I thought I’d pop a comment on this because your article really struck a chord with me, @stwhannah
I’ve never been a racer, never tried to outdo others or even myself. I started using Strava as a tool just to keep track of rides, but always in a journal type of way. It’s sometimes nice to see I managed a particular climb a bit better than previously, but I’ve never gone out to push myself time wise or speed or distance. It’s only ever about having fun. All of my Strava logs read about where I went, what I saw, and most importantly about the fun highlights that it contained.
Like the one where Shaz lost a shoe, the one where we got lost and had to put the hammer down and hightail it back to the cars to pick the kids up from school, the one where we took a short cut to the off-licence for a cheeky can which turned into an all afternoon beer garden session, the one where it pissed down and we left puddles on and under the café chairs, the one when we got chased by a boar, and so on.
Lots of people forget that it’s supposed to be fun.