Question for the road bikers out there!

[cquela]

I's a bit confused as to how to track my outdoor bike ride.  I started tracking through my versa lite watch last night and had my phone on my bike so I could see where I was going, how fast, etc.  It didn't show anything and I was unclear if my ride was even being logged.  At the end of the ride I manually entered my ride as I had also tracked it on another biking app.  

I see this morning when I logged into my account on the computer that the ride had been mapped.. so I deleted the one that entered in manually.  

I also see that I did not receive a step credit for the ride

My question is... can I view my ride as its happening (like I can with cycle-meter) and can I expect a step credit for my ride to register on my dashboard (if I can expect a credit then I'm, wondering why I didn't get a step credit last night) 

Thanks so much!  

[Corney]

cquela:  Did you enjoy your ride?  Do you ride for enjoyment, for health and fitness, or do you ride to log steps?  Decide what is important and don't worry about what isn't.

[t.parker]

@cquela If you are tracking your ride using Fitbit app then know it's not a bike computer. It has no any sophisticated features. You can't track your ride in the real-time as far as I am aware. If you want to use your phone to see data typical for bike computers (speed, elevation, HR, cadence), you may use Strava or ie. Komoot - apps made for such purpose. On the watch, the data is very limited. I don't remember now what you can see there (I own dead Ionic so haven't been using it for quite a while) but definitely, it isn't as much as you can see on the bike computer.

If you are serious about cycling just get a proper bike computer with navigation. There are plenty of them made by Garmin, Wahoo or Polar. If you go this way, look for features like long battery life, turn-by-turn navigation, good visibility in the bright sunlight (this one I found particularly important). 

[Baltoscott · Accepted solution]

Hi @cquela.  

You should start a bike ride from your Versa making sure that it connects to your phone before you start the ride.  As you ride, you can see three real time stats of your choice on your watch.  (Wear the watch, don't put it on your handlebars).  Check out the manual starting at page 38 for more details.  When the ride is done, you tap 'Done' to see a summary screen of the ride, and after syncing you should see a map of the ride with along with bike distance, speed, etc.  The watch will give you some step-credit based on the back and forth movement it detects as you ride, but you will not see a breakout of those steps in the exercise record.  (I tend to get about 500 steps/mile where I ride; you have to check by making note of your total steps before and after the ride).

You cannot see real-time progress in the fitbit app on your phone. If you want to see that, you can use a bike app like Strava on the phone (I am unfamiliar with cycle-meter, but that may be another alternative).  Or, as suggested by @t.parker you could get a bike-specific tracker for your rides.  I usually record my rides with a Garmin bike computer, and then sync them to fitbit through Strava (which syncs with both platforms). I tend to use the bike app on my fitbit only when I don't have the bike computer with me.

Hope that helps.  Enjoy your Versa-Lite!

[cquela]

Thank you!  It appears that I was doing it correctly but maybe expected too much out of the FitBit app.  I have since gone on a bike ride and noted that my steps went up quite dramatically because of the ride.. I was just concerned that maybe it was registering as steps because the road was bumpy rather than credit for cycling.  Either way its working now... I'll continue to use Cyclometer or Strava for more specific riding information.  

Thanks again!