Biking is pretty awesome. It’s good for your health and fitness, it’s by far one of the cheapest ways to get around quickly, it’s certainly a very environmentally sound choice, and more and more urban areas are starting to become more accommodating to cyclists. I decided some time ago that I wanted an app that would keep track of my cycling, as I’d rather like to get back in shape and keep track of my progress.
Throughout the past few weeks, I’ve been evaluating the app Cyclemeter (available on the App Store). Cyclemeter works on a fairly simple premise – it is a GPS-based tracking application for cyclists (as well as joggers, and participants in many other sports). However, it sports a variety of functions for competitions and interacting with other users.
This is the main page of Cyclemeter. It has a nice, big, friendly Start button that allows you to begin your cycle journey quickly. It’s usually very quick to lock onto a GPS signal when you start the app. Once you begin your ride, it starts measuring distance, time, speed (average/top/current), incline/decline, as well as elevation and several other factors.
I rarely ride competitively, so I’ve not had a chance to evaluate its abilities on that front. However, this is a really nice, well-rounded app for all different types of athletes. One of my favourite features of this app is the voice announcements. You can set what you want to prompt voice announcements – distance, time, etc. – in a variety of intervals. It’s a really nicely made system. It’s a bit like Nike+ for cyclists.
In conclusion, Cyclemeter is a really nice, well-rounded app. I do have a couple suggestions/minor complaints; mainly regarding the price. Cyclemeter comes in a single version for $4.99. While for the amount of features this is not a BAD price, it would be nice to be able to have a “light” version for .99 or $1.99 that doesn’t include some of the competition features and is perhaps more geared to the everyday cyclist such as myself. Thus, I shall award Cyclemeter a loonie, a half sleeve of Oreo™ cookies and a TMU rating of 4.5 out of 5.
