I really like exercising on my Elliptical trainer with the Strava app because I can stick to a schedule no matter what the weather is outside, and I can still compete with my friends.
Likewise, cycling also suffers from weather issues outside. Strava does allow you to sync data from indoor cycling into the app though, so you can still complete from your living room with your friends.
Some advanced indoor cycling trainers like Peloton bike, or cycling apps like Zwift, now have built-in Strava compatibility. So, I’ve been seeing some friends competing on virtual cycling races all around the world (from their living room).
Strava does not count indoor cycling sessions, whether manually entered or via smart trainer towards Strava challenges. Whether they are recorded manually or as Virtual Rides from a cycling app, they are still ignored when it comes to leaderboards and challenges. But it is still great to share your exercise data in interesting ways, as that social aspect helps a lot to motivate you, especially if you train on your own.
Strava as an app does a pretty good job as it has various safeguards for location data privacy, and having integration with Apple Health, Samsung Health, etc also means that Android and iOS users can compete with each other across the restrictions of their own operating systems.
See https://indoorcyclingtips.com/how-to-record-indoor-cycling-with-strava/