Biking with Blaze not recording steps

[anitacan]

I just got a Blaze and am disappointed to find out it doesn't seem to register steps for biking like the Charge HR which would give me about 10,000 steps for a 20 mile ride.  In looking through the community, I've seen that some people don't want steps for biking, and that the Surge and the Blaze are designed this way, to minimize steps for biking.  Guess I'm not one of these people.  I guess I will have to wear my Charge HR when I go biking.

[Rich_Laue]

To turn off GPS, tap exercise, swipe to bike, tap the gear in the bottom left, turn gps pff. Press the back button, tap the screen and begin. 

To me it makes no sense putting the tracker onto the leg. 

@Jaggy you where asking about an exercise bike, gps won't work indoors or when your not moving. 

[shiz]

You really don't do steps or rather walking when you ride a bike. But doesn't it help toward your daily/weekly target?

[msladyd]

I too cycle on a stationary bike..I'm new to fitbit and my first is the Blaze I'm terrible disappointed that it doesnt count steps so now i have to go back to my non fitbit when I ride the bike. for step counting.  

msladyd

[Rich_Laue]

And what steps do you take while on a stationary cycle? Also since the Blaze is in the stationary handlebars, what movement will it be recording

[bbarrera]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:
And what steps do you take while on a stationary cycle? Also since the Blaze is in the stationary handlebars, what movement will it be recording

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The Fitbit One counts a lot of steps while I'm on a stationary bike.

[Rich_Laue]

The Fitbit One is attached to the waist and is noticing the hip moving up and down.. Since the Blaze is on the arm, the Blaze is I kg able to monitor arm motions.. Your arm is probably on the stationary, think not moving, handlebars.
BTW: the One is counting rotations of the pedal, not steps.

[bbarrera]

It doesn't matter what the technical reason, Fitbit has step challenges, folks want steps, and Fitbit has rigged the game by giving you less with the Blaze while riding versus the earlier trackers that people started out using. 

[Rich_Laue]

Actually it is all in technical aspects of where the tracker is monted, it not "rigged". There is two ways to get your tracker a to falsely count steps on a bike, ride over a bumpy road, place the tracker in your pocket.. Remember tho you might only get one step per tweenty feet or so. 

All arm based trackers from any company will react this way. 

[Jaggy]

Let's be objective: Fitbit need to give us a choice as to whether we want to record steps on an excercise bike. This is one of my primary exercise activities and I want a record of this! I register my protest here!!!!

[Jaggy]

Thanks Rich, I'll give it a go today.

[bbarrera]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:

Remember tho you might only get one step per tweenty feet or so. 

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I get 400-600 steps per mile by putting phone in pocket (pants or jersey) and using Fitbit MobileTrack to count steps.

Thats about one step for every 9 to 13 feet.

[Jaggy]

Disconnecting the gps is of no benefit. Exercise on the bike is not recognised unless it is a bumpy bike. So I'm back to wearing Blaze on my ankle. That way I obtain recognition for my effort.
The simplest way to resolve this is for Fitbit to give Blaze users an option: count exercise bike steps or not to.
I wish I had the option to return my Blaze for a refund. Not likely though.

[Lordrobs]

To be honest the fact that my Blaze DOES count setps while I'm riding my bike is the reason that I take it off while I cycle. Yes I know you can manually remove them by adding a driving activity with the exact same start time and duration as your ride but it is a faff.

I really don't like the obsession that Fitbit has created with "steps" through the challenges. It causes situations where people are complaining about the fact that their Fitbit has counted no steps while doing an activity that included no steps  That sounds like it is working perfectly to me!

What would make sense would be the option of a conversion. So when tracking a cycling activity you track zero steps but then your effort is converted into 'equivalent' steps of #### per mile. These could then count towards challenges for those that care about them and ignored by those who want an accurate measure of how many steps they've actually taken throughout the day.

[Rich_Laue]

@Jaggy you might want to vote for this request.

@Lordrobs you might want to have all steps elimanated durring a bike ride. 

Sorry @bbarrera if i have problems believing 400-600 steps per mile while on a bike, my 28 inch unicycle tire vs. The One only gives me 720 steps per mile, and that is a 1:1 gear with no coasting.. While a 36 inch tire could give 560 steps, without gears and coasting, let's say your in a 1:1.6 ratio ( a very low gear) you could get 560 steps -. Toes losses during corners and coasting, 

[bbarrera]

@Rich_Laue I'm not riding a unicycle, its a road bike.

