Hi all
I am going to go on a 8-9hr solo cycle ride and want my family to be able to track me for their peace of mind. What’s the best way to do this?

I was thinking subscribing to Strava Premium so that I can get the “Share My Activity Status” function enabled so they can track me on Strava. The issue I see here is for 8-9 hrs I’m not sure if my phone will have enough battery using the GPS and Data (even with the screen turned off). I’m using an iPhone 6.

If this is not possible – what other apps do you recommend? I was searching and came across the Road ID app which leaves ‘bread crumbs’ for people to track you, however, the app looks awful with bad reviews – not sure if it’s worth using.

Thanks in advance

I’ve used install mapper (www.insta-mapper.com) before and it works pretty well. Less hard on battery life than strava too.

If I’m doing a long solo ride my wife keeps an eye on me using the iPhone find my friends app. Not only does it give her reassurance I’m not lying unconscious somewhere, she knows when to put the kettle on 😆

I’ve found phone tracking to be too unreliable, especially mountain biking in remote areas. It can lead to an interrupted phone signal and can cause more panic than it solves. If you’re riding somewhere that has loads of phone masts, it won’t be an issue.
It’s the reason I opted for a spot tracker. They’re not cheap though – around £100 for the tracker and about the same for a yearly subscription. If it’s a one off trip, you could hire one.

Text/call at a couple of predefined checkpoints.

Or go crazy and go ‘off-grid’ for a bit. It’s quite nice…

If the route’s planned, give them the details. Call home at intervals and enjoy the ride.

There are a few phone apps that can use your location and display it to people you allow, Google has a location sharing thing that showed you up on Maps to accounts you allow, so if you’re on Android you might have the ability already. Don’t know iPhone well enough to see if there’s similar. Windows Phone has a Where’s My Phone feature for your own account that’s pretty good. Never looked to see if there’s a way of sharing with other accounts through Windows\Bing Maps.

Can’t you just use the find my friends app already installed?

I use this on android

Greenalp

User defined update interval so doesn’t kill battery

+1 for Find my Friends or Find my iPhone or sommat that’s already there and not eating battery.

Considering it’s satellite tech I don’t think a spot tracker looks that expensive being the only one not reliant on phone signal.

A couple of other options if you have a newer Garmin 25 / 520 etc they have a nice live tracker shows route direction speed etc no subscription, but needs phone too. There’s also an Android app call Beacon that uses sms (no data required) if signap is poor sms sometimes still works and minimal battery drain as it’s a request / respond with location system.

If mobile coverage is ok, one of those GPS trackers for keeping an eye on your wife/husband/child/dog would work. The one I got from ebay allows anyone to phone it (so it needs a SIM card) and it returns a text with it’s location.

Eh? Do you guys live track your location at other times you’re away from your wives?
What exactly is this going to achieve?
and has it ever actually helped anyone? like ever?

Tried Garmin connect? You can tell it to live track and email someone a link to a map with your location, speed etc. Not sure how it works with just a mobile but a lot of the modern garmins support it.

Garmin Connect app uses Bluetooth to talk to the Garmin. I believe it’s Bluetooth 4 LE (Low Energy, aka Bluetooth Smart), so in theory it doesn’t take up much power on the phone.

Though in my experience (and many others judging by a lot of posts on Garmin’s support forums), getting them to pair and sync is a nightmare. Doesn’t seem to matter what phone.

I’ve used Garmin Livetrack in the past with mixed results, partly due to the old phone I use when out on the bike and partly due to the poor mobile signal round here (Quantocks). I agree with hoke though, my daughter lives in Bucharest and when she’s used Livetrack in the past it gets worrying when she doesn’t move for a while, especially after she was knocked off her bike and broke her leg last year.

I use Endomondo for long rides. Its a bit like Strava .Its free. It does live tracking. Mrs S also likes to know I’m not lying at the roadside in a heap as it can be quite remote here. Your GPS signal will depend on your phone but most phones these days can pick up a good gps signal everywhere. As there is free tech out there to do this it would be foolish not to use it, IMHO

What exactly is this going to achieve?
and has it ever actually helped anyone? like ever

“Hmmm, he said he’d be home by 5, it’s now 10, where is he?” (Checks app) “hope he’s ok, he’s not moved since lunchtime/he’s in the local A&E/gone to the pub”.

Seems reasonable to me. Mrs njee20 expressed an interest in knowing where I was when I did the SDW. It’s not really the same as going to work for the day is it?

What exactly is this going to achieve?

In my case or less nothing, but it reasures (whether falsely or not) my wife as I ride alone 99% of the time and I have previous for full speed tree encounters. It’s no skin off my nose. I can’t see an issue, I leave it on all the time as I don’t have very adventurous movements.

I use the Greenalp thingy routinely. When I was twatted by a car, and lying in the road for an hour, my wife happened to look to see how far I’d got, and then look again and notice that I hadn’t moved. She tried calling, but got no reply. When she got the call from the Police she already knew that things had gone wrong, and was mentally prepared. She was just about to get in the car and drive to where I was anyway. She was also able to track my progress to hospital whilst I was in the ambulance, so knew when to ditch the kids and come to A&E.

So, it didn’t alter my outcome medically, but it would have done if passers-by hadn’t stopped to help, and it did slightly help her with logistics and so on.

