Top 9 Best Cycling Apps in 2022!

Summary

This video highlights some of the best cycling apps to enhance your riding experience, starting with the popular Strava, which offers features like segments, social aspects, route mapping, and training analytics. It also covers apps like VeloViewer for visualizing data, Komoot for route planning, MyWindsock for weather tracking, TrainingPeaks for structured training, and Zwift for indoor virtual rides. The video discusses other indoor training platforms like RGT and TrainerRoad, each offering unique features for different cyclists' needs. Viewers are encouraged to share their favorite apps in the comments.

Takeaways

• 🚴 Strava is a popular cycling app known for segments, leaderboards, and social features where you can track your performance and connect with other cyclists.
• 📊 Strava offers mapping functionality and training analytics that allow cyclists to build routes and analyze their ride data, especially with sensors like heart rate monitors or power meters.
• 📈 VeloViewer enhances Strava's data by offering detailed visualizations such as 3D graphs for elevation and the unique 'tile bagging' feature, where cyclists try to cover square miles during rides.
• 🗺️ Komoot is a powerful route planning tool, ideal for exploring new terrain. It provides detailed base maps and lets users see collections of routes from others for inspiration.
• 🌬️ MyWindsock helps cyclists by analyzing weather, specifically wind conditions, along their routes. It offers color-coded maps to show tailwinds and headwinds for precise planning.
• 🏋️ TrainingPeaks is a platform geared towards athletes focused on structured training. It allows users to plan future sessions, track progress, and prevent burnout with detailed training templates.
• 📉 Golden Cheetah is a free app for deep analysis of ride data, offering granular details like heart rate, power distribution, and peak performance over set periods.
• 🖥️ Zwift is a virtual indoor cycling platform with a large community. It allows riders to train, race, and ride with friends on virtual roads, incorporating training sessions and plans.
• 🌍 RGT Cycling offers 'Magic Roads,' where users can upload any GPX route and ride it virtually. It also provides realistic drafting and cornering speeds, along with customizable data fields.
• 📆 TrainerRoad is an indoor training app with a simple interface and detailed stats, focused on executing structured workouts. It integrates outdoor ride data from Strava and Garmin Connect for a full fitness overview.

Q & A

What are segments in Strava, and how do they work?

Segments in Strava are specific sections of a road or trail that users can time themselves on. Each segment has a leaderboard, allowing riders to compare their performance against others who have ridden the same section.

How does Strava incorporate social features?

Strava allows users to follow their friends and view their activities. If friends ride together, the app groups their rides into one shared memory, making it easy to track joint experiences.

What is the purpose of the mapping functionality in Strava?

Strava’s mapping feature allows users to create routes, overlay heat maps, and find popular roads or trails in a given area, which helps with route planning and discovery.

How does Velo Viewer differ from Strava, and what unique features does it offer?

Velo Viewer works with Strava’s data but offers unique features like detailed 3D graphs for segment elevation and a feature called tile bagging, where users collect square miles of the world during their rides.

What is tile bagging in Velo Viewer, and why is it popular?

Tile bagging in Velo Viewer breaks the world into square mile tiles, which are 'collected' when a rider passes through them. It's popular with cyclists who enjoy the challenge of covering as many unique areas as possible.

What makes Komoot a great route-planning app?

Komoot is praised for its detailed base maps, terrain information, and organizational tools that make it easy to plan routes. It also allows users to explore collections of routes from others for inspiration.

How does MyWindsock assist with weather prediction during rides?

MyWindsock provides visual wind data by showing the route on a map and color-coding sections based on wind conditions. It also uses hyper-local weather forecasts to predict conditions at specific points along the route.

What sets TrainingPeaks apart from other apps in terms of training?

TrainingPeaks is designed for athletes who want to plan their training sessions in detail. It helps users balance their workload to ensure they progress without burning out and offers tools to review historical ride data.

Why might someone choose Golden Cheetah for their cycling data analysis?

Golden Cheetah is a free, customizable platform that offers detailed data analysis, such as power distribution, heart rate, and training load. It is particularly useful for serious cyclists looking for granular insights.

What makes Zwift popular for indoor training, and how does it enhance the experience?

Zwift gained popularity for its virtual world that allows users to ride indoors with real-time riders from around the world. It offers group rides, races, and training plans, creating a strong community aspect that enhances indoor cycling.

What are Magic Roads in RGT, and how do they work?

Magic Roads in RGT allow users to upload a GPX file of a real-world route, which the platform then converts into a virtual route. This feature gives users the chance to ride their favorite outdoor routes indoors on RGT.

What are the advantages of TrainerRoad for cyclists focused on structured training?

