The Best Bike Computer is a biking performance-tracking application developed by a biker.  It tracks various metrics from your bike ride and saves them for review in Best Bike or export in a CSV file.  The exported file can be opened in a spreadsheet program for detailed analysis.  

In addition to saving your bike trip data in the application, Best Bike exports it to the Apple Health application (calories burned, cycling distance and workout).

The Best Bike user interface is simple and designed for ease of use during a ride but viewing the screen is not necessary; Best Bike can be configured to voice-announce the metrics you choose at the interval you choose.

Best Bike can show you your current location on the map and optionally show you where you have been on this ride.   Your route on the map can be exported in GPX format. 

Note: Continued use of GPS running in the background can decrease battery life.  See the discussion on Battery Use below.

For questions or support, please Email bestbikeapp@gmail.com.  

Data Recorded and Displayed

•       Current speed

•       Total distance during ride (saved in Health app)

•       Actual ride time (not including pauses)

•       Current position and where you have been (displayed on map)

•       Compass heading

•       Average speed

•       Comparison of your current speed with your average speed (+ or - after speed).

•       Comparison of your current average speed with previous trips.  + means your average is higher than the average of all trips; ++ means your average is higher than the highest average of all trips.  

•       Maximum speed

•       Altitude

•       Delta altitude (difference between minimum and maximum altitude during ride)

•       Maximum altitude

•       Calories burned (estimated)

•       Cumulative elevation gain (or altitude gain)

•       Estimated time to return to start point for out and back ride (Return ETA)

Data Calculated for All Trips Combined

•      Total time, maximum time

•      Average speed, maximum speed, maximum average speed 

•      Total calories

•      Maximum distance

•      Total distance

Features

The Best Bike Computer has the following features:

•     GPS-based recording of data for your bike ride.  

•     Calorie calculation based on distance, weight (from Health app if available), speed and gain.

•     Data from each trip saved in app and in Health app (if available).

•     Display of summary data from all trips.

•     Ability to enter a note for each trip.

•     Ride data can be exported in CSV format for import into spreadsheet program. 

•     Shows your location on map and your route so far.  

•     Route can be exported in a GPX file from the map.   Must be done immediately after end of trip.

•     Map in streets, satellite or both view with north up or heading up orientation.

•     Voice announcement of selected trip metrics at time or distance intervals allows you to ride without looking at display.

•     Ability to give announcement at start of trip (to confirm volume level, metrics, etc).

•     Ability to automatically pause recording of ride when bike is stopped.  This is recommended for most riders.

•     App runs in background and doesn't interfere with phone calls, etc.

•     Notification if you have zero speed for 10 minutes without pausing the trip recording.

•     Ability to change font size (dynamic type).

•     Slider controls speech playback rate.

•     Ability to record lap data and alternate between viewing lap or total trip data.

•    Notification when battery level drops to 30%, 20% and 10%.  At 5% the trip is ended and the trip data is saved.

•    Return ETA:  The app calculates the estimated time of your return to the starting point for rides that are "out and back".  This feature can be useful if you want to end your ride by a certain time.  More detail below.

Operational Description

There are 4 parts to BestBike:  Current Trip, Previous Trips, Map, and Settings.  Data recording for a ride is initiated by tapping the Start button on the Current Trip screen.  Various metrics are displayed on the screen during your ride.  You can choose to have selected metrics spoken to you during the ride at select distance or time intervals.  Options to control the voice announcement are located in the Settings screen.  Metrics are displayed using the units in use in your Region (see Language & Region in iPhone Settings).

There are two ways that the trip recording can be "paused".  One method is to tap the Pause button.  This turns off the GPS and is the best option for battery life.  Best use for this is when you are stopping for an extended period of time.  As long as BestBike isn't removed from memory by the operating system, you can resume your ride and data recording by tapping the Resume button.  To avoid BestBike being removed from memory, limit the activity on your phone during a Pause.

