How can I make cycling a habit?
The real spoonful of cycling sugar is fitstuff tracker Strava; its route-mapping metrics turn every ride into a mission
AGaGu’s chafed thighs know that the health benefits of cycling are powerful indeed. Taking to two wheels is one of the best ways to improve your cardiovascular fitness while also taking in lungfuls of questionable air, absorbing skin-reddening vitamin D, and swallowing clouds of protein-rich tiny insects.
But if you just can’t face another coccyx battering, and the draw of spending thousands on a couple of welded-together pipes and a bit of rubber doesn’t force you to stack up the miles, turn to this favourite method of motivation: turn it into a game, Mary Poppins style.
The real spoonful of cycling sugar is fitstuff tracker Strava (iOS /Android, free). Combining its route-mapping metrics with a standalone GPS module that you can switch on and forget about – Garmin’s £500 Edge 1030 will track up to 20 hours on a charge – turns every ride into a mission. You’ll set your own scores, collect your distance, do your time. And if you connect with fellow mudguard abusers, you’ll be able to weigh your own paltry efforts against their impossibly brilliant results.
Going premium with Strava is by no means required, but if you’re taking your pedalling somewhere extreme (or merely like to boast about your actions) you’ll be grateful of its beacon mode, which shares your live location with a bunch of chums. It also gives you access to real-time segments, allowing you to fight your own ghost over those tricky or motivating sections of a ride
– that’s worth £5.99 a month.