TrainerRoad is a simple and effective app for cyclists who want to execute structured training sessions. It provides detailed metrics like fitness, freshness, and fatigue, and includes curated training plans from professional coaches.

Outlines

00:00

🚴 Favorite Cycling Apps Overview

This paragraph introduces the video’s theme: favorite cycling apps that enhance the simplicity of cycling. The speaker acknowledges that the list is not exhaustive and invites viewers to share their favorite apps in the comments. The first app discussed is Strava, a widely popular cycling app with features like segments, leaderboards, social integration, route mapping, and training analytics. These key features help cyclists compare their performances, track progress, and analyze their rides in detail.

05:01

📊 Strava's Powerhouse Features

Strava is the main focus here, with an emphasis on its key features. Segments allow cyclists to track their performance on specific routes, comparing times with others. The app also offers social functionality, enabling users to connect with friends and group rides. Strava’s mapping feature helps plan routes and includes heat maps for popular roads. Advanced training analytics, like heart rate and power metrics, offer detailed insights into cycling performance, depending on the sensors used.

10:01

🗺️ VeloViewer: Detailed Data Visualization

This paragraph highlights VeloViewer, a tool that leverages Strava’s data through its API to provide advanced visualizations, such as 3D elevation graphs for cycling segments. VeloViewer’s standout feature, tile bagging, breaks the world into square miles and allows users to collect 'tiles' by riding through different areas. This feature has become popular among cyclists looking to cover vast territories. The platform’s ability to offer unique visual data has made it a favorite for pro tour teams.

🔄 Route Planning with Komoot

Komoot is introduced as a go-to platform for route planning, offering robust organizational tools and detailed terrain data to help cyclists navigate different surfaces. Whether it's finding smooth roads for road bikes or rugged trails for gravel bikes, Komoot’s base maps provide essential information. The app also allows users to browse collections of other riders' routes for inspiration, making it a versatile tool for planning the next adventure.

🌬️ Weather Forecasting with MyWindsock

MyWindsock helps cyclists better understand weather conditions, specifically wind patterns, along their routes. By uploading a ride to the platform, users receive a map with color-coded sections based on wind intensity. MyWindsock provides hyper-local weather data, predicting conditions along the route rather than offering a general forecast. This tool is especially useful for UK time trialists, helping them find the fastest times to ride.

📅 Training Peaks: Planning Future Rides

Training Peaks is designed for athletes focused on future ride planning and progress tracking. It helps users create structured training sessions that ensure steady improvement without overexertion. Athletes can analyze their past ride data in detail to better prepare for upcoming sessions. The app is especially helpful for those working with coaches, as it provides a platform to visualize training load and performance metrics.

🔍 Granular Analysis with Golden Cheetah

Golden Cheetah is praised for its detailed and customizable ride data analysis, allowing cyclists to drill down into metrics like power, heart rate, elevation, and speed distribution. The free app is a favorite for serious athletes, especially those like Stefan, who used it during Everesting prep to evaluate his elevation and power outputs. Golden Cheetah’s focus on granular detail makes it a top choice for riders wanting an in-depth look at their training.

🖥️ Zwift: Virtual Training for Cyclists

Zwift is introduced as an app that soared in popularity during 2020, offering virtual roads for indoor training. Cyclists can interact with real riders from around the world, join group rides, and even participate in races. Zwift also offers training plans and sessions to help riders progress during the off-season. While the app provides detailed post-ride data, Zwift encourages riders to trust their instincts during races for a less painful experience.

🌍 RGT: The Magic Roads Experience

RGT Cycling is discussed as an alternative to Zwift, known for its realistic drafting and cornering mechanics. A unique feature is 'Magic Roads,' which allows users to create virtual routes from any GPX file and ride them on the platform. RGT's customizable data fields and slightly lower price point appeal to a growing number of users. The app's algorithms create a more realistic riding experience compared to other virtual cycling platforms.

📈 TrainerRoad: Focused Training Sessions

TrainerRoad offers a no-frills approach to executing structured training sessions, with an emphasis on efficiency and data visualization. Although it is more expensive than some competitors, it provides detailed insights into fitness, freshness, and power metrics. The platform’s calendar helps users track upcoming sessions and integrates outdoor rides from Strava or Garmin. TrainerRoad’s curated training plans, developed by professional coaches, cater to a variety of disciplines.

🚴 Wrapping Up the Best Cycling Apps

The conclusion reiterates the focus on cycling apps that improve the overall cycling experience. The speaker encourages viewers to share their favorite apps and comment on any that may have been missed from the list. By subscribing and engaging with the channel, viewers can stay updated with more cycling content.