I've calculated steps per mile on hundreds of rides and spin sessions. Why don't you try it on a road bike at least 10 times, averaging at least 15mph, and get back to me?

I usually see 450-550 steps/mile, but slower cadence (high winds, climbing in mountains) will pull it down towards 400 steps per mile, while faster cadence rides will pull it up towards 600 steps per mile.

One recent example - 51 mile (solo) flat ride on Sunday out into the Sacramento river delta. There was a heavy crosswind and it kept my average speed down, and also ride started at 97 degrees and I don't perform as well in the heat. Calorie view from Fitbit in this post:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Blaze/Active-and-exercise-minutes-do-not-match/m-p/1490498#M25811

473 steps/mile

Like I said, 450-550 steps/mile is pretty common. Additional info for that ride:

Fitbit:

24,140 steps counted

Garmin Connect Ride data:

51 miles

17.4mph average speed (32.6mph max)

73rpm average cadence (96rpm max)

90 degree average temp (97 degree max)

3pm start

3 hours 34 minutes elapsed time

2 hours 57 minutes moving time

[Rich_Laue]

@bbarrera i know your on a road bike, with bigger wheels, gears, and your able to coast. I can't cross or change gears. One pedal, or as the fitbit says will take me 84 inches or 7 feet. That's 754 pedal cranks per mile. 

On the bike usually 52 teeth front gear 21 back gear, a 2.48 ratio.. With a 37 inch wheel one crank will take me 288 inches or 24 feet. That is 220 cranks per mile. Of course these 220 cranks assume that at no time the bike coasted. 

This however is calculating, i guess I'll just have to take a bike ride and count the pedals. 

[bbarrera]

@Rich_Laue rode in the mountains yesterday, 44.6 miles with over 4200 feet of climbing and 20,000+ steps. Using the more conservative 20k steps gives me

448 steps per mile

[Rich_Laue]

@bbarrera since it has not been revealed as to how these steps you are getting are being recorded, with the phone in your pocket it will be counting the up down motion of the pedals, plus the off road bouncing even when coating down a hill. In 44 miles of off roading i bet half of those where down hill. 

When i do a ride bike ride, the fitbit is on my arm and the steps recorded are from the tire bouncing over bumps, pot holes etc, hardly what i would call a step. 

[bbarrera]

@Rich_Laue I've stated many times, sorry if not in this thread. Phone in back jersey pocket using Fitbit's MobileTrack. I tried a Fitbit One, gave essentially the same results so I returned it.

At spin class, with no road bouncing, I almost always get 500-550 steps "per mile" - well its stationary so I use "miles" loosely. Perhaps a better measure is that spin works out to about 10,000 steps for 70 minutes (143 steps per minute).

Looked at yesterdays ride in more detail. 21,082 steps in 44.6 miles (473 steps per mile). Compared to spin its always less, spin is around 143 steps/minute versus 109 steps/minute yesterday on yesterday's climbing ride. I pedal on most descents, and beginning/end of ride were the same, so half the ride was climbing and half was descending.

The worst step/mile was on DeathRide.com when I did 117 miles and 15,000 feet of climbing. I got about 33,000 steps that day, for 282 steps per mile. Started riding at 4:40am.

From a step count perspective the day started normal, and you can see 19 steps on 15 minute / 9 mile descent (35mph) with virtually no pedaling - hey I usually pedal downhill, but it was beginning of a very long day 🙂

After that step counts were hit or miss, was carrying a lot of nutrition powder and took off my jacket as it warmed up (3rd climb), must have interferred with phone. Huge number of missed steps on the last climb.

[bbarrera]

@Rich_Laue after looking at a few more rides and one spin session, I've come to the conclusion that the conversion ratio is 1.6 to 2 steps per revolution. No reason to get caught up in gearing and wheel size. Just takes measuring cadence, which is something I record at every spin session (sensor on shoe) and bike ride (sensor on crank). 

That makes sense to me. Why? Because walking one step switches front foot and back foot, say starting with right foot back, and swinging it forward, so that left foot is in the back now. Walking two steps returns the feet to same starting position, with right foot back (left foot front), just like one revolution of "left foot front / right foot back" returns the right foot back to the starting position.

Anyways, you can see how Fitbit Challenges get people to stop thinking rationally, because as @Lordrobs put so aptly Fitbit has created an obsession with steps. So when you upgrade from a One or Flex to a Blaze and get less steps, its a big deal.