It's mostly handy for folks who are motivated by reasonable personal goals, or enjoy keeping up with active friends. I started out using it mostly for the social networking thing, but soon became more goal oriented.

It's easier to demonstrate than explain. I'd say just give it a try.

Now, until this month, I'd have said just give the free version a try. And it's still good. But the recent change has hidden a lot of features that used to be free -- the leader boards, which I checked daily to compare my results with other folks whom I know are comparable to me in age, weight and fitness, or stronger and faster.

I'd suggest starting out with the free version for a week or so, then go for the 60-day free premium trial. You'll quickly see the differences. And the 60-day free trial is absolutely free. Yes, you do need to specify a payment method -- I used Google pay. But you can cancel any time. Strava has a good reputation for business practices so I wouldn't worry about them billing us for services we don't want or cancelled.

When I started cycling in 2015, I was a long way from my athletic prime in my teens and 20s in the 1970s. I used to be very competitive and fit. I rode bikes, raced occasionally (I was never any good at it but I had fun), played racquetball during the 1970s SoCal heyday, and was an amateur boxer. I was about as fit as a very middle-of-the-pack guy could be. I was never going to be a champion in any sport but I was solidly in that demographic of amateur athletes who fill up the photos of models for every sporting product, ever. I was the target marketing demographic.

Fast forward to 2000... my weight had ballooned from 150 to 205 in the early 2000s after decades of work and family life. Then in 2001 my car was t-boned at highway speed, breaking my neck and back. I could hardly do more than limp around with a cane for a decade. I changed my diet and cut out a lot of sugar and junk carbs, which got my weight down to 175.

• By 2014 I was able to get off the cane for long walks.
• In summer 2015 I bought a 35 lb comfort hybrid just to try bike riding again. It was painful. I had to stop every 400 yards to gasp for breath and huff my asthma inhaler (useless - turned out I needed a totally different type of asthma and nasal inhaler steroid). It took me a month just to ride 3 miles continuously without stopping. Another month to ride 10 miles with lots of stops. After three months I could ride a 20 mile round trip... in 12 hours. That's how badly out of shape I was.
• Early 2016, I meet some great folks for casual group rides. I struggled to keep up with a 10-12 mph pace, but they were very encouraging. Some of them mention Strava. I'm curious so I signed up for the free service.
• Summer 2016, as a one year anniversary of resuming cycling, I treat myself to a lighter weight hybrid, a good used early 1990s Univega that weighs around 30 lbs. I get a bit more goal oriented toward personal fitness.
• Summer 2017, I buy myself an old school steel road bike, my first in 30+ years. Now I'm getting more interested in how my fitness is progressing. Strava's free version leader board shows me how I compare with friends from those casual group rides, as well as some seriously strong local amateurs and pros. This rekindles my old latent competitive streak.
• In 2018 I was hit by a car, breaking and dislocating my shoulder, and coincidentally diagnosed with thyroid cancer. That was a long recovery period. Strava helped keep me motivated, and in touch with friends whom I saw less often in person.
• In 2019 I bought a good used carbon fiber road bike from a friend. That's a gateway drug to insufferable competitiveness.

Annnndddd it's all downhill from there. Now I'm chasing KOMs (never getting any KOM worth having -- my sole KOM is on a route nobody rides other than some neighbors on single speed cruisers), and actually cracking the top ten against some pretty strong riders.

At 62 my window of opportunity for improving is rapidly closing. I figure I have about 3-5 years, tops, to get stronger and faster. After that my fitness will decline no matter how hard I try, unless I use PEDs. It took a long time just to rebuild my base fitness. I figured it would take a few months. Nope. It took a few years. That's how it goes with an aging body.

So Strava serves my immediate needs for something to motivate me.

But, to be honest, I'll probably lose interest after age 65. By then the window of opportunity to get stronger and faster will close. I'll just be holding position for as long as possible. It'll be difficult to maintain the same level of motivation knowing that it's not going to result in any improvements.

So eventually I won't pay much attention to the leader boards, KOMs, PRs, etc. I'll probably switch to an endurance or touring geometry road bike, and ride my old Univega hybrid more often. And that's fine too.

But for now, that's why I find Strava useful. It's my virtual Staff Sergeant Munden, our Marine Corps fitness DI in Hospital Corps field training school, the guy who'd do almost anything legal to motivate us Navy squids to get into proper shape. He'd bark stuff like "Pain is beautiful, bud! If it doesn't hurt, you're doing it wrong!"