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Is there a good iPhone app for a newbie like me?
I've searched the App Store looking for an app that will map out the trails for me (I'm a sucker at getting lost), tell me where they are if I'm out and about somewhere in Nsw, and give me the status of the tail as well as information I.e how long it is, difficulty, average time etc etc.
Also I went for a blast to Oxford falls tonight and well it's awesome but man those jumps! I don't think my 15 year old bike will cope. I couldn't find the fast xc trails. I then went to terrey hills bmx track and worked on my jumping skill then I cycled to terrey hills itself through the kinda horsy bikie trail then looked for the trail behind rfs car park with no luck.
Did manly dam last Sunday though... It was awesome!!
Obviously you can tell I'm new here lol!
Would be nice to meet some of you out there so I can pick your brains on where to go.
Thanks for reading
Jon
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Erm... visit the trail info page on this site, click on the little map, then click the 'fullscreen' link on the embedded interactive map (under the +/- zoom controls).
I suppose you want your location shown on there, huh? Don't worry, it's coming
Thanks mate. I'm aware of the maps on here I just thought there would be something with a "you are here, bleeping red dot" this website will be great if it comes soon. How soon are we talking?
1: Get a Garmin bike computer with mapping (705/800/810)
2: Download file (GPX I think?)
3: Follow route
I did that for a trail reconnaissance mission with Hans and The Flying Al to scope out the Mont 24 route a couple of years ago and it was awesome.
"Bleep Beep! Turn right 50m"
"Bleep Beep! Turn left 25 metres"
The only downside was I couldn't work out how to turn it off in the race (since rectified).
I was playing tag with a singlespeeder on my miserable night lap.
Me: "Oh hi, it's me again"
Him: "Yep, I know"
:embarassed smiley:
A good free map app that has bike trails is MapsWithMe.
Thanks all. Downloaded mapswithme. Lookin at the garmin.
Try this, it's pretty good and for a beginner has all the features you're looking for and at the fraction of the cost of a Garmin.
http://gps.motionx.com/iphone/
I've observed that running the GPS sucks the battery down pretty damn fast on most phones.
I want my phone to be usable for emergency purposes, especially when riding solo on extended expeditions like last weekend's, and I'm not sure it's prudent to drain the battery on what is a 'nice to have'.
It needs to be remembered that where we ride there are hazards like snakes and spiders where, if you cop a bite, you need to stay still and wait for help to come to you. Same can occur with injuries, even on fire roads. What we do is not risk free. Having a usable phone is essential.
Consequently I'd encourage most people to buy a Garmin or similar and keep their phone free for what it's meant for. They're not real expensive considering how much use mine gets and how long they last.
Battery life was fine when I was using it. It would normally be fully charged before a ride anyway and I never had my phone run out of life on me. I only used the app for runs around the Dam or Red Hill and a few night rides around Terrey Hills.
I guess for longer adventures you may have an issue.
I've used mine for a 70km lap around the great north road. I still had around 30% battery left when I got back to the ute. That was using Endomondo and also Google maps with offline mapping to help with directions.
I've tried quite a few different devices and combos now (one advantage of being in the technology industry) so have a couple of random thoughts
- for some time I was testing a $60 android pre-pay phone mounted on the bars. Battery life on GPS was shorter than a GPS but enough for most days. For the price and ability to run any GPS software it was a no-brainer and you can leave your 'real' phone in the pack for emergencies
- I still use an iphone for a few uses because my HTC doesn't support Bluetooth LE yet so can't connect to my HR strap and cadence sensor. For really long rides (i.e. the Fling) I have a $15 external battery that will give it days worth of GPS usage
- it's the screen remaining active which eats the batteries more than GPS so turn it off when not required.
- I'm playing at the moment with using a single earpiece (secret service style) with the remote control buttons programmed to whisper pertinent facts in your ear (current HR, avge speed, distance covered etc). I'm not sure if you could get turn-by-turn navigation to do the same