Keywords

💡Strava

Strava is a popular fitness app that is widely used by cyclists to track their rides and analyze performance. In the video, Strava is described as a multifaceted platform that includes features like segments, social connectivity, route mapping, and training analytics. It is positioned as a core tool for cyclists to measure their progress, share rides with friends, and improve through detailed data tracking.

💡Segments

Segments are specific portions of a cycling route that are tracked on platforms like Strava. They allow riders to compete for the best times on certain sections of a trail or road, which are recorded in leaderboards. This feature is mentioned in the video as a key aspect of Strava, enabling cyclists to challenge themselves and see how they compare with others.

💡Velo Viewer

Velo Viewer is a data visualization tool that works with Strava's API to present cycling data in engaging formats, such as 3D elevation graphs. It allows riders to visualize routes in more detail and explore data in innovative ways. The video highlights its usefulness for cyclists, including features like 'tile bagging,' which gamifies route exploration by rewarding riders for covering different areas.

💡Tile Bagging

Tile Bagging is a unique feature of Velo Viewer where the world is divided into square-mile tiles, and cyclists collect these tiles by riding through them. The video explains that this feature has become addictive for many riders, who aim to cover as many tiles as possible during their rides, with some achieving impressive totals.

💡Komoot

Komoot is a route-planning app that helps cyclists create and organize rides, taking terrain into account. It is praised in the video for its detailed base maps, which show whether routes are suitable for road bikes or gravel bikes, and for its ability to access collections of routes for inspiration. The app is described as an essential tool for cyclists who enjoy planning new adventures.

💡My Windsock

My Windsock is a weather-based cycling tool that shows riders how wind and weather conditions will affect their rides. The video explains that it provides hyper-local wind data, highlighting which parts of a route will face strong winds or tailwinds. This feature is especially useful for riders looking to optimize their routes for wind conditions or to tackle time trials.

💡Training Peaks

Training Peaks is a platform designed for cyclists and athletes focused on structured training. It helps users plan and track their workouts, ensuring that they train effectively without overexertion. In the video, it is recommended for serious athletes who want to use detailed analytics to improve their performance over time, with features that allow users to monitor fitness, fatigue, and progress.

💡Golden Cheetah

Golden Cheetah is a free, customizable cycling data analysis tool that allows athletes to deeply examine their training metrics. The video emphasizes its value for riders preparing for serious challenges, such as Everesting, by offering detailed insights into power, heart rate, and other metrics. It’s described as an app for cyclists who want to dive into the granular details of their performance.

💡Zwift

Zwift is a virtual cycling platform that allows riders to train indoors by riding through simulated environments. The video describes how Zwift gained popularity in 2020, offering a social aspect through virtual group rides and races. Zwift also provides training plans and detailed performance data, making it a favorite among cyclists looking to maintain or improve their fitness during indoor training.

💡Magic Roads

Magic Roads is a feature of RGT (another indoor cycling platform) that allows users to upload their favorite real-world routes via GPX files and turn them into virtual rides. The video highlights this feature as unique to RGT, offering a personalized indoor cycling experience that sets it apart from other platforms like Zwift.

Highlights

Cycling apps can enhance the simplicity of riding by offering new features and tracking tools.

Strava, one of the most popular apps, offers segments, leaderboards, social features, mapping, and training analytics.

Strava’s segments allow riders to compete on local climbs or trails, tracking their time against other cyclists.

VeloViewer enhances Strava’s data by creating 3D graphs of elevation data and offering a unique tile-bagging challenge.

Tile bagging involves ticking off square miles as cyclists ride through them, turning route exploration into a game.

Komoot is another popular route-planning app that offers detailed terrain information to help cyclists plan better rides.

Komoot users can access collections of routes from others for inspiration and to discover new adventures.

MyWindsock provides weather and wind analysis, showing cyclists where they will face headwinds or tailwinds on their routes.

MyWindsock integrates with UK time trials, offering riders detailed predictions based on local weather conditions.

Training Peaks is designed for serious athletes, focusing on future training plans and long-term progress tracking.

Golden Cheetah is a highly customizable and free platform for analyzing cycling data in granular detail.

Zwift gained popularity during 2020, offering a virtual riding experience with a community aspect and indoor group rides.

RGT Cycling features Magic Roads, allowing riders to upload routes and turn them into virtual rides on the platform.

TrainerRoad offers a simpler, no-frills approach to indoor cycling, focusing on structured training sessions.

The rise of indoor training apps like Zwift, RGT, and TrainerRoad provides cyclists with new ways to stay fit and train year-round.

