There's a whole world of people who join Strava clubs of people they have zero connection with. Then they kudo every ride everyone in the club does. I think it's really weird.

There is a guy locally who came to a group ride and had only a world-wide group of Strava friends. He seemed to want some real-life friends and I rode with him a few times.

But he reverted to his solo rides with garnering big accolades from his worldwide network of Strava "friends". He never rides with anyone anymore.

Turns out he has a crappy bike computer that overestimates climbing by 30-40%. I know he is aware of it because I commented on the discrepancy between his & everyone's elevation gain while we were riding together. He's the CEO of a successful company & could afford a new bike computer.

But...He is "known" in his Strava world as a great climber. He gets hundreds of kudos from all around the world on every ride, and dozens of comments on his climbing prowess. He literally rides around in circles in hilly neighborhoods for all his climbing though, doesn't do any real stuff in the mountains because he's unconfident about his descending.

I assumed he rode solo, posted inflated climbing numbers, was a weak descender, and that he'd wanted to fix all though things. Nope, he prefers his version of reality. It's a bigger bang for the buck than real climbing would be.

Anyway, one of my local (real life) clubs had to close it's membership to get rid of the hordes of unknowns from all over the world who flooded into the club after this guy rode with the group once or twice. Apparently they attempt to follow everyone who anyone they follow is connected to and they join every club.

After that eye opener, I realized much of Strava is BS. If I don't know the person in some way outside of Strava, with rare exception I'm not interested in what they are doing & I'd prefer they not show interest in what I am doing. The only people I sometimes follow who I don't know are pros, just to see their numbers & where they ride.