iPhone route tracking apps and data usage...
 

Not cell phone Davy here. Ok, I see a number of bike/ gps apps. Seems like a great idea.

I have gone on a number of group rides and they often go from streets to trails to streets again. I'd love to do some of those rides again, but I forget where we went from one street to another. Thinking I could use this to call back a ride Anderson then go by my self.

Also would love it for fitness tracking. I'm out of shape and just getting back into biking to loose weight and find friends

So here is the question. Are these apps free standing on the phone, or are they using up data usage? And, of course, which to use. I use a polar heart monitor as well. Don't know if any would pair with that and give Mr gps, speed, and heart rate info

So what do you guys recommed?

Strava and ridewithgps are good and popular. I use ridewithgps and am very satisfied. I used the free version for over a year and then switched to the paid version. Many are satisfied with the free version. I suspect data usage is not much at all. I haven't tried to use it with the phone in airplane mode, and I think there's a good chance it will record the ride properly but just won't display the map, so if you don't need to look at where you are, you can run it without using any data.

The data and graphs these apps provide are excellent for fitness tracking. I wanted to improve my average speed and had a tough time for about a year. Then I read about high intensity interval training (HIIT), and I rarely do it properly, but every so often, I'll pedal hard for a minute at a time. This builds both strength and endurance. One thing that really helped me is the graph that shows how much time I spend at each speed. I was hanging out at 13 mph a lot of the time and rarely any time above that. I pushed myself to keep it over 13 mph, and now I'm much faster overall.

Last year I set a goal for hitting 2,000 in the calendar year, and I achieved that. This year's goal is 2,500 miles, and I'm almost on target for that.

These apps are also social media, so you can see other people's rides and routes and make comments on them.

The GPS on your phone will work with or without cellular service. The only time cellular service is used is to download new maps if you are going out of range of the current map that's loaded in the app. If you are in an area that offers free WiFi, the app will use it to download new maps as long as it is connected. If you have access to predefined routes that you can download to your phone, the map will display with the route and remain there while you are on that route. I've done this before in areas where cell service is not available after leaving town limits.

I have a phone i bought off ebay with no phone service, just wifi at home. I use mapmyride on it to record rides and it works fine. The map is blank while you ride, it just shows the route you are doing on a blank screen, but it records fine. when i get home i upload on wifi. I like keeping my cell phone available for other things. on long rides my cell phone is off periodically to preserve batt life.

As mentioned already, ridewithgps and strava and good options even in their free versions. No problem with data usage and you can set them so they'll wait until you have wifi available before uploading your ride data to the internet. Of course they will need the GPS circuits in your phone to be active so there is some impact on battery life. Depending on how long your rides are you may want to add an external battery (I have one that doubles as a phone case). You can also save on battery power by switching the phone to 'airplane' mode while riding.

Thanks guys!

I did a 50 today with map my ride. Worked out great. I wondered when we were on the west leg why I suddenly hit a straight white line and no road data but I was still there.

Total mailage was within one tenth of my bike computer so I guess both work OK

I also found about a zillion ride maps near my house. I'll look at other apps, but this is real good for now!

Thanks for this post. I have the ridewithGPS app on my phone, so I just did an experiment.

I naively assumed it wouldn't work where there is no cell phone coverage, so I never bothered to try it before your post. I just did so tonight. I started from our house, where we have wireless internet coverage but no cell phone, and drove (sorry -- I had to run an errand, so I thought I would try it then) away and it recorded everything on the map in real-time. I did this for about 5 miles where I know cell phone coverage is non-existent. (Don't worry, I deleted the fraudulent "ride" after I got back home and it uploaded.) But the main thing is it really works even better than you say.

I don't even have a data plan for my iPhone 4s. All the usual cycling/activity apps work fine. Just needs GPS sync. I mostly use Cyclemeter (paid version, only $10) and Strava (free version), but have tried Ride With GPS, Map My Ride and others.

They all work pretty much the same for recording rides. Handy for revisiting a good route or avoiding one that wasn't so good. But Map My Ride is probably better suited to exploring rides other folks have ridden and commented on.

WiFi at home handles data uploads, etc. Occasionally I'll carry a USB battery and cord to charge along the way on longer rides.

I also use Cyclemeter. It can pair with some HRMs, including one Polar. See here.