Status anxiety for endurance athletes. Half /s.

Ha. Not disagreeing with you, but it's a social network for athletes. What's my favorite athlete up to? How can I emulate her? Strava tells me.

Premium features. Heart rate tracking, the ability to map rides, the ability to compare prior segments.

For most people, it makes all of zero sense. For someone who spends 500h+ a year on their bike, it's an easy purchase.

Strava kinda sucks but it blows the competition out the water.

I'm in the 500 hour a year set. Strava's analytics don't hold a candle to intervals.icu or the stuff you can do with Golden Cheetah or TrainingPeaks. Ride With GPS is a much better route planner. Every time Strava has given me a free trial, I've been underwhelmed. The segment analysis is the only premium feature I really miss, but it's not worth another subscription.

Iook up https://intervals.icu and scroll down - i would say strava got blown out of the water!

I spend 500h+ on the bike but don't find much value in Strava's paid offering relative to the free version.