Transcripts

one of the reasons we all love bikes is

because of how simple they are however

there are some cycling apps out there

which help enhance that simplicity if

you want to take your riding to the next

level so we've put together our list of

our favorite cycling apps which we think

do exactly that now this isn't an

exhaustive list so if you've got your

favorites do drop them down in the

comments because i think we'd all love

to see them first up though well it

could only be one couldn't it

[Music]

well we couldn't start a cycling apps

video without mentioning the biggest one

of them all obviously strava now there's

many many features about strava but i'm

just going to go over the key headlines

for those of you who might not be aware

of its existence first up we've got

segments segments are parts of the road

or trail which have been chopped up and

it allows you to then go and post the

time

all of the segments have their own

leaderboards attached to them so you can

go find your local climb give it a ride

and then see where you match compared to

all your other fellow riders

next up we've got the social aspects of

strava meaning you can follow your

friends and see what rides they're up to

and if you've been out riding with them

then it will group them together and you

can have a nice memory of your day out

next up we've got their mapping

functionality which allows you to build

routes within the platform and also

overlay a heat map so you can find where

all the popular roads are and trails in

a local area which is super handy lastly

we've got all the training analytics so

once you've uploaded your ride to the

platform you can then go in and look at

all the numbers now depending on how

many sensors you have on your bike such

as maybe a heart rate monitor or a

cadence sensor or a power meter you're

going to be able to look at all those

different numbers and see how taxing a

session was

now that really is just scratching the

surface of what strava is capable of so

i've linked an article below which goes

into a bit more detail alternatively

head on over to the platform set up an

account and get going because it is very

simple to use

okay so this one isn't quite as big as

its big orange brother but it does offer

a lot of very cool unique features and

this is obviously velo viewer now what

bella viewer does is it works on the

masses of data that strava has in its

api and then pulls it into its own

platform and then displays it in a

multitude of fascinating ways some of

which being the following firstly you

can look at segments in a very different

way and it will create these really nice

3d graphs to show you elevation data for

example the elevation data from segments

can be shown in a 3d graph but also

showing the twists and turns giving you

a really realistic image of what you're

going to be up against it's really no

wonder that pro tour teams use it so

often next up a feature that is unique

to velo viewer and something that has

got a lot of riders hooked is this

process of tile bagging

now tile bagging might sound a little

bit strange but it does make a little

bit more sense when you know how it

works what you're going to be doing is

when you do a ride it breaks the world

down into square miles now when you pass

through a square mile it ticks off that

box and essentially people are going out

and trying to collect them all i think

the record stands somewhere around 49

000 tiles back which is pretty

impressive but i know that that was done

by an ultra endurance cyclist so i would

be amazed if you get that far

so that's velo viewer i think it works

really well as it piggybacks off strava

and uses all that data but it does have

some key features of its own so

definitely one to check out

next up we're going to talk route

planning and for us here at cycling

weekly we're really big fans of commutes

now no doubt a lot of you have heard of

it already because we have talked about

it on the channel in the past so if you

want to look into it in a bit more

detail i'll drop a link to that video

below now as a bit of a serial route

planner myself i end up having

absolutely loads of them but with the

organizational tools you've got within

kamu it does make it really easy to

navigate

the amount of information that's on the

base maps is really helpful especially

when it comes down to looking at the

terrain it's going to let you know

whether it's going to be smooth enough

to get a road bike over or actually if

you can end up hiking your gravel bike

over some rocky crags

now with commute you've got the ability

to see other people's collections of

routes that they've planned as well so

if you're looking for a bit of

inspiration about where to head to next

then take a little look around on the

platform and you might just find your

next adventure

one of the things that can often play a

habit with our rides is the weather now

there is a tool out there which can help

you mitigate some of those risks and

this is my windsock now what my windsock

does is is that it gives you a visual

representation of the weather that

you're going to be up against namely the

wind

now what you can do with my windsock is

upload your ride to the platform and

then it will show you your route on the

map and then it will color code

different parts of the route depending

on how windy or how much of a tailwind

you'll have on those particular sections

now an extra little feature that my

windsock includes is that it has all of

the uk time trials uploaded to the

platform so you can really work out

when's going to be fast and when you're

going to have to dig a little bit deeper

now one really interesting thing about

how my windsock provides this data is

that it works out the anticipated

progress of the rider around the route

and then uses hyper local weather

information

to work out what the conditions will be

at that certain point of the ride so

it's not giving you a blanket coverage

of this is what it's like at the very

start it's gonna work it out as you go

around

so if you really want to utilize the

tailwinds that are out there then my

windsock is the one for you

[Music]

