in seeing what they’re doing so it’s not as overwhelming as other social networks like Facebook. I opt to keep it simple with how I interact with others and therefore my experience stays simple.
Even if I have to take segment time comparisons with others with a grain salt sometimes, being able to compare my times to my own historical performances is very interesting and something I value. Their Fly By feature is super insightful post-race too.
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I agree with lots of the above comments. I dropped my Strava Premium status and am just using the free features. I love the social aspect of it and getting to see how hard my friends are pushing. Motivates me to go harder. I love segments, to give me an idea of my performance relative to previous attempts. But I don’t use it as an analytics platform anymore…that’s what TR is for! 
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I check my PRs because it helps me see progress, sort of, but I’m not likely to see many KOMs with my name anywhere near them.
Strava provides an easy way to get Zwift ride data into TR.
Echoing your sentiment, in a recent, “things we’d like to see in 2019,” video, Ray Maker’s thing for apps was, “One new feature from Strava.”
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Premium user here and will more than likely continue to be for the foreseeable.
I’ve started to use it more and more as a social tool and belive it or not I’ve actually made some new real life riding buddies through the app… yep, social media has made me social😀
As an MTB’er I love the segments - really gives me some focus on training rides.
Long live Strava 
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I’ve got Premium until the end of June. I doubt I will renew with Summit or whatever it’s called now.
I mostly got premium due to the power analysis and power/duration curve, but Trainer Road is better now and has outside rode integration. I also use Golden Cheetah so the Strava tools are unnecessary for me now.
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I still use it, but it is not too cluttered where I live, meaning a ride does not have too many segments. I can do a 20mile out and back on my mountain bike and the segments that show up are the 10 out and the 10 back.
When I travel Strava is useless. I tried to find out how long and how much climbing was on Apex (closest ride to Yeti hq and was my favorite ride 20 years ago). I could not find a bottom to top segment, there were over 20 bs itty bitty segments overlayed on what I think is 3 miles.
Strava needs to clean this up! Who cares what your time is for a single tech segment?!?
I like mtb project for looking up trails now.
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Global heat maps is a great feature of Strava that I use when I travel and want to find out what roads the locals ride.
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I just dropped my premium subscription too. If only I could directly load from my wahoo ELEMNT bolt directly into TR calendar.
Strava went downhill when the changed the timeline from chronological to whatever bullshit algorithm they use now.
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Never really enjoyed Strava, perhaps I didn’t get enough followers or likes or whatever. It was a useful ride recording tool, but had no real social aspect for me.
I still have and use the free account as it’s easier to sync workouts via Strava. If I didn’t need it for that, I wouldn’t use it at all.
I certainly don’t use and would never use Strava Premium, but I wouldn’t want to go without the site as a whole.
I love being able to follow pros on training camps, sometimes with power data (I’ve stolen interval sessions off Robert Gesink and I’m now following with interest Harry Tanfield’s first winter as a pro tour rider).
I like finding riders from areas where I’m going on holiday and using their rides to plan my routes there.
I can see what rides my clubmates are doing and if their photos look good, save that route to ride another day. I like that new club members can follow me on Strava and pinch my routes, too. And I can see how team-mates got on in races and TTs.
I can look at how the top TTers paced the TT course I’m going to be racing that weekend and pick up tips that way.
And I like to see how I compare with (a) clubmates and (b) me from previous seasons on my starred segments.
Loads of reasons to use it still.
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I agree, I use Strava in lots of ways all of which are available on the free version. However, when they introduced the Summit a la carte pricing, I felt that $24/yr is way under the value that I get from it, so I signed on.
Course profile importing to Wahoo Elemnt (This with speed and power is what is on my headunit during races. It alone is worth the $24)
Automated tracking of mileage on chains, cables, etc.
Heatmaps and Segments to develop routes when traveling
Also when traveling, leaderboards let me message riders of my pace. Everyone has also been friendly and I can get the lowdown on the more “fun” local rides.
Is their feature set stale? Yes, but I really value the features listed above. Is a form of advertising creeping into my activity feed? Yes, but I don’t need to look at it. Have your teammates or buddies create a club and then you can view their activities free of ads and Strava’s algorithm.
Being able to load outdoor rides straight from the wahoo would eliminate one of the few use cases for strava.
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I had someone complain that I hadn’t given them Kudos which made me realise Strava wasn’t for me. I still use but all my training is now private and I use the comparison feature of previous training routes.
Hi there,
I do worry about privacy and this is one of the reasons why I stop using strava. Another reason is people putting themselves and others into danger just because trying to get a KOM, after I saw this I stopped using it.
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That is exactly what i am thinking !
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Been off strava for almost a year now and dont miss it except the feature where it compares efforts. I dont think this is possivle with the tr calendar.
I refused to give in and never once loaded Strava on my phone. Early on the features were explained to me and I saw the social aspect as a negative even though I frequently ride in groups. The reasons given above for what’s not good about Strava pretty much confirm I haven’t missed anything.