Apps for cycling. Does anyone else find them kind of... lacking?

[fooferdoggie]

Maybe if I sold my house and we quit our jobs!
I doubt the bike can work year round here either. I just don’t see rain or snow as real options for riding. I am currently planning on getting studded tires, but that is almost certainly for nicer days no matter what. I hope I can continue through some of winter.

snow sucks rain not a big deal with the right gear.

 

[The Brick]

Maybe if I sold my house and we quit our jobs!

Both the husband and wife appeared to be elite level, but retired pro cyclists. 125 - 150 miles per day was nothing to them but with two small kids and 3 weeks of supplies, 60 miles per day was a fun day. It's different when you ride all your life.
The prior year, my wife and I talked with a cyclist who we watched ride to the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado. When he got off the bike at the top, he wasn't even breathing heavy or sweating. Looked just like a tour rider. It was just a training ride to him. No big deal.

Have fun on the rides with the family! Make sure there's a purpose and a reward at the middle and the end and they'll love it.

 

[dynamic]

snow sucks rain not a big deal with the right gear.

vermont comes with cold snow. Not much choice there. But, honestly, when the roads are relatively clear, I can probably still ride. Not sure how I feel about dragging the little ones along though.

 

[fooferdoggie]

vermont comes with cold snow. Not much choice there. But, honestly, when the roads are relatively clear, I can probably still ride. Not sure how I feel about dragging the little ones along though.

ya hard to tell though kids do better in cold then we do.

 

[dynamic]

ya hard to tell though kids do better in cold then we do.

It's more the safety thing. I have no idea how a bike with studded tires would behave on any surface. I imagine I should probably do a bunch of winter riding without kids before I take them.

 

[fooferdoggie]

It's more the safety thing. I have no idea how a bike with studded tires would behave on any surface. I imagine I should probably do a bunch of winter riding without kids before I take them.

ya no I would not ride with them when the roads are frozen. Hell I dont even ride with frozen roads its the only thing that stops me.

 

[tomjasz]

ya no I would not ride with them when the roads are frozen. Hell I dont even ride with frozen roads its the only thing that stops me.

Too funny. I refuse to give in to the weather. Climate change has given me dozens of cold but clear streets and good riding days. It's just weather...

 

[dynamic]

Too funny. I refuse to give in to the weather. Climate change has given me dozens of cold but clear streets and good riding days. It's just weather...

Yeah, but where do you live? I don't think your bike can carve through four feet of snow.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Too funny. I refuse to give in to the weather. Climate change has given me dozens of cold but clear streets and good riding days. It's just weather...

snow and Ice are different they make for unsafe riding without special tires. even then you can bite it and I am getting too old for that. Plus we only usually have snow for a day or two at a time and its not practical to setup a bike for that. plus most of the time our streets are not plowed or salted so they are less then smooth.

 

[tomjasz]

snow and Ice are different they make for unsafe riding without special tires. even then you can bite it and I am getting too old for that. Plus we only usually have snow for a day or two at a time and its not practical to setup a bike for that. plus most of the time our streets are not plowed or salted so they are less then smooth.

Yup. I gave up even though I have studded tires, however the new trike build along with the custom wind screen is a new ballgame. When I was able I used my Sorel booted and legs as outriggers. The 70’s will have reduced me to a front DD with a studded tire for winter 22’-23’.

 

[tomjasz]

Yeah, but where do you live? I don't think your bike can carve through four feet of snow.

Minnesnowta. Winter 2019 was impossible, but the last 3 were warmer and not much snow.

 

[dynamic]

Are studded tires such that you should swap them when the road is dry in the winter? Because that is crazy. I am thinking: swap to studs in november/december and back when it melts, much like winter tires on cars.

 

[Sparky731]

Are studded tires such that you should swap them when the road is dry in the winter? Because that is crazy. I am thinking: swap to studs in november/december and back when it melts, much like winter tires on cars.

I am having a tough time rationalizing changing my tires for studded tires in the winter in Arizona. The hot pavement wears the studs down too quickly. Am I missing something here?

 

[dynamic]

I am having a tough time rationalizing changing my tires for studded tires in the winter in Arizona. The hot pavement wears the studs down too quickly. Am I missing something here?

Yeah, you are missing the snow. I'll take my snow over your heat any day.

 

[Catalyzt]

Great posts, thanks, guys. I will have to give OSMA a try. Dynamic, I feel your pain. I have slowly moved towards just accepting the fact that I need three different app solutions: One for the past, one for the present, and one for the future. In other words, one for planning, another for being sure exactly where I am, and one that will give me stats on my ride afterwards -- how far and how fast as well as the elevation.

What I've been doing, which sucks: Planning with Google Maps (the worst) or AllTrails or MTB project (I use the website, not the app -- better, but far from ideal), and determining where I am in remote areas with Google Maps (works well for that, particularly at critical trail junctions where a mistake could mean riding another 5 to 10 miles and running out of electrons) and Strava for archival purposes.

AllTrails and MTB project are great for figuring grade and elevation-- whether a route is actually possible for my skill level or not. For some rides, it might tell me that one segment is 27%, but that segment is only 50-100 feet and the trail is intermediate/advanced, so I figure, "Okay, I can do it, but just barely" which turned out to be right. Or I'll figure "I can do it, but I may have to walk some sections" which turned out to be accurate as well. So I think the planning part is really key-- whether you're on the trail or doing what Dynamic is doing.

