How to track bicycling

[Jpayga]

How do you trac bicycling or other non walking activities

[dpgw]

I put my flex in a side/hip pocket of my cycling pants/shorts and log bike rides as running in the exercise category.  That seems to work reasonably well.  I get GPS tracking for the ride and somehow 'steps' are recorded.  I don't know if crank/pedal revolutions count as steps or average distance of my walking pace is divided into the total distance.

[K9dancer]

I also take my tracker out of the band and put it in the side pocket of my cycling shorts. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but at least I figure I am getting credit for something.

[MarreFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hi there @Jpayga @dpgw @K9dancer, Welcome to the Fitbit Community! Most of the Fitbit trackers are optimized for walking, running, and general household and lifestyle activities. They are not as accurate for activities like biking, but may record that your were active if you wear your tracker during a non-walking or running activity.

To better track your activity we recommended creating an activity log. To do this:

1. From your dashboard click "Log."
2. Select "Activities."
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
4. Enter "Cycling" and fill in the details.

For more information on logging activities, go here. Good luck! 

[K9dancer]

Thanks. Actually, I do log it in the activies and have done so from the beginning.

[MarreFitbit]

Great @K9dancer! That's the best way for those activities. 

[soddbbuster]

For all you cyclists out ther... Better yet download the Cyclemeter app and it will log and even map the cycling for you and later enter your data into the Fitbit app.  Cyclemeter tracks distance, elevation, speed, etc using the iphone's gps, everything but heartrate.  The thing I'm having trouble with is changing the log in my Fitbit app when it logs "run".  I find the same thing when I enter food.  The edit button doesn't seem to allow an edit.

Can anyone help me with editing an existing entry, whether it is food, or exercise?

[MarreFitbit]

Hmmm it doesn't sound familiar to me @soddbbuster. Would you mind providing me some screen shots showing what you're getting whenever you try logging them? 

Waiting for you. 

[JenniferMinton]

Thanks for the tip about Cyclemeter. 

To address your other comment - I have not been able to edit exercise once its entered in (for example, if you enter the time wrong). I guess you have to delete and start over and get it right. I think you can enter exercise completed any time or day. Its easy to delete a log. Maybe there is a better way, but I haven't found it.

[MarreFitbit]

Well, actually you can either edit or delete your activity by doing these steps:

1. Go to http://www.fitbit.com/activities
2. Click the activity you want to edit or delete. A yellow box should pop up.
3. If you want to edit the activity, click the note pad icon and proceed to edit the duration, distance and/or start time, then hit the "Update" button. If you want to delete the activity, click the X icon.

Hope this helps @soddbbuster! 

[jcsuperstar]

Two questions: this app Cyclemeter records your activity and it translates your cycling effort into steps? Do I have that correct? Second, is this app only for iphone or for Android phones too?

[WHass]

There has to be a more accurate way for the Fitbit to track cycling.  It is quite discouraging to use it in challenges when bike for 8 miles, my phone tracks 15,000 steps and then when it syncs with my Fitbit it drops to 5,000.  Are there plans to improve this inadequacy?  There are a large number of cyclists in the population for which the Fitbit is not working accurately.  

[Nutts]

The best solution for IOS worked great and judt transferred info.

Harry

---

@soddbbuster wrote:

For all you cyclists out ther... Better yet download the Cyclemeter app and it will log and even map the cycling for you and later enter your data into the Fitbit app.  Cyclemeter tracks distance, elevation, speed, etc using the iphone's gps, everything but heartrate.  The thing I'm having trouble with is changing the log in my Fitbit app when it logs "run".  I find the same thing when I enter food.  The edit button doesn't seem to allow an edit.

Can anyone help me with editing an existing entry, whether it is food, or exercise?

---

[StorableSun]

It would be nice if users were allowed to edit excercises on Dashboard. For example- I record bicycling as "Run".  It logs my route and time splits.  If you sign in and log a bike ride with the same time/distance data, sometimes the data will transfer to the entry labeled "Bicycling" and sometimes it won't.  Either way- we- the end users- should be allowed to go in and change a "run" to a "bicycle", or swim.....

You have a great product- I use mine everyday- but I can see as I become more active that the limitations of the fitbit are making me search for the replacement.  Not being able to log actual workouts and the fact that fitbit is not waterproof are a HUGE draw back.

Sadly, no.  The only way I can find to "edit" food is to enter a the correct entry and delete the old.  One trick I have found, that sometimes works, is adding "Cycling" with the same time stamp and distance as the one that is marked "Run".  Sometimes your route and time splits data migrates over to the manually inputted Cycling entry, sometimes it doesn't.

It's a bit frustrating. 

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Jpayga]

I strap my Fitbit on my shoelace as I bicycle. Not sure of the accuracy but at least it records some steps

Sent from my iPhone

[ErickFitbit]

@StorableSunI agree with you and recommend that you vote for this existing idea in our Feature Request board as the more votes an idea receives, the more likely it is to be considered for implementation in future releases.

@JpaygaStrapping your Fitbit tracker to your shoe isn't going to be very accurate as it is meant for step-based activity while being worn on your wrist. In order to get a more accurate depiction of your activity, I suggest manually logging the activity. See ya around! 

[CHUCK51MTX]

We get  a small incentive at work for excercise.  the flex does not go toward this if the excercise is logged.

i want a bicycle, but what is the use if fitbit will not track excercise automaticly.

[ErickFitbit]

@CHUCK51MTXSalutations! Great to see you participating here!

You're right! The Flex can't track bicycling without manually logging the activity. Your Flex will be able to track step based activities automatically, such as walking, running, and hiking. If you're interested in a tracker that will track your biking activity automatically, I recommend checking out the Surge! Hope that helps to clarify! 

[StorableSun]

I don't think we should have to "vote" on something that is clearly a design flaw.  The fitbit is a data traker.  The data, and the workout is ours- and it should be ours to manipulate. I can't tell the difference between a run and bike or swim right now- and I am looking for a device that can.

[dadams14]

I like the fitbit for walking etc, but was disappointed when I found it did not track bicycle rides.

If I wanted to manually log my bicycle data , I would not need a fitbit... Let me know when it grows up into a valuable product.