I became familiar with the Ride with GPS app / website while planning for the most recent Bikes & Beers event here in San Diego. Our events do not seek street closures, we want the experience to showcase how good our city streets can be for bikes without special measures like barricades, traffic cops, etc. It’s meant to be a preview of the way we envision our streets in the future – filled with bicycles and people having a great, safe time in our city. This can make it difficult to keep people on the route, though, since there isn’t a wide swath of empty road to follow as there would be with a marathon.
What we needed was a turn-by-turn tool to direct riders and after looking over many different apps I could not find what I needed. I needed an easy-to-use app that could do voice navigation for a custom bicycle route. Then I found Ride with GPS and it was just what we were looking for. They even hooked us up with free access for all event participants. It was great. The app did voice turns, we could add custom instructions and photos, and it didn’t suck the battery like Dracula.
After being so pleased with the app during the event and the great support from the company, I volunteered to be an “Ambassador” for the brand. Basically I’ll be creating a set of great rides in San Diego that others using the app can utilize. So whether you’re a visitor or a local looking for a new ride, you can open the app and access the routes I’ve highlighted. However, most of my biking in San Diego is functional, not recreational. I’m usually towing a couple of kids and going to school, library, grocery store, etc. I’m pretty much a newbie when it comes to the scenic rides throughout the county.
So I’m asking for your help. If you have a great route you want to share, please let me know so I can add it. Of course I’ll give you a shout-out too. 🙂
Hit me up via email – john.patrick.anderson@gmail.com if you have suggestions and thank you!
Looking forward to great rides! –