Cycling Apps on Android

If you have read some of my earlier posts, I have mentioned that my mobile phone has been an invaluable tool to help me get cycling. Here are a few apps available on the android platform that are helpful to cyclists.


Bike Hub

This is a sat nav application especially built for cyclists,which is built upon the route planning engine from cyclestreets. A really good bonus feature is that it has a nifty feature to show you close by bike shops. Very useful if you break down and need some help. 

And best of all this is FREE on the android market.

Bike Hub Android market link

Bike Route

Similar to Bike Hub, but  not as smooth and no bike shop finder. This is also FREE!

Bike Route Android market link

MyTracks

 

This basically turns your android phone into a state of the art cycle computer. It tracks where you cycle (or run or ski or just walk around) via GPS, then it will plot the path on a map and give you a whole load of stats , plus pretty graphs showing your elevation and speed over time. You can also send the maps you plot to google map.

Another great feature , it's FREE too:

MyTracks Android Market link

Cycle Hire Widget

This shows you where your closest boris bike dock is and also tells you how many bikes are empty slots are available at that location. Very useful if you use boris bikes and are always running into the problem of not finding a bike, and when you do find one,when you're done you can't find an empty slot to drop it off.

Another FREE app.

Cycle Hire Widget Android market link

Bike Doctor

Provides instruction on how to fix many common bike problems. Might help you out if you break down in the middle of nowhere and not sure what to do.

Available on the android market for £1.79 

Bike Doctor Android Market link

Also see:

Cycling Apps for the Android and Bike Apps for the iPhone on London Cyclist.

Favourite Cycling Websites

Like most people who think of doing something new, I turned to the web when I first thought about to start cycling. Over the last few months I've found quite a few informative, entertaining and damn right useful websites related to cycling. Here are some of my favourites:

Route Planning

CycleStreets - best online cycle route planner,  period. They also offer a free IPhone app and

OpenCycleMap - built upon the open source map site  OpenStreetMap,  this is the only online map which highlights cycle routes. CycleStreets uses this too to display routes.

TFL Cycle Journey Planner - a cycle planner from Transport for London. Not as good as cyclestreets but it does show where you can find Boris Bike cycle docks.

Blogs

London Cyclist Blog - one of the most popular cycle blogs out there. Lots of useful information, product reviews and cycling tips.

The Trusty Steed - a very entertaining blog about a girl in London and her bike named Trusty.

i bike london - another blog about cyling in London. This blogger's aim is to rehabilitate the bicycle. 

Cyclists in the City - blog on problems of cycling in the City of London and what can be done about it. If you there is a particular road or junction that you think is a problem, this is the site where to raise it.

Guardian Bike Blog - cycling blog posts from various posters at the Guardian

General

TFL Cycling - General cycling info from Transport for London

Cycle Lifestyle - online cycling magazine that promotes cycling. Lots of useful cycling information and reviews.

Shopping


Wiggle - online cycle store , lot's of good deals

Evans Cycles - one of the biggest cycling store chains in the UK. Good thing is that they price match from other sites and also check out a 10% discount voucher at tfl.

Leave a comment if there are any cycling sites that you like that aren't mentioned above.

Conquering the hill

The part of cycling to work I least look forward to isn't  dragging my bike out on a cold winters morning, neither dodging the white vans , buses and trucks on the city's narrow streets, it's the thought of getting through a tough uphill stretch (for me anyway).

Luckily London's streets aren't as crazy as San Francisco pictured above, but if your journey takes you to further than zone 2 you're likely to hit a steepish hill at some point.

After a few weeks of perseverance, I'm not exactly sailing over climbs like this, but I am getting over the top without stopping or jumping off to push the bike uphill.

So here are my tips on getting over those hills:

• If there is a climb where you need to get off and push, each day set a target of riding a little bit further before you jump off. Today the bus stop, tomorrow that corner shop, and after a while you'll get to the top without needing to stop.
• Master the art of gearing. Start in a higher gear at the bottom of the hill and gradually shift down as you go up. 
• Don't push too hard near the bottom otherwise you won't have any juice left when you get closer to the top. 
• Don't look at the top of the hill, it will only stress you out. Look at a point nearer and make that an intermediate target.
• Don't give up, the more times you go up that hill the easier it will get.

There are lot's of other useful tips at the links below:

What is your uphill cycling strategy on LondonCyclist.co.uk

4 Steps to Successful Cycling uphill on posetech.com

How to Cycle Uphill on ehow.com

Cycling up hills and mountains on road-bike.co.uk

How to Cycle Uphill  on bikereviews.com

TFL Cycle Planner Route to Google My Maps on your Android phone

5-Nov-2010 - Since this post , I've discovered CycleStreets.net which offers a much superior cycle route planner than the tfl website. The below instructions can be used to export a route from cyclestreets to your android phone. Once cyclestreets has generated a route, click on "Fly this route on Google Earth(KML Export)" and save the kml file. Then follow from step 5 below.

As mentioned in a post last week "Advice to new commuter cyclists" , I used the tfl cycle planner to find my route between home and work and then saved that route to my Android mobile phone. This helped me out so much on my first few journeys, when I wasn't sure where I was going.

