Purpose of multiple bike apps
 

I was just curious as to this topic. I'm setting up my Elemnt Bolt as I type and I must say it's a hella easy and seemless process. It did prompt me if I wanted to add any bike apps to the Bolt will record my rides and stats. For example, Strava, RideWithGps, etc.. is there a purpose to havingmultiple bike ride apps installed to record data? Or will I be fine with just Strava or RideWithGPS? If someone could explain please? Thanks!

The Elemnt Bolt is designed to share ride data to Strava, live or after the ride, so it shouldn't be necessary to run Strava simultaneously. But it can also do live segments with premium customers.

I use Wahoo Fitness, Cyclemeter (iPhone only) and Strava. A few times I've run all three simultaneously to compare data. They're all pretty close so now I run only Cyclemeter or Wahoo Fitness and later upload the data to Strava. Saves battery drain compared with running two or three apps that all do pretty much the same thing.

All record pretty much the same data, but each differs in display while running. Cyclemeter displays the most info while riding; Wahoo Fitness the least, but it offers the largest and most easily visible display on my smallish iPhone 4s screen; Strava is somewhere between the two in accessible data while riding.

Cyclemeter and Wahoo Fitness both can upload to Strava, but can't share with each other. Wahoo Fitness is free and designed to work with Wahoo devices, but runs alone just fine on my iPhone.

I haven't tried Ride With GPS for awhile and need to revisit it to try turn by turn navigation. At the time I first tried it I was only interested in recording rides to review later.

My iPhone doesn't have a data plan so it's a standalone GPS device while I'm out riding, away from wifi. The other apps I use are OSM and Maps if I get lost and need a hint. Usually I'm happy to just wander around until I find my way again. Occasionally I'll use a compass and slope gauge to compare results of climbs against existing mapped data for hilly routes.

And I'll use the camera to snap pix or video for easier embedding with Strava. But I've begun carrying a weatherproof Olympus Tough camera so I don't rely on the iPhone alone for photos as much.

I use strava and map my ride and run them at the same time. I like strava the most but I like the audible pace,distance and time you get with map my ride.

I run cyclemeter on my iPhone and upload to Strava. there is usually about a -.5 mph difference when the data is uploaded to strava and the elevation gains are different. never could figure out why.

Yup, I notice a difference of 0.5 to 1 mph between Cyclemeter and Strava, with Cyclemeter usually registering me as faster. My best guess -- experimenting while riding in a car or bus and watching the auto pause/resume -- is differences in threshold for auto pause/resume. Cyclemeter appears to go into pause more quickly when I slow down or stop, and doesn't kick in again until I'm above something like 5 mph.

Wahoo Fitness offers user-adjustable thresholds for auto pause/resume, but I'm not sure how effective it is. I don't recall whether Strava and Cyclemeter have adjustable thresholds.

Anyway, that's my best guess for the differences in speed.

Regarding elevations, as far as I can tell they're all using a common database for reference. I don't think they're actually measuring our climbs and descents on the fly. But when I review the traced paths later they're obviously inaccurate -- showing me to appear to be rambling around across the roads into ditches, across barbed wire fences, etc. So I'm guessing the variations in distance, elevation gains, etc., are due to tracking errors.

That's one reason why I've occasionally stopped mid-climb to measure a slope using my iPhone on top of my horizontal top tube -- one advantage to these older steelies with horizontal top tubes! The grades shown on Google maps and others appear to be pretty accurate.

Garmin and Wahoo both calculate your wheel circumference based on GPS data over time. Cyclemeter, if I recall does not - you have to set it. That can account for the error.

Also Cyclemeter allows you to set the point at which it starts and pauses when you stop. I was able to change my average ride speed by quite a lot be setting it to turn off and start up at something like 6mph - a speed I never hit when riding only while dealing with traffic.

Those two points are the errors between them.

I have very good (excellent) agreement between Garmin and Wahoo. I've since stopped using Cyclemeter.

J.

Ok thanks for your input. What I'll do is on my next ride, I'll run RideWithGPS and Strava. And naturally my Bolt will be recording the data. I'll compare between those two apps and see which is closer/more accurate and I guess I'll stick with that one.

Strava is pretty much the universal cycling app. Even if you don't use the social networking aspect of it now, you might eventually. And you can keep your rides and routes private.

The advantage to Strava is the huge database of publicly accessible rides by others in your area. Helps in choosing routes. And you can compare your rides against others to get a rough gauge of conditioning.

I emphasize "rough gauge of conditioning", because, besides age, factors include:

• Bike weight and design -- while Strava can estimate power output based on these factors, I'm not sure whether it offers something like a golf handicap or other system to calculate relative performance.
• Wind. Huge factor in some areas and times of year. Again, I'm not sure Strava offers any way to compare the effects of wind.

For the first year I rode, after 30 years away from cycling, I only used Cyclemeter and Wahoo Fitness to evaluate my rides relative to my own performance. But as I got involved in local casual group rides I began to get more interested in Strava because I saw how friends were progressing as well. And keeping track of much stronger riders on the same routes I ride gives me a more realistic sense of things. Rather than feeling discouraged that I'll never approach that kind of speed or fitness, I'm contented with the progress I am making.

I frequently run both Strava and RideWithGPS on my android device. But they have different features.

RWGPS locks the routes for "free" users so they are unusable.
RWGPS, however, displays current speed and current climbing data (with cumulative climbing 2x or 3x higher than Strava).
RWGPS handlebar mode is nice, allowing viewing data without the finger swipe. For power savings, on long rides, I set my phone to 15 seconds or 30 seconds, so one button to display data, then let the screen time-out. For shorter rides, I use a downloadable utility called NoScreenOff to keep the screen active.

Strava routes are functional (although if running offline, be careful about exiting and re-entering).
Strava post ride analysis is nice.
Strava segments and data sharing are fun.
Unfortunately, Strava only displays average speed + distance.

On a recent mini-tour, I kept a running log under RWGPS, and daily activities under Strava.

They make you forget you are looking at nice stuff because you are buried in them.


You lose weight when you aren't focusing on it, I have found as a comparison. I rarely carry a radio on the bike anymore. Traffic is more important the Tommy James and the Shondells.


(only on the road tho')

Reminds me, one cool feature with the freebie Wahoo Fitness app is it'll display continuously on my iPhone 4s unless I choose to turn off the display. It doesn't time out or go into power saver mode while Wahoo Fitness is running. It doesn't drain the battery too quickly but I usually plug in an external USB battery while I'm running Wahoo Fitness in continuous display mode. The characters are large enough to easily see with Wahoo Fitness -- not so with Strava or Cyclemeter on the smallish iPhone 4s.

But I don't run the display in continuous on mode very often. The speed always lags behind several seconds so it's not really useful as a speedometer. A cheap dedicated speedometer would be better.