Cycling could be so primitive if you want it to be. You don't NEED a power meter. You don't NEED a GPS device. You don't NEED any number of gadgets that have made cycling so much more efficient in recent years.
But if the technology is there....use it!
The surge in iPhones since their 2007 debut is no surprise, and new Apple products like the iPad are following the same road to success. Different companies have used Apple's technology to their benefit, too--debuting several applications designed to make your life a little easier.
So what iPhone apps are out there specifically for cyclists? There are literally hundreds. Most of them have a similar idea in mind--take advantage of the iPhone's GPS capabilities and create a cycling-specific application that can map your ride and spit out vital details about it.
But there are a few that think outside the box, too.
Whatever your needs, if you are a cyclist with an iPhone, these five apps may be a useful tool for your rides:
Cyclemeter GPS
Abvio, LLC
$4.99
This is one of the most popular cycling apps out there, and with good reason. The layers of features the Cyclemeter GPS has are incredible. It tracks time, location, distance, elevation and speed of your rides using GPS. It takes that information and makes it visually appealing through maps, charts and calendars. It has voice announcements that call out various milestones of your ride. It can connect to all of your social media platforms so you can share your results. It can email your family and friends to let them know where exactly you are. It allows you to race your performance in past rides.
In short, it is a cutting-edge tool for putting you on top of your own cycling.
The Bike Doctor
Ron Forrester
$4.99
For the ultimate cyclist do-it-yourselfer. The Bike Doctor has step-by-step breakdowns (with pictures) on how to repair 25 different common bike ailments. If you need to save money, using this app as a resource to fixing your own bike is a good way to do it.
Bicycle Gear Head
Grumpy Dodo
$2.99
Bicycle Gear Head is a highly rated bicycle gear calculator, which takes your wheel size, crank length, chainrings and sprockets and spits out numbers--in real time--on gear inches, gain ratio, meters of development, and miles per hour per RPMs. It's a super app to narrowing down what's efficient on your multi-gear bike.
Bike Light
HeavyLifters Network
$1.99
Seems like a simple concept, and it is. The Bike Light app is a flashing red safety light that makes you more noticeable—perfect if you're riding your bike after dark.
Size My Bike
La Pomme Chez Vous
$4.99
Though this app won't take the place of a professional bike fitting, Size My Bike takes six body measurements and computes the optimal geometry of your road bike or mountain bike. This is a good way for a beginner to figure out what size of bike they may need.