How to track bike with my Charge 2

[Mimiruth]

how does one keep track of biking exercise?

Moderator edit: subject updated for clarity

[LZeeW]

@LindsayBy  You said that you have a Charge HR, but posted your question in the Charge 2 forum.  The two trackers have different features -- the Charge HR ha no auto detection features.  What model tracker do you have?  I think we can help you better with that information.

[geezerwheels]

Newbie here, who doesn't read instructions until he hits a problem.

So today I strapped on the Charge 2, jumped on my bike, and rode 33 miles. I did not select any option or app--just rode in the default mode. Fitbit says I racked up about 10,000 steps for that ride, or about 300 steps per mile. 

Now, if I'm in an easy gear most of the way, say, 50/21, I'm traveling about 17 feet per crank rotation. 

17 feet times 300 is less than a mile, but I am coasting from time to time. And I'm gearing up and down depending on the topography and direction of wind.

So my operating assumption is that Fitbit is doing a fairly accurate job of counting crank rotations as steps. Is that cool or what?

[Rich_Laue]

Hello @geezerwheels your Fitbit doesn't try to monitor ankle rotations, which would be totally useless without knowing the current gear ratio and wheel diameter. 

Lets look at where the Charge 2 is located. It is on your arm and monitoring arm motions, not leg motions. So where are these rogue steps coming from? The bumps in the road.

[geezerwheels]

hmmm, I tracked this periodically during the ride, and the steps added up
at a fairly even rate. my hunch is that I was flexing my wrist, and rocking
the bike with each stroke, just enough to tickle the innards of the device.


Alan Abrams.

Moderator edit: personal info removed.

[MarineBoy]

Great - I’ve tried all of this but it doesn’t work. How do I get FitBit charge 2 to recognise I’m cycling? Today I’ve done 27 miles around Singapore and it’s recognised 7017 “steps”. Just to repeat I’ve been through the previous actions and they have not solved the problem.

[CiaoKT]

From my understanding . This Fitbit was not really made for tracking cycling, so thTs why it will not work .

Sent from my iPhone

[CiaoKT]

From my understanding this Fitbit was not made to track cycling, so unfortunately it will never really track cycling only steps . 

[Rich_Laue]

@MarineBoy there are three ways to track cycling

Have the Charge 2 on the arm and take off on the bike.. If you ride enough for the bike setting it should be detected. 

Manually start the bike tracking mode on the Charge 2 without the phone connected

Manually start on the charge 2 with the phone connected and a GPS map is shown. 

Which are you using? The last two are the most reliable. 

As for steps, these are simple from the front wheel bouncing over bumps in the rode. 

[Vinnie74]

OK I'm a keen cyclist. It now seems to be recording my ride with GPS but I want speed average speed elevation etc..Am I asking too much if fit bit 

[Hops1978]

When I am cycling the watch is working fine but I can’t get the miles to register to the app ? Everything else is there and I can see my route and all that but no millage when I sinc it when done 

[MarineBoy]

I ditched the fit bit yonks ago - it was just a bit too crap....

Sent from my iPhone