If the Auto-Pause feature is enabled in Settings, BestBike will stop recording the Trip Time when you stop moving for a period of time.  This setting is recommended.  

The Cumulative Altitude Gain value (Gain) is the sum of every gain in elevation throughout an entire trip.  This value is used in the Calories calculation and is a measure of trip difficulty.  Because of the instability of the Altitude readings on the iPhone, there is a threshold on values that are added to this.  

The Calories value is an estimate and there are some important factors in calorie usage that BestBike does not take into account:  wind resistance, friction between tires and pavement, weight of bike, etc.   The rider weight value is obtained from the Health app (if available) or using the value in Settings.  

Data recording is stopped by tapping the End button.  At this time, select values are saved in the iPhone Health App (if enabled) and to permanent memory in the iPhone.   Also at this time, the GPS locations for the route recorded can be exported into GPX file format.  This is done by tapping the "export" button in the Map screen.  These GPS locations are not stored in permanent memory and will be lost when BestBike is removed from memory by iOS.  

The Previous Trips screen displays the data saved in permanent memory by BestBike.  The banner at the top displays summary data for all trips and each row in the table displays data from a specific trip.  A text note can be added to any trip on this screen. Data can be exported in CSV format from this screen.  

The Map screen displays a map with an indication of the rider's location.  There are various display options for the Map contained in the Settings screen.  This screen can be useful when you are riding in an unfamiliar location and want a view of where you are.  

The Settings screen allows you to configure BestBike.  There is a separate screen for configuring Speech Announce settings.  "Pause trip time when stopped" stops the Trip Time clock when you stop moving for a few seconds.  This is recommended for most riders because it excludes stops from skewing the Average speed calculation.  Also, if this setting is disabled, duplicate data points are added to the route displayed on the Map (and exported).

Return ETA Calculation

The Return ETA displayed on the Current Trip screen is useful for "out and back" rides (rides where you turn around and retrace your route back to the starting point), especially if you want the ride to end by a certain time.  It is not useful for rides that are not "out and back". 

Return ETA is calculated by adding the Trip Time to the current time of day.  BestBike continuously attempts to determine when you have reversed course and when that determination is made, the app stops updating the Return ETA with one exception: if you "pause" during the return trip (stop moving or tap Pause), BestBike will add the elapsed time for those pauses to the Return ETA.  There is no attempt to adjust the Return ETA for a slower or faster pace on the return trip.  

Battery Use

The following features of Best Bike Computer will impact your battery life:

·        The GPS receiver is on when recording a trip.  When you are not recording (trip paused or ended), the GPS receiver is turned off.  Note that when Best Bike pauses recording automatically based on no movement, the GPS receiver is left on so that Best Bike can tell when you start moving again.  The use of the GPS receiver uses battery power.

·        Unless Best Bike is in the background, your iPhone is prevented from sleeping so you can see the screen.  If you are not viewing the screen, you can suspend your phone to reduce battery usage.

·        If voice announcement is enabled, each announcement of trip data uses a small amount of battery.

·        The map displayed on the Map screen is downloaded over the network (presumably the cellular network since you are riding your bike).  Use of the cellular radio will impact battery life.  The map is only downloaded if you are viewing the map screen.  

. The use of a Bluetooth-connected helmet or ear buds to listen to voice announcement will have a small impact on battery life.

GPS Accuracy

All information about your bike ride is obtained by Best Bike from the GPS and altimeter hardware (if available) on your device.  GPS data is provided by satellites orbiting the Earth and overhead obstructions (trees, clouds, tall buildings) can affect the accuracy of the GPS data provided to Best Bike.  

The least accurate value from the iPhone GPS hardware is Altitude.  For newer devices that have altimeter hardware, Best Bike will update the displayed altitude value when the GPS hardware can’t provide an accurate value.  

Because of GPS data variations, your current speed is susceptible to variation from sample to sample but values like distance and average speed will tend to be more accurate because they are based on multiple samples.   

Acknowledgements

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