I like Strava for finding roads, etc. I also like it to keep tabs on friends riding in different areas. It makes it easy to pat your friend or acquaintance on the back. It's interesting sometimes to put a ride up and let your friends see what you are doing. I get a kick out of seeing how many personal achievements I make on my endurance rides now as I train more, but that's about it.

I used to train with a guy who had all of his riders post on Strava. It was a good motivational tool, you could see that other guys had done x, y or z. Then he started getting all twisted about getting this or that KOM. Basically he would, for certain sections, set up a lead out into the segment. He liked to have all of the names on a certain segment or other be all of his guys.

Strava is useful for learning new routes and to see who is riding what roads in my area. It's also useful to easily compare individual performance on a given section or loop. (But try comparing power numbers between Strava and TP or something sometime. You get a few to a few hundred watts boost from Strava. Think that's on purpose?) I don't know how this is going to integrate with USA Cycling, but if it is anything other than a sub-group you can self-identify with on Strava it's going to be stupid mess.