My cycling isn't counting as activity

[AlisonRose]

I have been loving my new Fitbit & walked with it loads over the Xmas period. I've loved seeing all the green!!! 

But today I am so frustrated with my Blaze, I feel like returning it.

I cycled a total of c.100 mins today (c.50 mins each way) with an average heart beat of over 100 (much higher than when I walk) yet it has only registered as 12mins of activity - the period I was in cardio mode pushing up the only serious hill.

Cycling in London today has been slow going and grim due to the awful traffic caused by the tube strike. To have my minutes not count has added insult to injury!

When I walk my minutes count as activity even when my heart rate is 80.  It feels like Fitbit is antiyclists.

Can I change settings so that my town cycling counts as activity?

Any help and advice gratefully received!

Many thanks 

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi there @AlisonRose. Great to see new faces in the Forums! 😄

When it comes to active minutes, more than cycling, the activity per se, there are some factors you need to take into consideration:

All Fitbit trackers calculate active minutes using metabolic equivalents (METs). METs help measure the energy expenditure of various activities. Because they do so in a comparable way among persons of different weights, METs are widely used as indicators for exercise intensity. For example, a MET of 1 indicates a body at rest. Fitbit trackers estimate your MET value in any given minute by calculating the intensity of your activity.

You earn active minutes for activities at or above about 3 METs.  To stay in line with the Center for Disease Control's (CDC’s) “10 minutes at a time is fine” concept, minutes are only awarded after 10 minutes of continuous moderate-to-intense activity. You can view the CDC’s recommendations on the CDC website.

If an activity gives you active minutes one day and fewer active minutes the next day, remember that the intensity of exercise is key. Often what seems like the exact same amount of effort over the same distance in fact differs slightly enough to change your active minutes total.

Now, if cycling doesn't appear on your activities list after you went cycling, you might want to check the settings for SmartTrack which is the feature in charge of detecting your activity automatically and log it for you. For checking this, go to the Account section at the bottom right corner. Here go to the Goals section. Tap on Exercise and in the Auto Recognized Exercises section, make sure that Outdoor Bike is set to be recognized to at least 10 minutes to make sure your tracker will pick it up.

Hope this information helps and if you need anything else, let me know! 🙂