This reminds me of the quote from Liar Liar about true beauty being on the inside, "that's just something ugly people say." You're just not fast enough, that's why you are giving up on the KOM hunt! lol...kidding, kidding.
Strava can be a lot of fun. KOMs included, but PRs are more important to me, even though those can be wind-aided too depending on the segment. Power numbers never lie though, so that's good.
As for the age/ability thing...I feel like in this sport oftentimes the fastest guys have the most time available to them. Not a 100% fact, definitely outliers, but there is certainly truth to the time to train part of the equation. I'm 38, I'm a 1, and I can compete with the young kids but no doubt it gets harder every year.