Join Bike Southern Illinois Today for Free!

Join a Community of Beginner to Expert Cyclists in and around Southern Illinois. Find and submit upcoming Organized Bike Rides and Races. Discuss Bikes, Cycling Apparel, and Gear that Fits Your Budget. Better Your Cycling Skills with the Help from Fellow Local Cyclists. Join Bike Southern Illinois Today, it’s Free!

Paid apps

I pay for KOMOOT, which is a route planning/map app. The price of these apps has really gone up in the last few years, but so have the features. MyFitnessPal is another one as I enjoy the premium features. I do not mind paying for an app if the premium features are a true benefit.
 
I pay for KOMOOT, which is a route planning/map app. The price of these apps has really gone up in the last few years, but so have the features. MyFitnessPal is another one as I enjoy the premium features. I do not mind paying for an app if the premium features are a true benefit.
I see a lot of people riding in Europe using Komoot. I guess it's good over this way, as well then?
 
I see a lot of people riding in Europe using Komoot. I guess it's good over this way, as well then?
KOMOOT & Ride with GPS use the same maps ( Open Source Maps and Google Street View ). Feature to Feature both are about the same. Ride with GPS is the predominant map/navigation app in North America and as such has a much larger database of member generated rides and of course better heat maps. I compared the two over the Thanksgiving Holiday and I think Ride with GPS has better map options ( or more map options ) than Komoot but navigation and route creation wise the performance was the same.
 
RideWithGPS for route planning work. As Scott said, it is a bit more dominant in North America but Komoot is really good too. The free version is pretty capable also and I'd recommend for casual use.

Strava for, well, I'm not sure anymore. I would use the premium service for importing routes from RWGPS info Strava to have better displays for bike club events but Strava is pretty much not adding any features I find useful so I'm probably going to cancel at next renewal.

Epic Ride Weather ($9/year) is a totally worth it app for planning longer rides. Short rides (<=1hr) are probably not that applicable but when you want to be out for long periods of time and know what to expect, event wind direction(!), it is awesome.

Wandrer (Wandrer $30/year) is a LOT of fun. It tracks your RideWithGPS and Strava feeds (but Strava has disallowed such access for sharing your stuff publicly...) and gives you a score by city/county/state/region etc. Super cool and a great way to explore.

Completely off topic:
1Password for managing passwords. I started using it when I needed cross-platform password support (Apple, Microsoft, Linux) and since I like features I still pay for it. Not necessary if you have a uniform ecosystem like Apple or Android/Google.
Pestle for recipes. Not only normal stuff for home but I keep a lot of recipes suitable for backpacking/camping and cycling.

Samples attached.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3620.jpg
    IMG_3620.jpg
    828.7 KB · Views: 0
  • Screenshot 2026-01-02 at 10.49.07 AM.png
    Screenshot 2026-01-02 at 10.49.07 AM.png
    1.7 MB · Views: 0
In regards to weather on route. Both Ride with GPS and Komoot now have in their premium packages the weather on route including wind direction actually shown on the map! No additional fee for an external app. See below from Komoot. Ride with GPS is much like this:
1767375641458.png
 
RideWithGPS does not. Komoot is premium only but if you are premium it would do the trick. Nice thing about Epic Ride Weather is the price and it will work on any service routes (Strava,RWGPS,Komoot) even with the free versions. I like the nice graphs in Epic over the other services.
 
Back
Top