I considered myself late to Strava. I've only been on it for 4.5 years. Before that I was manually entering my routes into RWGPS to figure out my elevation. That was a big PITA. Before that I was using BikeWire (Does that still exist?) and a CatEye Double Wireless. Before that I was using BikeJournal until they put most of their stuff behind a pay wall. Before that I was using a paper journal.

Strava has been great for me. There's a lot of inspiration out there. If you think you're riding a lot, check out Amanda Coker. If you think you're fast, check out any of the many pros out there. If you think you're climbing a lot, check out Thibaut Pinot this week or the Cannondale guys in Tenerife. If you want to see someone recover from injury, check out Levi Leipheimer.