Would be great if I had an app that both helped me plan a route and also told me where I was as accurately as Google Maps. Strava just didn't quite cut it for that, but maybe I was using it wrong, I have a new phone. I think what I liked about Google Maps was that I could see the satellite view, which sometimes shows trails that aren't shown on a map.

 

[dynamic]

Great posts, thanks, guys. I will have to give OSMA a try. Dynamic, I feel your pain. I have slowly moved towards just accepting the fact that I need three different app solutions: One for the past, one for the present, and one for the future. In other words, one for planning, another for being sure exactly where I am, and one that will give me stats on my ride afterwards -- how far and how fast as well as the elevation.

What I've been doing, which sucks: Planning with Google Maps (the worst) or AllTrails or MTB project (I use the website, not the app -- better, but far from ideal), and determining where I am in remote areas with Google Maps (works well for that, particularly at critical trail junctions where a mistake could mean riding another 5 to 10 miles and running out of electrons) and Strava for archival purposes.

AllTrails and MTB project are great for figuring grade and elevation-- whether a route is actually possible for my skill level or not. For some rides, it might tell me that one segment is 27%, but that segment is only 50-100 feet and the trail is intermediate/advanced, so I figure, "Okay, I can do it, but just barely" which turned out to be right. Or I'll figure "I can do it, but I may have to walk some sections" which turned out to be accurate as well. So I think the planning part is really key-- whether you're on the trail or doing what Dynamic is doing.

Would be great if I had an app that both helped me plan a route and also told me where I was as accurately as Google Maps. Strava just didn't quite cut it for that, but maybe I was using it wrong, I have a new phone. I think what I liked about Google Maps was that I could see the satellite view, which sometimes shows trails that aren't shown on a map.

So, strava's web interface does everything I want. The mobile interface doesn't. That is driving me crazy. I also realized I want heart rate to come through the apple watch. At least strava does that (and actually seems to sync stuff really well) but not all the others (and with varying degrees of success).
Right now, I want an app to help plan, and then direct me on my routes. Most of the planning aspects are really pretty annoying. Either they don't offer any good route generation controls (avoid/prefer) and/or they don't let you easily add waypoints to do it manually. And very few of the *apps* are as good as the web versions. Ride with gps is probably the best app so far on mobile for planning routes. But that's not saying much.
What is killing me about strava, is you can take *their* routes and edit waypoints on the mobile app. But I can't find a way to create way points on your own (on the mobile app). Their web interface might be the "best" one. I might be able to do that with my own *web* saved waypoints. So maybe the way around is to leave routes with a few extra waypoints in them to drag them around.
At some point I will simply walk out the door and hit record. In which case, strava is likely the easy winner.
How would any of these handle changing your route? I had the shortest route to my daycare blocked by an over turned tractor trailer yesterday. It feels like none of these would be able to contemplate any re-routing or changes on the fly. And, I gotta tell you, when you ride with kids, plans gonna change.
Makes me want to just pop on apple maps, ignore some of it's directions and let it re-route. And use workouts on the apple watch for tracking (which does great for that purpose)

ANyway, I am leaning toward strava, as I think I would love to meet people who bike around here. And that seems like a pretty easy way to do it. Since none of them are actually *good* at this.

 

[dynamic]

Just to confirm, strava doesn't let you edit way points you place *while* placing them on the mobile app. But if you save it, come back in, you can move waypoints, but can't otherwise alter the route. Really annoying.

 

[Catalyzt]

Just to confirm, strava doesn't let you edit way points you place *while* placing them on the mobile app. But if you save it, come back in, you can move waypoints, but can't otherwise alter the route. Really annoying.

Yeah, that's infuriating. Even planning a route (and adding destinations, or 'waypoints') in Google Maps is ridiculous-- I have to do it in walk mode, because it tells me that trails which are totally legal for bikes are not, and it keeps trying to re-route me around difficult terrain that is often exactly what I'm looking for, and the reason I'm going out to begin with!

Hard to avoid a micro-rant about GPS in general, like why can't you tell it, "I drive a sports car, please avoid lefts across six lanes of traffic at intersections with no stop signs or traffic lights," because in Los Angeles, many of these are fairly blind even in a truck, and suicidal in a low-profile vehicle.

There should be better ways for changing and modifying routes. Last night, I was at an AA meeting in a dodgy neighborhood... and there was a hundred-car freight sitting on railroad tracks I'd never noticed before, blocking my route. Phone was almost out of juice, car was almost out of gas, neighborhood is not laid out on a grid at all, and Google Maps was helpless-- kept telling me to drive through the train. Eventually, I found a detour that worked, but by that time, I was in a neighborhood that was so bad that the cops were following me, probably wondering if I was trying to make a drug deal!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I didn't read the thread. I would say RideWithGPS. It gives you the possibility to study many alternative bike friendly routes. For any of them, the app will inform you on the surface types to be ridden, and a very accurate elevation profile including the grade will be produced. Then the RWGPS can be used for smartphone GPS navigation, or the route can be uploaded to a GPS bike computer.

 

[tomjasz]

Nah. Other than my BT BMS I haven’t found the need. But from reading there are some interesting apps. For me riding is an escape from iPhone madness. We’ve developed into a culture that seems to think we need to answer the phone or interact with a smart phone constantly. ad infinitum and ad nauseam… Just my personal choice. Perhaps we’re I 40-50 years younger I’d be more enamored. Regardless I am following this thread . An old dog could learn new and useful tricks… carry on!