Keeping Track of Your Ride

The summer months offer great opportunities to get that bike out of the garage and go for a ride on one of the area’s many bike paths or country roads. While Mother Nature has not been very cooperative in the sun department, there is still ample opportunity to get in some quality pedal time. Many serious cyclists use mobile phone apps to record their rides and workouts. There is one app that is worth a look for even the occasional cyclist.

Map My Ride provides a set of applications designed to help you keep track of your route and your training regimen. The full featured app is a bit pricey, but a free version provides some great tools and fun.

Once loaded onto an iPhone, Android or BlackBerry, the app uses the GPS function to gather a ton of information as you ride. Not only will you get a summary of your bike ride with mileage, average speed and the actual time you rode, you can see a map of your route. The elevation of your ride is reported including the lowest point and highest point on your trip. It will also compute the total number of feet of climb. You will be surprised at the number of feet you climb even in the shortest ride around the Harrison area.

Another neat feature is the “split” calculation. You can see the speed and time you set for each of the miles you ride. A quick glance will show how well you ride both at the beginning and end of a trip.

Using the Facebook feature, you can share your ride info with your friends including a map so they can try your route.

Perhaps the coolest feature is the “Course Fly-By Video.” After your ride, using your computer you can recreate your ride. It plots your bike on a map and from beginning to end shows the roads, relative speed and other neat data about your ride.  It is like watching yourself from a drone overhead.

There are several similar apps for cyclists and runners. Many have more functions and are geared for the serious competitive riders. The free version of Map My Ride is a great starter and perhaps will motivate you to get that old clunker out of the garage and on to the road.