So this is how to do it:

1. Search for your route on the tfl cycle planner site.

2. Once you have found your route and it is displayed on the map, click on "Upload to GPS device".

3. Save the gpx file to somewhere on your computer.

4. On the site GPS Visualizer , convert the gpx file you just saved to kml. Select your file in File #1 and change the output file type to kml.

5. Save to kml file to somewhere on your computer.

6. On Google Maps log into your google account and select My Maps. Click on Import.

7. Select the kml file you saved in step 5 and click on Upload from file.

8. Wait a few moments and your route should now appear on Google Maps and listed under My Maps.

9.  Now on your Android phone , open up the Maps application, hit the layers button, then from the menu hit the More Layers button. Select My Maps, and the map we saved earlier should be available in the list. Select this and wait a few moments and you should see your route on your phone. For more info on google layers see the youtube video below:



If you have any trouble , leave a comment and I'll try to help out.

First Puncture

Yesterday morning I set off earlier than usual and was planning to get into work and have a relaxed breakfast. However it wasn't meant to be. About half way into my journey as the Emirates Stadium came into view I heard that dreaded sound of deflated rubber on tarmac and lo and behold there it was my first flat.

First thing I thought was "Sh!t", I knew I should have been carrying a spare tube or a at least puncture repair kit, but I didn't have either in my bag.


Also it was so early in the morning no cycle shops were open, even though there were about 2-3 shops within a 10 minute walk from where I was.


There was a Texaco petrol station close by,  and it did sell puncture repair kits. I spent about 20 mins trying to work out how to get my front wheel off and then I was trying to pull the tyre off  to release the inner tube. By this time I was getting frustrated and I realised one of the close by bike shops were about to open. So I got myself there and the guy in the shop replaced the inner tube straight away for a tenner.

So here are my recommendations to avoid the trouble I had yesterday:

1. Read up on how to change an inner tube. See the following links:
http://www.bikewebsite.com/bike-tiretube.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmNo6rFKMzE
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A480313

2. Carry a spare inner tube, tyre levers and a pump with you at all times.

3. Find out where cycle shops are located near your route and keep a note of there opening hours. If you are travelling somewhere that's unfamiliar to you, check google maps or call 118 118 who can tell you where the closest shop is and their timings.

4. Reduce the risk of getting a puncture. Keep your tyres well inflated and remove small stones and other things that get stuck in the tyres.  Also avoid riding through a glass on the road :-P

5.Go through a trial run of changing the inner tube in the warmth of your home, instead of a cold rainy morning for the first time - tip from Paul in comment.s

Advice to new commuter cyclists from a new cyclist.

Even though I have less than a weeks experience cycling to work, and I am sure there are lots of better sources of advice, here are some things I wish I knew before I hit the road on two wheels.

1. Make sure you get a bike that is the right size for you and the seat is set at the correct height. I have seen that a correct setup up makes a huge difference to your comfort and lets you ride for much longer with less effort.

2. Plan your route beforehand and if you have an Android phone, plot it out in google maps and you will be able to check your route wherever you are. If you are in London use the tfl cycle planner , it will pull out routes you probably haven’t thought of yourself. Also you can export the route from tfl as a gpx file, which can be converted to kml which goes straight into google maps. This can be a bit fiddly so read my post with full instructions to see how.

Also OpenCycleMap.org is a really useful website which highlights cycle routes around the UK. I found a few hidden shortcuts from here.

You can also order free cycle maps from tfl which cover all of London. It shows generally the same info as what's on OpenCycleMap, but it's useful to have in your bag in case you get lost. 

30-Sep-2010 - In recent days I've also discovered the CycelStreets website and iphone app. It provides a route planner like the one from tfl but a lot faster and intuitive. They are also developing an android version , but there is already an app out there which uses the same engine called BikeRoute which seems pretty good.

3. A pannier bag is definitely better than a rucksack to carry your bits and pieces. With a pannier I hardly notice the extra weight of even a bulkyish laptop. Also a rucksack restricts you movements and makes your back really sweaty.

I picked up this one for £30 from Evans. Does the job.

4. If you hit a steep incline, there’s no shame in walking. When you’re new steep uphill climbs are daunting and can feel humanly impossible to tackle. It’s better getting off and pushing the bike for a minute or so, then trying to pedal against the big G(ravity) and move at a snail’s pace.

cycletrek.blogspot.com

5. Think about where you’re going store the bike at home and work. Lot’s of offices in the city have great facilities to lock up your bike in loading bays and other securish places in or around the building. At home think about whether you are going to keep it in or outside and whether there is something strong and secure enough to lock your bike to.


6. Register your bike for free at bikeregister.com. Get the serial code from your bike. On my Ridgeback Meteor it's hidden under the bottom of the frame where the pedals are. If your bike gets nicked,  and the police recover the bike, they will be able to find you.

And finally…

7. You can probably ride for longer than you can think. I thought I wouldn’t be able to ride 9 miles straight away, but I did it okay and I have real average fitness. I’m not being modest, and I am out of breadth if I run up the stairs.

There are also loads of useful information elsewhere on the web:

http://www.cyclelifestyle.co.uk/
http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11598.aspx