Our Loving the Bike teammate, Myron is one proud Daddy this week.  His son, Parker just became a two-wheel rider and we’re so happy for him.

“After weeks of trying to figure out how to pedal his bike, Parker finally learned how to get his bike to move forward on his own.  The best part is listening to him sing and hum to himself (his favourite tune is ‘I’m getting bigger every day!’)  Now he wants to practice riding every morning and go for a ride with Dad around the block.” #summerofdoing

- Myron

In the final installment of Winter Riding Wednesdays, Kip gives a few more tips on how to navigate snow covered streets. “You’re curious…do you think you’re going to try it this winter?”

See all four parts of Winter Riding Wednesdays on Loving The Bike’s YouTube channel.

Good winter biking gear is expensive; but, if you’re willing to spend some money, you’re going to be more comfortable and less likely to give up on winter cycling.

iOS version available here

Once again, Kip goes into detail on what type of gear a winter cyclist should use to be comfortable during winter rides:

• a helmet
• goggles
• head gear
• jackets
• gloves
• pants
• underwear
• foot protection

Be comfortable, be safe and you’ll be a successful winter cyclist.

In today’s video, Kip focuses on studded tires.  This is a very informative clip on how to stud your own tires, what to look for in a good winter tire and how to save money.  As always, enjoy your ride and leave comments.

iOS version available here

My teammate, Myron, is back once again with a great new series that will run each Wednesday in December. In September, Myron posted up some awesome articles in a series he called “Mac Mondays” and I’m very stoked to have him back once again for this one. As you know, I’m not a winter riding kind of guy and this is why I escaped it and came to the Southern States. But I know there are a lot of riders who already are (or would like to) ride through the winter…so Myron is here to help you out with “Winter Riding Wednesdays”.

Welcome to the first installment of “Winter Riding Wednesdays.”  Kip Luce (from Saskatoon Saskatchewan’s Bike Polo group) gave a presentation to staff and students at Walter Murray Collegiate in November on how to get ready for the winter bike riding season (and Myron from Loving The Bike was there to film it).  Kip is a year-round cyclist and is a knowledgeable guy when it comes to winter biking.

(iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch version available here)

In part one, Kip gives a few tips on safety, equipment and cornering on snow/ice.  The main points to remember from this “Winter Biking Wednesday” bike school (look for #bikeschool on Twitter every Thursday evening) are to be visible, pick your route, go slow and be patient.  Enjoy your (winter) ride.

If you have more tips, please email or leave a comment.

For this installment of Mac Mondays, I’m going to look at products you can add to your iPhone, iPod Touch and general audio devices that could help you better enjoy your ride. I currently don’t own any of the products listed below; but, I did find them interesting and will probably add all of them to my accessories arsenal.

When I reviewed Cyclemeter a couple of weeks ago, I liked how the information was displayed on my iPhone’s screen (check out the review here) but I was concerned about how to safely mount my phone to the handle bars (I used the Joby Gorrillamobile). After searching the internet I came across the BioLogic Bike Mount for iPhone by Dahon. The Bike Mount is a weatherproof, silicone lined shock resistant case that pivots 360 degrees to allow you to use your iPhone in portrait or landscape mode. There is an opening on the back of the case that allows the rider to take videos or pictures while riding. The Bike Mount (compatible with iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS) is currently listed on Amazon for $54. I am very interested in this product but will have to wait to purchase an iPhone 4 Mount (supposedly available later in 2010).

The next product that I am definitely going to buy is called One Good Earbud. It is a “two-channel-mono” earbud that provides safety while out on a ride. Since both stereo channels of music are mixed into one earbud (providing a great audio experience), riders have one ear free to attend to potentially dangerous items in their immediate environment (as usual, vehicles). One Good Earbud is available for any audio device ($19.95 US + shipping) and the Mobile Pro for smartphones version has a built-in microphone ($27.95 US + shipping).

Finally, earphone cables can be an issue while out on a ride. While searching the internet, I discovered Tuneclip. It allows you to wind your earphone cables around a reel-shaped body and enclose them in the device. Tuneclip also has a clip on the back of it that allows the user to attach it a shirt or just about anywhere else. Cables can be easily adjusted to the required length needed while Tuneclip keeps the rest of the cables out of the way of your equipment. Available from Tunewear for $14.95 US.

I’ve only listed three potential accessories that I’ve found interesting. I know that I’ve missed many unique and useful gadgets…what are they? Please let us know.

Bike Repair for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad is a reference guide to help you fix 34 bike problems.  Riders identify the problem area(s) on their bikes, pick the appropriate bike part, chose the problem and follow the step by step solution to fix or adjust the problem area.  Most of the solutions have high quality photos with instructions and part identifications to help you repair your bike quickly and easily.  The problems section covers: wheel, rear derailleur, front derailleur, chain, handlebar/headset, crankset/pedals, brakes, disk brake, shifter, suspension and others.  Bike Repair also has a list of bike parts and it notes maintenance for each part (just in case you haven’t experienced a problem in a specific area, yet).  The only thing missing is a preseason/pre-ride tune-up checklist to help you have a better ride.

The best things about Bike Repair are that you don’t need to be connected to the internet to get solutions to problems (information and solutions are stored on your device) and the solutions presented contain a few simple phrases and tasks that make it easy to fix your problem.  Bike Repair is just like carrying your bike manual to help diagnose problems that can and do occur.  Available in the iTunes App store for $1.99.

