Log Book
 

Is there a log book for bicycles? Long a ago magazines gave them away for renewing their subscription. No more. Does anyone still keep a log book?

Not quite free but pretty close and cheaper than a magazine subscription.

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Pocket-.../dp/B07KQDCGKKhttps://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...41a662f64c.jpg

I used log books for many years, still have them. I migrated to a computer software program (Ambie Software) in the late 90's specifically for activity tracking, then went to an on-line called Endomondo (I think they still exist). When I went to a Garmin GPS bike computer, the ride and all other activity data, kayaking, hiking, swimming, etc.... all went to Garmin automatically and onward to Ride With GPS. I do edit the RWGPS entries for info as to whom I road with, the weather, bike used, etc.....

For tracking my cycling, I have Excel spreadsheets for the current year with archives going back to 1989. It tracks maintenance intervals for each bike, e-trailer miles, and cumulative miles. It would have been wonderful if I'd kept an accurate log of my pre-1989 miles, but all I can do is estimate (and I'm not sure enough of my guesses to do so).
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8c9549ee8e.png
Not a great year so far (travel, illness, busy weekends), but hopefully it'll get better. The summer flat spots are due to the 110°+ heat and our annual Big Road Trips, in which I'm usually too busy to ride, even if I can bring a bike.

I have RWGPS through our club. I use the phone app, but it draws a lot of power, so I typically only activate it for rides with lots of climbing.

BikeJournal is still around, and it's free. I still enter my miles there as well.

I'm pretty old school about my bicycle log book. It's a bound journal for bike maintenance, in which I make notes about replacing tires, chains, etc., with dates and odometer readings. Kind of similar to the log books I have for our cars -- date, mileage, how much gas/from where/price, or oil change, tires, etc.

I've got two parallel "logs" for rides. An Excel spreadsheet keeps track of ride lengths by date, and I make notes about each ride in an engagement calendar. This system works for me.

Note, if I were "training" on a training plan, I might want something more like average speed, intervals, training effect, etc., etc., ad nauseum. You can do a lot with a copier or printer and a hole punch.

I use a basic calender book logging daily activity. Crude but it works for me.

originally why I started my 'personal log" of this forum. was pretty handy. still is, I just don't track "data" anymore. still a useful record of my travels. & sadly, also my inactivity :cry:

As an accountant-type, I used Excel for many years. Kept track of various maintenance, too.
Moved to Strava nine years ago and never looked back.
And now keep maintenance notes in a tiny notebook atop my tool chest.
The written record tells me how long tires, chains, gears, bottom brackets, etc last.
Also reminds me when to replace the dang right brifter cable every year or so!

I use something like I-Like-to-Bike linked to. Just picked it up at Wally World. About once a week I copy that into a spreadsheet. Don't track maint or other costs. Just bike used, miles, times and the occasional comment.

Steve B is talking about using the RWGPS website not the RWGPS app.

He's using a Garmin on his bike.

One can upload the rides recorded on the Garmin to RWGPS as a place to store your rides.

I use Strava and Garmin Connect to get my GPS data to Strava. Ride with GPS is too complicated.

I like the idea of logging maintenance, and these tracking apps don’t seem to consider that. Especially since bikes don’t have built in odometers.

Log books seem to have fallen by the wayside since GPS and phone apps got popular.

I'm pretty sure you can log maintenance using RWGPS. Maybe you need one of the paid levels. I've been meaning to do it, but you know how that goes. I hit "start" when I start a ride and "stop" when I end it. I rarely write any comments, but I sometimes write forum or blog posts. One nice thing about RWGPS is that I can denote which bike I rode, handy since I have so many bikes.

Back in '88, I started logging rides on scraps of paper. In '98, I started logging rides in a csv file. I somehow managed to transcribe the first 10 years' data into that csv file. Four years later, now with multiple bikes, I added maintenance logs to that csv. They're a different record format than the rides records, so the file itself won't load as-is to say Excel without splitting it up. But I have several Unix awk scripts to make nice little reports directly from the file.

I also started an Excel spreadsheet in '91 to keep track of commutes. That has morphed to many worksheets to analyze mileage stats to death for the multiple bikes with nice graphs.

I still used old-fashioned wired computers--three bikes, three Vetta RT255L computers (red) so I know the buttons on each bike without thinking. Most of my rides are repeat so it's easy to copy a record from the last time I rode a route and change the pertinent stats, leaving the route info intact.

I use week-at-a-glance pocket calendars and have since 1988. Still have all of them in a file drawer. I've even had occasion to get them out to verify dates on a photo scanning project I'm doing. If you are cheap, buy the calendar a day or two after January 1 each year.

Some churches are selling (Or giving away.) "Prayer books." These are for prayers, notes etc. I got mine for $ 8.00 at my local church..