That last sentence is where I am. I enjoy Strava and have been a subscriber for years because I don’t mind paying for things I enjoy, but if what they’re gonna put my $80/year or whatever into is some shitty, half-assed ChatGPT integration then I have to reconsider if that’s a good use of my money. The free version does the job of being a data hub to other services just as well and I get the benefit of not having LLM-generated slop shoved down my throat.
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I don’t race much but this is the best use case for premium.
I traveled to do a gravel race. To prep I could find the climb segments, review times from competitors of the previous years, check their power and know what was needed to get by. I could then also use veloviewer to find compare segments from the course to segments near me. Essentially letting me locally simulate certain parts of the course.
Is it overkill for me? Yepp. Is it amazing that I have access to the data via Strava to do this - absolutely.
I also just have a half dozen segments in my neighborhood that I’m constantly trying to move up the leaderboard on - the smile I get by moving into second position on the board after a month of training is worth the annual premium subscription by itself.
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I enjoy seeing what others are doing and where they ride. Always looking for new trails and cool places to ride.
That said, I dropped Instagram and other social media. As you said… comparison is the theif of joy, even if it is all smoke and mirrors.
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I like Strava but don’t subscribe. I did last year to see people’s strength to weight ratios, but they removed it shortly afterward. I subscribed to intervals.icu this year and also use free account version of ridewithgps to map routes.
I post all my rides to Strava… if not on there, doesn’t count!
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I have my TR calendar show up on Intervals.icu. I’m sure that you can be fancier than that but that is all that I need.
Not really left on my side, but to prevent me from riding for PR or at 30+km/h on every single ride, I started setting all my rides (training included) as only visible for me.
I don’t feel the urge anymore to compare myself with others and just focus on training. Now, I just use Intervals and gave a try to the new Garmin Cycling Coach feature for 12 weeks that looks like TrainerRoad new plan’s builder based on goals.
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Your own comments, yes but not others’.
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I do that too. Import into an SQLite db and sync titles, descriptions, and media with Golden Cheetah.
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I use Strava instead of Facebook 
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Strava for fun, Linkden for work.
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I’ve never used Strava.
I prefer to keep my privacy and all of my training metrics, results etc to myself.
What I do on my bike is my damn business and not for others to see, compare and judge.
Cheers
Personally, comparison brings me joy. Its one of the reasons I race.
Of course, nothing says you have to pay any attention to segments. You can keep your rides private and just use it as a very well set up tracker and planning tool.
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I’m enjoying Strava membership. It’s a real world view of what benefits you reap using TrainerRoad from Power comparisons on sections.
It’s great to see what watts you produce over a given time but seeing how that correlates on the road provides a more informed picture.
And as previously mentioned it’s my main depositary for a data dump and another insight in the days ride
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Like sharing photos from my rides on Strava. I don’t compare my stats to others, as I don’t race, why would I?
I use Strava leaderboards to see what trails are rideable during the transition seasons. If only one person has ridden a popular segment in the last week/days, or it took several people a relatively long time to ride the segment then it’s likely snowy or muddy. If a lot of people have ridden the segment in the last week then It’s likely good to go.
I just haven’t found another service that provides usable, up to date trail conditions and calling multiple local shops is unreliable. As fewer people are posting rides to Strava even this is becoming less reliable.
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I stopped paying for it a few years ago - the kerfuffle around the similarities of their (then) new route planner and Footpath (which I hadn’t previously heard of) caused me to give Footpath a go. Vastly preferred it so paid for that instead.
Then as they gradually removed functionality from non-paying users, I’ve had less and less occasion to actually use it. I used to add a few stats and photos on there for parkruns but I don’t even bother doing that anymore.
Their lack of an iPad app doesn’t help.
I do the same thing, and I also use this to build routes for new terrain. If I’m heading to some trails I’ve never ridden, I’ll pick a segment on the trail, look at people’s rides who’ve ridden it recently, and find one that looks like a good route to follow (by someone who knows what they’re doing). This has been a really successful way for me to plan trail rides in places where I’m unfamiliar with the system and there aren’t other resources available.
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Information is never harmful. It’s how you implement and use it that can be harmful.
If you find Steva problematic, simply don’t look at it.
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This is a really good idea!
I use the Strava app on my iPad all the time. I have for years. Did you mean for the other app?
No, Footpath has a really good iPad app. Strava doesn’t, just the iPhone one zoomed in (unless something’s changed since I last looked, admittedly a while back)