I have paid since I started using it. I want the service to exist and want to do my part to support it. Who wants to be a freeloader?

This is a good point. Thanks for the reminder.

What other options are available? I'm mostly data driven and, while the social is nice, not my primary reason for using Strava. I just want a place to store my rides and get comprehensive data. A quick "share" to Facebook is also useful.

For big data/ social media companies, "freeloader" is a funny word. How many people would pay for Facebook? Strava has almost literally no value with a single user. If they want my money, they have to do a much better job of almost everything, and they've never demonstrated much competency.

Agree.

I would pay for Google before I would pay for Strava.

I subscribe. For 2 bucks a month, it's worth it. I like numbers and being able to look at different rides. I wish there was a place to exchange Strava accounts so we could see each other's ride ideas.

"If it's not on Strava, it didn't happen!"

The KOM crowd that validates their cycling on Strava will shift towards paying. Not all of them, but a significant portion I believe. Ego is worth paying for and having all the info about your KOM and position on the board will matter to a substantial demographic.

Site says it’s $5/month. How do you get such a discount?

Making the changes with almost no advance notice is an interesting way to roll.

It's a bit funny to think we wouldn't pay $60/year, yet a cellphone data plan can cost close to that much per month... so that instead we can use a free app.
Maybe better to think of an subscription like a consumable .. eg.. 2 chains, 2 tires, 10 tubes, 2x chamois butt'r, etc..

I can't work without a cell phone, nor talk to my family, nor a million other things. Strava, on the other hand, doesn't do much that isn't available elsewhere. They're also ****ty as a company (capriciously breaking third party support when those third parties do something better) ****ty as a business (first mover and can't make money after a decade), ****ty as developers (can't handle triathlon data, can't do simple things like custom tags or custom activity types), and just generally are terrible at all of their jobs.

It is very likely their VC sugar daddies reevaluated under current circumstances and gave them an ultimatum.

It's a good thing you weren't around 20 years ago then.

I just checked. My subscription says "Your annual membership will automatically renew on October 15, 2020 for $23.99"

My understanding is that, for non-subscribers, you'll be able to see Top 10, Top 10 women and your PR/ranking; you will not see your previous efforts like you could before.

I am guessing you got grandfathered into a lower price. I just checked and they want $60/year from me.

Not gonna do it.

Correct. Subscribers will retain leaderboard. 3rd party apps will lose access to the leaderboard.

I understand that you will be able to see your past results, just not compare to your friends nor analyze your efforts.

Not according to DCR, though he could be wrong. In the context of the changes, past effort comparisons seem like a thing that would get put in the 'subscriber' category.

I still don't know what the route creation thing does. Guess I missed out.

the top 10's are fun to explore in our area. There are a few names that pop up on most all of who are armature racers. But now and then a person who just destroys a segment with no data but a time and speed so you know its crap. Makes a person laugh.

Of our little group I am with that use it 2 of the 5 that I have talk to are going to dump it. So if the other 2 will dump it we will find a decent reasonable other way to do the fun of it.

You can select a start point and choose from a range of distances and it would spit out some route options.

I played with it a bit and got mostly okay results. I think that they pull route options from ridership data, which can be a mixed bag. The goals and preferences of commuters and MUP riders will differ from those of serious cyclists, and I was sometimes given recommendations cutting straight through the city or placing me on paths, neither of which are appealing.

I'm not kidding when I say this; I don't know what that means.

I pay for the subscription. I've used the site a freaking metric ton, and I thought they deserved to get a little something back. As someone said in another thread, they've been giving away too much for free for a long time now, and they do need to make money at some point if they want to stay in business.

Valid point. I think people have one main issue is that there was no notice to the community or the 3rd party app devs.

He's talking about the people who plan roads. If you're a person whose job it is to design a road traffic system, one would think that having some kind of data on who's actually using those roads, and in what sorts of vehicles, and at what times, would come in handy. At least it would if one of your goals was making the road network both efficient and safe.