Strava Leaderboards and Fake Rolexes

[Strava announced a major change of policy] today. They are putting a lot of their information behind a paywall including some relating to their leaderboards.


This has acted as a nudge for me to raise a topic that I had already planned.


When I started riding my training was very simple. It consisted of riding my bike up a few hills and around a few fixed routes nearby (the latter being especially designed so they could be safely ridden without any need to pause).


My objective for this hills was first to get up them without stopping. After that for them and the routes I simply aimed to go a bit faster each time. As my fitness was improving I usually succeeded. I was also helped that as I got more used to riding my bike I got more comfortable and, I would guess, more aerodynamic.


It never crossed my mind back then to compare myself with others or, for that matter, try to get faster by buying something to make me go quicker. I was just completely happy riding my bike with my only gadget being a very cheap "computer" that told me how long I had been riding and gave an estimate on distance and speed by using a magnet attached to a wheel spoke.


Eventually I plucked up the courage to enter a few events and at that point my obsession with gadgets and numbers began. But I think I appreciated both all the more because of the simple bedrock that my previous routine had established.


I really don't know if, had I been starting now, Strava and the like would have been a help or a hindrance. My feeling is that, for me it would have been more bad than good. I was pretty hopeless at the beginning and if I had seen myself at the bottom of the leaderboards my confidence could have taken a bash and I might have just given up and gone back to only playing golf.


Recalling the recent post on Larry's fake Rolex, I think that Strava is more for those who seek extrinsic motivators, while I value intrinsic ones more.


So it is not that I don't use Strava, I do. I admit I take pride in the fact that I'm pretty high up in the leaderboards. But the main use I put it to is simply to motivate me to set new PRs.


Fortunately, for the time being at least, Strava will still show your segment results for free so  the change has left me unaffected.