If I had somehow ended up out of sight in a ditch and the driver hadn’t have stopped, then without the tracker she wouldn’t have had a clue which county to start looking in (I was planning a long road ride). So I’m generally in favour. Mostly does nothing, but doesn’t exactly cost much – I’m carrying my phone anyway.

Someone on here built a free app that you could load your route into and it would send texts at pre-defined points, for this very purpose, can’t for the life of me remember the name of it though!

Though in my experience (and many others judging by a lot of posts on Garmin’s support forums), getting them to pair and sync is a nightmare. Doesn’t seem to matter what phone.

I seem to recall problems with Garmin being a common thread in your conversations 🙂 My Edge 1000 and Vivoactive both work fine with pairing, even simultaneously.

Regarding battery life, I have a smaller power brick i can take with me on longer jaunts (used mainly for hiking) that will provide a full battery charge to my phone. It’s no bigger than some tyre levers and weighs less than a multi-tool so slips into the backpack/jersey pocket easy enough.

hoke – Member
Eh? Do you guys live track your location at other times you’re away from your wives?
What exactly is this going to achieve?
and has it ever actually helped anyone? like ever?

For a normal ride where i’m out for a couple of hours, I don’t bother (although probably I should if venturing off road). I normally just say, “i’m heading out here and i’ll probably be XX long”. My wife knows that not to worry unless i’m over an hour late back and i’d text if it was a minor issue, mechanical etc.
The reason I got a spot tracker was for bikepacking or hiking trips where i’m alone for days on end with no signal so that someone can keep an eye on my progress or I could send a message if i’m in trouble and conscious.

In answer to your question though, no my wife doesn’t live track my location as normally i’m at work, home, pub etc and someone else would miss me if I didn’t show up as planned.

As for what it achieves? Peace of mind and the possibility that if I am stuck in the middle of nowhere and can’t help myself, someone could quickly find where I was and get help to me.

I just use Strava and Google+ locations.

Obviously this is on top of telling my wife where I’m going and when I expect to be back, although usually my rides have reasonable phone coverage.

There has been the odd time my location hasn’t updated for a while, but to be honest it’s only to reduce the impact of an event that’s only a remote possibility so I’m not too bothered about it being 100% reliable – I still ride in “solo bimble” mode rather than “pushing on with friends” mode.

when I did the SDW. It’s not really the same as going to work for the day is it?

I’ve no idea what “SDW” is. But reading between the lines I’d guess some sort of bicycle ride? Having worked as a bicycle courier. Yes. Yes it really can be much the same as going to work for a day. Only one is probably far more dangerous than the other. I’ll let you decide which 😉

But Shirley your chauffeur drives behind you whilst live tweeting your epic cycling prowess ?

+1 Endomondo, installed on my phone and the wife’s, we can track each others rides and know when to put the kettle on….its free and easy to use. Recommend.

I use Garmin Livetrack every day on the way home from work with Find My iPhone as a back up. It helps the Mrs know when to put the tea on etc, and means she doesn’t panic if I’ve had a pucture or similar.

hoke – Member
Having worked as a bicycle courier. Yes. Yes it really can be much the same as going to work for a day. Only one is probably far more dangerous than the other. I’ll let you decide which

Yes but chances are as a courier that you’ll be delivering a package in a busy, built up area and if something happened to you, someone would notify the emergency services or your central office would notice.

or I might just be in the pub. Luckily I don’t have a wife stalking me… Well… not one married to me I’ve given permission to anyway 😉

Me and Mrs uponthedowns have been evaluating Google plus locations which seems so far to work OK except when I venture out into some parts of N Wales with dodgy mobile internet. Doesn’t drain the phone battery either.

This is the badger:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=LEM.TrackMe&hl=en_GB

Best way to run it is to set it all up then add the output to Google Earth. I *think* it’ll give the last update time so you can see if you’re definitely stationary, or maybe in a mobile blackhole, or you, the bike and the phone got hit by a drone strike or whatever.

Perhaps you could overlay a map of mobile signal for your network, I don’t know.

Whatever you do bear in mind that the usefulness is limited by the mobile signal and how someone knows whether you’ve lost signal or you’re in trouble. If you can add your route to Google Earth too then at least if you were in trouble it gives the Mountain Rescue a starting point and an intended route.

Problem is that when do you make the call given mobile signal issues are common in the places you’re likely to be/get in trouble.

Problem is that when do you make the call given mobile signal issues are common in the places you’re likely to be/get in trouble.

Isn’t that one of the purported advantages to a Spot? That there’s a button on it which calls for help (presumably in an EPIRB stylee)?

[quoteEh? Do you guys live track your location at other times you’re away from your wives?
What exactly is this going to achieve?
and has it ever actually helped anyone? like ever?[/quote]

Just the other Friday I logged on to find my friends, set a notification for when my wife left work and when it pinged on my phone set about getting a little tapas feast on the go, ready for when she appeared through the door. Many brownie points and a superb Friday night followed. What’s not to like? 🙂 🙂

Saw something recently that I can’t find right now about a device that basically works out if you’ve crashed and sends a message to contacts.

That might be a variant of the Garmin Edge 1000, I think.

viewranger and buddy beacon – uses os maps for tracking as well.

no phone signal either – free to use , os maps can be downloaded for reasonable amounts .