Counting steps for Cycling!

[Smellie32]

So I have had my Fitbit for 6+ months. As I have researched issues, I have noticed that many people have struggles with not being able to count steps while cycling, I to get frustrated with this. Being a triathlete and competitive, want all my steps to count. What I don't understand is how after a few years of Fitbit knowing this is an issue, why have they not come up with a solution? It is more motivating when all your activities count as steps so when you are competing against friends on the Fitbit app that you feel you have a chance. I think Fitbit needs to expand their horizon to not only motivating customers to walk and run but all sports. Swimming and biking are my 2 favorites. 

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

Cycling isn't walking, so it be tricky to convert into steps..

What may work is to compete against each other not only in walking, but compete in who's the most active overall (total time of activities).. (walking, cycling,..).. not focusing on steps only as everyone is unique and can love doing other activities, may prefer to swim, doing yoga, weight lifting.. a combination of several activities..

[Rich_Laue]

Your charge 2. Is on your arm and has no idea what your feet are doing., but it will do a good job at counting every bump in the road. 

For every person that wants non walking activities to add steps, there is a person that wants all steps removed from non walking activities as biking. 

You still get active minutes. 

[SteveH]

As @Rich_Laue says there are 2 sides to this debate.

The fitbit approach seems to be that steps are only accrues when you actually use your feet to take a step. They do not convert non-step activities into steps. Some people would like to have all activity represented in steps but some would say that this would give an unfair advantage in challenges etc

Rather than use steps as a common metric for all activities, fitbit use calories and, as mentioned, active minutes.

I don't see this as a problem to be fixed because it's working as it was designed to do.

[soapydave]

I put mine in my pocket or on my shoe - that seems to work okay, as I get steps - though not as many as I probably really get. All they need to do is have a cycling setting, that gets your cadence based on the motion. It shouldn't be rocket science. This is actually the main reason for me not upgrading to a model with HR, as if I do the pocket/shoe thing I am worried that it won't give me any steps because I am not registering a heart rate!

[Rich_Laue]

So do we want the step count base on how many times the leg goes around, ignoring the gear your in?

Or should we say that a 20 mile ride is equivalent to a 20 mile walk and give 40K of steps?

Then again when it comes to the accepted conversion. Lets say the bike ride burnt 1500 calories, and a walk that burns 1500 calories needs to be of xx steps long. So lets say we will give xx steps. But wait, i want it converted to running syeps, not walking steps.

In the mean time we will completely ignore the group that is just as adamant about having all steps while cycling removed.

[chadwick103]

I strap it to my ankle during rides and put it in biking exercise mode. It tracks all my cycling data, routes, miles, and heart rate. But it also counts leg movement (for steps) in the background. 

It's the best of both worlds. (I do have smaller ankles, but I'm sure there are ways to rig up an extension for a band for those with larger ankles/ legs.)

[NYAngela]

Hi All, 

I have made the jump and am now a bike commuter. I gave up on the GPS syncing with Charge 2 when I ride, so it won't log miles on my dashboard. I use Map My Ride which is spot on so I know my exact distance and have a mapped log of the ride. What is frustrating me is that I can't  add the amount of miles into the dash here, it logs it as a bike ride but doesn't know the miles of course. I am riding 16 miles a day 5 days a week. So I would really like that to show up. My step amount makes me look like a lazy person! Anyone know how to fix it? Thank you for reading. 

Angela

[elizamae]

We have a similar bike commute.  (I love my bike commute!  Rain or shine I get 18miles in!)

My Charge 2 is auto-recognizing my biking now, and while that doesn't count as steps, it does count toward calorie burn, active minutes, and heart rate data.  

I now give much more attention to the heart rate, number of active minutes, and approximate calorie burn than to the steps.  It's just as motivating to me.  

[Rich_Laue]

Just remind me never to accept a challenge with you. 

For every person that wants every pedal crank counted there is a person who wants every bicycle step removed, and another that wants cycling properly converted to steps

[elizamae]

Yup.  Everyone has to figure out what they want and make the Fitbit work for them.  

It's funny, because just today I was wishing it didn't count my cycling as steps.  Lol!

You can't please everyone.  I just hope it holds together better than the first Fitbit.  So far, so good!

[NYAngela]

Hi Elizamae, 

I just started this adventure, and today was actually a great ride coming in! I shaved 5 minutes off of my time and increased speed by 1mph. It's the heat in the afternoons that I am getting used to, still 90 degrees here in S. Florida! Can't wait for a cold front, lol 

Thank you for the advice, makes great sense. I didn't want my ride counted as steps.Just would love to be able to track the miles on here as well. But happy with my Charge 2. Thank you for your help, happy commuting! 

[Smellie32]

I have started putting it on my ankle and it counts 3 times as many steps that ways compared to on my wrist. It is not as many steps as I feel I deserve for riding 50 miles but it is still a good amount.

[Rich_Laue]

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wrote:

I have started putting it on my ankle and it counts 3 times as many steps that ways compared to on my wrist. It is not as many steps as I feel I deserve for riding 50 miles but it is still a good amount.

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The only way to know would be to compare the reported calories burnt by Mike with the calories burnt by walking the same mile. 

Look at this suggestion to do a mathematically proper miles to step conversion while riding a bicycle which only has 17 votes or Bike ride distance conversion to steps with 110 votes. Neither seems to be popular. I'll have them get merged. 

Of course if you want to count more pedal cranks then simply use a lower gear. 

Calories come from pushing a set weight and not the speed. To burn more calories either increase the weight or increase the distance. It has not much to do with the gearing of the bike. 

You could also wear the tracker on the wrist and ride over a very bumpy road, that would give you the most false steps. 

Why would you not want steps counted while bike riding? Simply because the rider is not doing a step based activity and many feel that this is cheating. 

A few suggestions to remove steps from cycling 

Activities: Eliminate steps when manually logging a 'Bike' activity

Non Step Based Workouts should block steps (I.e. Spinning)

When making Category Bike deduct steps form daily total!!!!!

So with two diametrically opposed requests what is Fitbit to do? 

[RalphEm]

I would like to manually enter steps for a ride.  I walk and jog and can see steps and calories and heart rate.  The Fitbit logs time of cycling and heart rate. I know miles from another means.  I can get a reasonable estimate of equivalent steps.  cycling is a direct penalty to my acheiving my daily step goal.

[Mhm240]

Hi when I wear my fit bit on my wrist it recognises outdoor cycling but steps registered do not seem to reflect effort.

However when I wear my fit bit (charge hr) on my ankle

it does not recognise cycling and thinks I have been walking but seems to record more steps.

what is best to reflect effort accurately?

[Semper62]

Need to convert steps into cycling

[Semper62]

I walked all winter now weather is better New York I'm cycling now  no steps registered in fit bit

. Smh

[Rich_Laue]

While wearing the tracker on the arm, any steps counted by the Fitbit are simply from the bumps in the road that the bike ride over. 

The effort exerted is redlectedrin the amoubtaif calories recorded through the heart rate. 

[JHolovacs]

"Cycling isn't walking, so it be tricky to convert into steps..."

Isn't a step merely a metric of how many times you put one foot in front of another to get from place to place?  Why does a step need to be walking?