Why can't I actively track cycling but only walk/run/hike?

[acarodp]

My Fitbit Alta HR "Track Exercise" allows me to track a run (or a walk or a hike) using the phone GPS... but it does not allow me to do the same with cycling. I don't understand why.

I know you will come up with "SmartTrack should pick up your cycling" but this is not a solution:

1) It does NOT pick it up. This might be because I have rather frequent traffic lights so it never reaches 10 minutes continuous. It might be because it is only partially on pavement, the rest on hardpack. I don't care. It is simply a feature that works poorly and inconsistently. Plus: I KNOW I'm going to bike, I know when I begin, I know when I end, why should I have an algorithm trying to figure it out when I can simply TELL IT.

2) Even if it DID work, it would not activate the GPS, so no distance, no speed, no elevation...

3) SmartTrack is ALSO supposed to track Run, Hike, and Walk, but I'm STILL allowed to track them "manually" if I want the GPS data. So why cannot I do it with cycling?

Thanks!

L

[NellyG · Accepted solution]

Not sure how knowing why will help lol. It just doesnt! I have no idea why, but it doesnt. The best you can do to get it included is to vote on THIS post in Feature Suggestions. The more votes the more li,ely it is to happen.

[acarodp]

Thanks a lot! Voted!

L

[NellyG]

👍thats good. I hope it happens.

[Wuselmouse]

Allegedly, there is a solution but there is none. The automatic  tracking of cycling outdoors does not appear to be programmed into the software. GPS cannot be activated, it is automatically set to off when cycling outdoors and the heart rate is not recorded at that time either.

[MrMarv]

@acarodp, @NellyG and @Wuselmouse -

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@acarodp wrote:

My Fitbit Alta HR "Track Exercise" allows me to track a run (or a walk or a hike) using the phone GPS... but it does not allow me to do the same with cycling. I don't understand why.

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Interesting. Really.

If by "using the phone GPS" you mean using MobileRun, then I am really curious as to why you cannot document a bike run, but I can document a drive in the car during rush hour on Interstate 710 in Greater Los Angeles. See image of the "Activity" at the end of this post.

No stepping action needed - one foot on the accelerator and the other on the foot rest. I ran a test of 1.3 miles at a 6'15" pace and with a 76 average bpm heart rate. Once upon a time, this former Marine could run 3 miles in under 19 minutes, but at 65 it "Ain't gonna happen".

I booked it as a "run". It didn't book much in the way of calories, pretty much my BMR, because my heart rate never went outside of the 74 - 78 bpm range.

So - if I am reading the issue correctly and if you don't mind calorie burn being only calculated by heart rate and not recognized steps plus heart rate, try booking your bike ride as a run and see what happens and if the numbers are believable.

And I know that just an appreciable increase of heart rate will generate a larger calorie burn reported by Fitbit. Standing by Interstate 5 one day after work waiting for AAA to take me and my car home and getting a reduced level of oxygen cranked by heart rate from mid-70s to 100 - 115 bpm for over an hour. My reported calorie burn for that hour was over 5 times BMR. And I took a grand total of 400 steps during that hour taking short little 20 - 30 foot "trips" to keep the kinks out.

If the numbers for calorie burn are good, who cares that you told Fitbit it was a run. I promise not to tell anyone if you don't.

If I am not on board with what the issue really is, then I apologize for taking your time.

Either way, good luck to you all.

[Wuselmouse]

Hi
Many thanks for your reply! This is just to clarify what I meant to say earlier. I wanted Fitbit to record my cycling activity because I had activated the cycling option in the Training tile. I accessed the cycling option by clicking on the Training tile, then the cog wheel icon on top of the page in the icon banner, then slid the bar next to the cycling option to green. It then states that outdoor cycling on asphalt will be automatically recognised as an activity (minimum 10 minutes) and that GPS will not be turned on.
Unfortunately, the activity is not at all recognised. I cycled for at least 20 minutes, partly up a steep hill.

All the best

[Noonie19]

Hi, I have a charge 3 and it's the same. When you try to start an exercise using the app the drop down only shows "walk, hike, or run. I also want to bike and there does not seem to be a way to change this anywhere.  Also as you have stated I can start my" bike" ride on the HR device and even though it is connected to GPS it gives very poor results for GPS tracking. Fitbit have highlighted this is something they are working on. I continue to use the much more reliable STRAVA