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Whether you want to track your training progress, find the best coffee shops nearby, or need help knowing how to repair your bike, there’s an app for almost every cycling need these days.
These five are the best cycling apps you could download onto your iPhone or Android device as you make your way to and from work:
Strava (Free & Premium Versions Available)
In many ways, Strava is the classic cycling app. It tracks your route, tells you how many calories you’ve burned off, and lets you compare your own rides with your friends.
The standard, free version of Strava allows you to see for yourself the health benefits of your cycling, by tracking burned calories, whether you’ve reached your weekly mileage target, and how much progress you’ve made over the last weeks and months.
All rides uploaded to the app give automatic rankings of your times on popular journeys – known as ‘segments’, with a GPS map showing where you cycled.
Strava is also its own social media platform, enabling users to follow their friends and compare each other’s progress on their cycles.
The premium version, Strava Summit, also gives you feedback after each ride and allows three of your friends to track where you are in real time.
Google Maps (Free)
Still arguably the best free cycling app, Google Maps makes it easy for you to navigate where you’re going and how best to get there.
It does so much more than help you get from A to B, though.
It can help you find recommended places to visit and then give you the best or most bike-friendly route there, and its sat-nav function, complete with audio (in a variety of accents) means it could hardly be easier to find your way on your bike with Google Maps.
Beanhunter (Free)
Whether you’re after a decent cuppa or something covered in pastry, Beanhunter is perfect for finding the best coffee and cake shops near you.
It is essentially a review app for coffee shops, but is run by those who know a bit more about coffee than the average man on the street, so gives generally more reliable reviews than just asking Siri to find the nearest chain location for you, for instance.
Covering almost everywhere in the world, Beanhunter also allows you to add your own cafés and review them if they haven’t already been found on the app.
The Road Bike Manual (£2.99)
If you’re out cycling and something suddenly goes wrong with your bike, then fear not. The Road Bike Manual will no doubt have you covered.
The app includes countless videos, pictures and articles on how to solve practically every problem you could ever have with your bike, with new tutorials added monthly.
It may not be free, but in your hour of need on your bike, you’ll almost certainly find that you’ve found value for money.
Audible (Free Trial, then £7.99 per month)
If you’re a bookworm as well as a commuter, Audible is the best cycling app for keeping you relaxed and for exercising your mind as well as your body.
Run by Amazon, Audible has an enormous library of audio books to listen to, and even offers a free 30-day trial (including a free audio book) for new users before paying its £7.99 membership fee.
But if you want to indulge yourself in a good audio book on your way to and from work and block out any outside noises, Audible is definitely the app for you.
Have you got your own favourite cycling app? Let us know in the comments below!
