I want to let people watch me ride my bike
June 18, 2020 3:12 PM Subscribe
I do a bicycle-related fundraiser every year. This year it's off, but I'm doing my own, and I need some ideas about how to make it work.
Every year, I do the Bike MS weekend charity ride in my area. This year, the ride has been cancelled - the event itself is still on, I am still going to be fund-raising, but the actual ride part of the ride is not happening.
Since I'm still raising funds, I want to do a ride - partly because I want people to feel like their donation is inspiring me to do something, and partly because I like riding my bike. I have a pretty sweet route planned, two loops of which will be essentially the same distance I ride in Bike MS every year, and I want to give people some sense of what I'm doing (Bike MS has route maps so people can see the route, if they want, when they donate and want more info).
Even though I bike a lot, I have never used anything like Strava or Google Fit, but it occurs to me that something along those lines could be a fun real-time tracker that shows my progress.
Do any of the major fitness tracking apps offer live, real-time sharing of routes and ride info, or are they just for sharing results and routes after the fact? Through the donation process, I will have email addresses of all my donors and would offer them the chance to opt in to something like this, I wouldn't force or spam this on folks.
I just thought it'd be fun, and might actually be a good premium donor gift - "Give more than $(X) and you can watch me real time!" but I have no idea if it's even possible.
I'm primarily looking for free or low-cost phone apps - I am not willing to buy a Garmin or other on-bike computer (I had one of the old Avocet non-smart speed/odometer/cadence computers for a while, and quickly got way too obsessed with numbers instead of just having fun on the bike, which is the point).
My only real requirement is that it allow sharing in real-time, with more than one person - I'm on Android if that matters. Does such functionality exist?
Every year, I do the Bike MS weekend charity ride in my area. This year, the ride has been cancelled - the event itself is still on, I am still going to be fund-raising, but the actual ride part of the ride is not happening.
Since I'm still raising funds, I want to do a ride - partly because I want people to feel like their donation is inspiring me to do something, and partly because I like riding my bike. I have a pretty sweet route planned, two loops of which will be essentially the same distance I ride in Bike MS every year, and I want to give people some sense of what I'm doing (Bike MS has route maps so people can see the route, if they want, when they donate and want more info).
Even though I bike a lot, I have never used anything like Strava or Google Fit, but it occurs to me that something along those lines could be a fun real-time tracker that shows my progress.
Do any of the major fitness tracking apps offer live, real-time sharing of routes and ride info, or are they just for sharing results and routes after the fact? Through the donation process, I will have email addresses of all my donors and would offer them the chance to opt in to something like this, I wouldn't force or spam this on folks.
I just thought it'd be fun, and might actually be a good premium donor gift - "Give more than $(X) and you can watch me real time!" but I have no idea if it's even possible.
I'm primarily looking for free or low-cost phone apps - I am not willing to buy a Garmin or other on-bike computer (I had one of the old Avocet non-smart speed/odometer/cadence computers for a while, and quickly got way too obsessed with numbers instead of just having fun on the bike, which is the point).
My only real requirement is that it allow sharing in real-time, with more than one person - I'm on Android if that matters. Does such functionality exist?
It looks like Beacon is visible to anyone, not just people on Strava, and has no limit on the number of viewers:
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:17 PM on June 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
Can I send Beacon to a contact who is not a Strava athlete?It mentions a text message but you can send the URL to anyone via email etc, it's not specific to phones.
Yes! You can send a text to anyone in your contacts, whether or not they use Strava. The recipient does not need to download the Strava app or have a Strava account to view your real-time activity. As long as the recipient of your text message has access to a web browser they will be able to see your activity.
Does Beacon require cellular service?
Anyone that you share that generated link to will be able to see your location while you are recording with Beacon enabled. Once you finish recording, the contacts you shared the generated link to will no longer be able to see your current location.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:17 PM on June 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Ah, that looks like exactly the thing I need. Thanks!
posted by pdb at 3:30 PM on June 18, 2020
posted by pdb at 3:30 PM on June 18, 2020
Ride with GPS has a feature called live logging. You do need to pay for their basic tier of service for this to work, although I think that's $5/mo, and you can sign up for one month.
Any smartphone app will, of course, require cellular service throughout your ride. If that's not reliable, you can rent a Spot tracker, although that's a lot more money.
posted by adamrice at 3:32 PM on June 18, 2020
Any smartphone app will, of course, require cellular service throughout your ride. If that's not reliable, you can rent a Spot tracker, although that's a lot more money.
posted by adamrice at 3:32 PM on June 18, 2020
Is there any way you can change your route so that it spells out something like “Bike MS” or “BEAT MS”? That might be cool for the people watching you to see in real time. Just a thought.
posted by cali59 at 5:55 PM on June 18, 2020
posted by cali59 at 5:55 PM on June 18, 2020
To use Strava beacon (with I highly recommend) you need a premium membership. I'm not sure if these are available monthly or only on an annual basis.
I think that there is (or was) a limit to 3 people to whom you can share real time data.
posted by Flashduck at 6:01 PM on June 18, 2020
I think that there is (or was) a limit to 3 people to whom you can share real time data.
posted by Flashduck at 6:01 PM on June 18, 2020
To use Strava beacon (with I highly recommend) you need a premium membership. I'm not sure if these are available monthly or only on an annual basis.
I think that there is (or was) a limit to 3 people to whom you can share real time data
There is a limit (of 3) to how many people you can send the Beacon link to through the app, but the FAQ says "Anyone that you share that generated link to will be able to see your location" - my read of that is you can copy and paste the link to send to as many people as you want, although I haven't tested this.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:16 AM on June 19, 2020
I think that there is (or was) a limit to 3 people to whom you can share real time data
There is a limit (of 3) to how many people you can send the Beacon link to through the app, but the FAQ says "Anyone that you share that generated link to will be able to see your location" - my read of that is you can copy and paste the link to send to as many people as you want, although I haven't tested this.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:16 AM on June 19, 2020
Good plan!
I also am a fan of BikeMS; I've been doing the enormous springtime Texas ride for years (which, of course, has also been cancelled and replaced with a 1-day event currently schedule for September, and how much would you like to bet that won't happen either?).
I know you said you don't want to buy a GPS, but I've done what you're talking about -- provide a live link of my progress / current speed / etc on a map -- by using a Garmin or a Wahoo, with great success. OTOH, I've seen lots of people struggle with the Beacon feature. It seems spotty.
Is there someone near you who could loan you a recent Wahoo or Garmin for this purpose?
posted by uberchet at 7:20 AM on June 19, 2020
I also am a fan of BikeMS; I've been doing the enormous springtime Texas ride for years (which, of course, has also been cancelled and replaced with a 1-day event currently schedule for September, and how much would you like to bet that won't happen either?).
I know you said you don't want to buy a GPS, but I've done what you're talking about -- provide a live link of my progress / current speed / etc on a map -- by using a Garmin or a Wahoo, with great success. OTOH, I've seen lots of people struggle with the Beacon feature. It seems spotty.
Is there someone near you who could loan you a recent Wahoo or Garmin for this purpose?
posted by uberchet at 7:20 AM on June 19, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:14 PM on June 18, 2020