SizeMyBike is a simple iPhone app to help new and existing riders properly fit a bike.  Users input six body measurements (height, inseam, sternum, arm length, foot length, and shoulder width) and SizeMyBike will compute the optimal geometry of a road bike or a mountain bike. The maker of the app says that the results will help riders increase performance, improve comfort and prevent pains and injuries.  Additionally, users will be able to compute the right frame size, stem length, and crank length, as well as optimize saddle height, saddle setback and stem length.

Obtaining the six body measurements is a two person job as I found it difficult to get accurate readings by myself.  The “About” page, in the app, gives useful hints and diagrams to help achieve proper measurements.  All measurements must  be entered in millimeters (which could be a problem for riders that use Imperial units as their standard form of measurement).

After all measurements are entered, press the “Run” button and results are calculated for the rider’s optimal road and mountain bike (results are displayed in millimeters).  The results (in image form) can be emailed for the rider’s records or sent to a bike shop to help set up a bike.  The “About” page also includes tips about analyzing the results and how to apply them to the bike.  Finally, the “Home” page includes a link to the SizeMyBike website, where more detailed information is provided to help apply the results.

Entering the measurements is easy and straight forward; but, the results displayed are difficult to interpret as the app doesn’t clearly state what frame size a rider should buy.  If you already have the proper size frame for you, the results displayed will help you tweak your bike to make your ride more comfortable and help improve performance.  One feature that is missing is the ability to save your results inside the application.  This would be useful if you were helping other riders fit their bikes and would like to refer to the data at future points in time.  If you follow SizeMyBike on twitter, I’ve noticed that the developers occasionally give general technical advice to further improve your bike fit.

At $4.99 in the iTunes App Store, SizeMyBike is overpriced for the features offered but as they say on their website: “professional bike fitting service costs about $150.”

Regular readers of Loving The Bike may be curious as to why we are starting a feature called “Mac Mondays”.  I love technology (especially Mac computers and the iPhone) and  how it is becoming more and more integrated into our everyday lives; and, I noticed that it can be used in “cycle life”.  Every Monday in September I’m going to highlight and review an iPhone app that hardcore and everyday cyclists (like me) might find useful.  If you have suggestions for future reviews, email me.

Cyclemeter

Cyclemeter is an iPhone app that doesn’t require login to a website, no uploading data, no monthly subscriptions, and it doesn’t have any screen-stealing ads.  It tracks your workouts (cycling, running, walking, etc) and keeps the data on your iPhone to easily determine progress for a chosen activity.  Your time, location, speed and distance are continually recorded as soon as you press start on the app.  (Note: Cyclemeter does not support iPod touch or the first-generation iPhone, which lack GPS capabilities.  Apple’s new iOS4 software allows the app the run in the background to continue tracking and recording your stats.  Multitasking is not supported on the iPhone 3G by iOS4).

When you use the Apple earphones with remote, you can monitor your progress with customizable/automatic announcements (speed, distance, time etc.).  After a ride or activity is completed, your results are displayed on maps, graphs and a calendar.  A useful feature is the icons used to compare similar activities.  Each activity is ranked and compared with color icons to easily see when you performed better.  The ability to add notes to completed rides is also useful so you can remember if your performance was lower due to a head-wind.  Finally, competed workouts can be exported (in your choice of GPX, KML, and CSV formats) to keep detailed records and analyze your workouts.

A unique feature of Cyclemeter is its ability to connect with social media sites and email.    Users can log in to Facebook and/or Twitter and Cyclemeter will automatically send out user-defined updates.  Emails can also be automatically sent to family, friends or coaches to update your progress and location.  Cyclemeter also includes text-to-speech technology which allows you to hear replies from your email, Twitter, or Facebook accounts.

My Thoughts

I’ve been using Abvio’s Cyclemeter for the past 3 weeks.  This is the first time I’ve used any kind of technology on my rides and walks (other than my iPod/iPhone for music) and I can honestly say that it has changed the way that I am engaged in the activities.  The configurable announcements have motivated me to try to continually better my previous results and I like how I am notified about my performance in relation to earlier rides.  Initially, I used the Joby Gorillamobile to attach my iPhone 3GS to the handle bars on my mountain bike; but, I found myself preoccupied looking at the app and not paying attention to my surroundings and now use the audio settings as my preferred method for updates (audio playing in the iPod app stops for the announcements and resumes at  the pause point).  I found the results/reports to be informative and graphically appealing and the user-interface intuitive.  The only drawback I discovered is that the text-to-speech technology is difficult to understand (especially with usernames from Twitter) but this may only be my experience and the other features far out-weigh this observation.

The Future

Loving The Bike is proud to be the first to announce new features in the soon-to-be-updated Cyclemeter app.

The first new feature that will be added is Automatic Stop Detection.  The app senses when you have stopped moving and attributes time automatically to stopped time, so that your elapsed time and other statistics cover only when you are moving. Elapsed time will continue to increase until the stop is detected, and then will roll back to when the stop started. (Note: Off by default, turn on in Settings.) This has been a requested feature from numerous Abvio customers as stopping for lights can mess with the time measurement.

The other new feature will be Calendar Sharing.  Cyclemeter synchronizes your workouts to your iPhone Calendar when you tap the Done button in the Stopwatch view, and when a workout is edited. This is useful because the iPhone Calendar may be shared with iCal or Outlook, and with external calendars, such as Google Calendar or Microsoft Exchange.

Current Cyclemeter owners should be able to receive the new updates free of charge on Tuesday September 7th.  Cyclemeter is available from the Apple iTunes store for $4.99.

“Cyclemeter gives you the data that helps you achieve your goals, whether it’s to run a mile or a marathon, cycle a park or a century, or walk a block or a march.”