[stephencoyner]

Paying Strava user and big cyclist here.

One thing I wish Strava would add - better route discovery. I know they recently added “routes” to the maps tab that you can filter based on elevation and distance, but I find they only show the same 2-3 routes every time I look.

Because of this, I’ve ended up going to segments I ride on, looking at the top performers of the day, then checking their routes to discover new places to ride.

If they had “route influencers” or some way to tap into the vast local knowledges that some users have I would love that.

[thirdsun]

I like your idea. Promoting willing users to local guides and showcasing their routes makes sense. I'd love to participate in that.

However I think Strava's route planning features are too basic. Unless I'm very familiar with the region I will always prefer Komoot for route planning as it allows me to get detailed information about the surface (which is very important for a road bike). Strava's surface information are too limited and heatmaps don't make up for it.

Interestingly enough Komoot allows you to publish and present your routes but they don't have the user base to make it worthwhile. At least in my circles it seems as if everyone just uses Komoot in private. It doesn't really feel like a social network or community.

[Gigachad]

These days I end up just designing the routes myself and tweaking them as I ride them. The problem is any premade routes won't be designed around your particular starting point.