training peaks is the platform of choice

for so many athletes and that is because

it is most geared towards training

now while some apps are really good at

looking at your previous sessions

training peaks is great for planning out

your future ones and working out exactly

how hard you're going to be able to work

for future training sessions it's going

to allow you to make sure you're doing

enough to make sure you're progressing

but not do so much that you then burn

yourself out now training piece will

also show you all your previous ride

data and it really allows you to drill

into your historical data so you can

really see what you were doing and

really go into some granular detail

although those training templates can be

effective it's by no means as effective

as having a human tell you what to do

and hold you accountable to them so

traineepix really is for those athletes

that want to take their riding to the

next level and use a coach

we're going to continue on the vein of

training and looking at historical

granular data so next up we've got

golden cheetah golden cheetah is free to

use and it's incredibly customizable it

allows you to analyze your data in

nearly any way you could imagine i know

it was great for stefan's everesting

prep as he was able to look at elevation

time heart rate and power meaning he

could see that a sub 12 hour was a

feasible goal

you can see your overall training load

such as seeing your peak power for set

periods you can see how much power we

are pushing out on the hills and other

sections really clearly heart rate

distribution and power distribution over

long rides is very interesting too as is

speed distribution so this is what

golden cheetah is great at it's that

granular detail it's the stuff that

otherwise you might not have been able

to look at on other platforms so if

you're really taking your riding

seriously and you want to know what

you're actually capable of then golden

cheetah that's going to be the one for

you

next up we've got an app that saw a

meteoric rise in 2020 for obvious

reasons and that app is zwift and that's

because zwift allows you to ride on

virtual roads on an indoor trainer

what zwift have created is a semi-open

world with hundreds of kilometers to

ride on there's also a fantastic

community aspect to zwift because when

you head out onto those virtual roads

you'll be able to see riders around you

who all represent real people training

at home themselves you can also go on

some group rides with your friends and

also try your hand at some zwift racing

now zwift also incorporates zwift power

which allows you to really delve deep

into the data numbers after you've

finished a ride however i would say if

you're in a zwift race would rather not

look at the zwift numbers but recommend

riding off instinct instead because it

makes it hurt a little bit less

zwift also incorporates training

sessions and training plans so you can

ensure that you keep progressing through

those winter months

now staying on that indoor training

theme next up we've got what i would say

is best of the rest compared to zwift

and that is rgt now rgt has some

incredible features one of which being

incredibly unique to them which is

called magic roads now magic roads are

where you can build a gpx file on any of

your favorite route builders send it

across to rgt and then they'll turn it

into one of their magic roads meaning

that you can plot a route anywhere in

the world and then go and ride it on

their platform

now one thing that people really love

about rgt is the engine that drives the

platform they've got some incredibly

sophisticated algorithms meaning that

the drafting is a lot more realistic and

people do enjoy it a lot more and also

cornering speeds again also feel a lot

more realistic so that is something that

people do tend to favor over and above

zwift

now with rgt there is less of a network

effect than there is compared to zwift

because of those lower numbers but we

are seeing more people moving over to

the platform and that is for a whole

number of reasons first up being the

customization of the data fields which

people do really appreciate you've got

the more realistic speed that i just

mentioned you've got the magic roads

function again one that i just mentioned

you've also got that lower price which

comes in slightly cheaper than zwift of

the competitors to swift rgt deserves

the most honorable of mentions and

that's because they're not trying to

compete on the same terms but rather do

something quite different

for our next indoor training platform

we've got trainer row now trainer road

is something for those who just want to

get on and execute their training

sessions it's very paired back and it's

a very simple tool but it is effective

it is quite expensive at 1995 us though

so compared to the others it is fairly

punchy in terms of price however it will

let you see your fitness your freshness

your fatigue and your power curve on

some really nicely displayed graphics

what's particularly nice is the calendar

there you can see the sessions that you

have coming up and are all plain to see

with the stats on the far side totaling

the relevant metrics you want to be

keeping a track of but in addition to

that it pulls through your rise from

strava or garmin connect so the work

you're doing outdoors is fully taken

into account for a full picture of your

fitness progress

trainer road is also particularly good

for its curated range of training

sessions made by professional coaches

now these are there to help you achieve

your goals no matter what your

discipline be that off-road riding

triathlon road racing or time trialing i

think training road is going to be for

those who just want to get on and

execute their training sessions without

the sensory overload of a virtual

training world

so there we have it that's our list of

cycling apps which we think makes

cycling a little bit better if you want

to take your riding a bit more seriously

do let us know down in the comments what

apps you're using and if you think we

missed any of our lists if you enjoyed

the video drop it a like subscribe to

the channel for more content and i'll

see you again very soon

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

you