A couple of weeks ago I wrote about completing my goal of riding 2,000 mountain bike miles in one year. If you are going to tackle a statistics-oriented goal such as this, tracking and logging all relevant stats is a step that sometimes seems insignificant–yet it is crucial!

There are numerous ways that you could track your statistics. You could record all of your miles in an Excel spreadsheet, or use one of the many websites dedicated to cycling statistics. But since this is Singletracks.com, I am going to walk you through how to use the Singletracks.com Ride Log to track your rides.

But before we really begin, it’s important to mention that you need to have a reliable bike computer or GPS to clock your mileage as you ride. I say this because during my first several years of riding, I just sort of guess-timated how many miles I had done based on maps, as well as rough estimates based on time. I was in for a nasty surprise when I finally got my first bike computer as a birthday present: rides that I had thought were 6-7 miles were only about 3 or 4. And rides I thought were 20+ miles turned out to be only about 16. When tracking mileage, nothing can substitute for a good bike computer or an accurate GPS unit.

I used a Garmin Forerunner 305 for the majority of 2011, and I love it.

Singletracks.com: Two Different Options

With a free membership on Singletracks, you have access to the basic features of the ride logger, and it is enough to track your statistics over the course of the year. But since I spend so much time on Singletracks, I decided to start shelling out the annual $20 fee for the advanced statistics logger a couple of years ago, and those bones have been well-spent! (Side note: access to the advanced statistics logger and the massive GPS trail map database is only $30 a year–a killer deal!)

How to Track Your Statistics

Method 1:

1. Go to the trail database, find the trail you rode, and click on the “Training Log” button.

2. Enter all of the pertinent information from your ride.

The basic statistics tracker only has one or two fields here, but the advanced version allows you to track all kinds of stats! I haven’t been very religious with all of the fields, but the ones I always fill in are equipment, distance traveled, and time taken. Logging distance traveled and time taken obviously allows the software to calculate your average speed, and recording what bike you rode every single ride helps you know exactly how many miles you have put on each rig. I find this field especially useful as I track the progress of bike reviews.

Method 2:

If you use a GPS unit when you ride, instead of manually entering the statistics into the form, you can simply upload a copy of your GPS track, and the software will fill in all of the statistics for you. To do this:

1. Click on “My Account” in the upper right of your screen.

2. Click on “GPS Data Manager” in the right-hand menu.

3. Click “Upload GPS Data,” click “Browse,” select the GPS track from your most recent ride, and then click “Update.”

In my experience, having your GPS files in the .gpx format works best.

4. Click on “edit route name,” select the name of the trail from the pull-down list of nearby trails, and click “Update.”

5. Make sure that “Mountain Biking” is selected under the “Activity” drop down.

6. Click “Send to ride log.”

Now, all of the statistics gathered by the GPS unit will automatically be filled into the form mentioned in step #2 of method #1 above. You may wish to add which bike you were riding under the “Equipment” menu, and add additional notes to the entry.

Finally,

Hit “Save Entry” and all the statistics from your ride will be saved in your Singletracks.com ride log for all eternity!

Analyzing Your Statistics

One of the biggest benefits of using the Singletracks.com Ride Log is the ability to analyze your statistics in many different ways. Here, I will give you just a small example of what sorts of analysis you can do.

I use my ride log to record every physical activity I do, whether it is mountain biking or not. Since the majority of my physical exertions are on the mountain bike, it makes sense for me to use the Singletracks.com logger. Conveniently, the ride log allows you to select which type of activity you just completed, thereby creating several different categories.

When you first open up the ride log from your account dashboard, it will show you your all-time statistics.This can be cool for sheer statistics geekery, but it doesn’t really help you track your progress in regards to a specific goal.

I find it most useful to analyze my statistics from a specific time period. To do this, click on the “Edit” button right next to the words “Custom Report.” Then, under the date range, select the range desired. As I was watching my mileage progress this past year, I was most interested in just stats from 2011, and this is how I identified them.

Once you have created a report, the software automatically spits out totals for each of your activities, and also creates a neat pie chart, showing which activities you have done the most over the set interval:

From here, you can click on an individual activity and analyze it in detail. If, for instance, I click on “MT Biking,” it brings up all of my rides from 2011, and an interesting bar graph in the upper right showing my speeds on recent rides:

You will notice that under the Speed Vs. Date chart, there is a button that says “Open in Excel.” Clicking that button will download a spreadsheet of all of the statistics for that activity over that period of time. In this example, it will download a spreadsheet of all of my mountain biking statistics from 2011. If you are at all familiar with Excel, you know that that software is basically the pinnacle of statistical analysis. While the Singletracks.com ride log software provides numerous ways to analyze your data online, if you want to analyze your data in a different ways and create various charts and graphs, the opportunity is open to you via this spreadsheet download.

Like I said, this is just the tip of the iceberg of the many ways that you can analyze your statistics. The “Custom Report” options hold the most potential for interesting analyses. There are also options for grouping by location, and for getting reports on specific equipment.

When it comes to tracking and analyzing your statistics on Singletracks, the sky, or more accurately, your imagination, is truly the limit!

Interested in signing up for the advanced Ride Log? Click on over to the Upgrade Page and upgrade your account now!

Android screen shots.

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been rolling out updates and new versions of our mobile apps and we wanted to fill everyone in on the latest. All the apps have been rewritten from the ground up to be faster (10X faster in some cases) and easier to use.

Here are just some of the new features added this time around:

• Topo maps for select trails. Pro and Trail subscribers can view all available Singletracks topo maps within the app while everyone else gets access to the 200+ free maps.
• Bike shop finder. Get info on nearby bike shops, add reviews, and even snap a photo of your LBS and upload to Singletracks directly from the app.
• Trail photo uploads. Snap a pic on the trail and upload directly to Singletracks.
• Photo of the Day integration. View the photo of the day and post comments.
• Refined look and feel. Added header graphics and inline action buttons.
• New “add a trail” form.
• Link to Singletracks.com main website on app home screen.

iPad screen shots.

Along with the feature updates, we also introduced new paid versions ($1.99) of both the Android and iPhone apps. The free and paid versions are exactly the same except the paid version features:

• No banner ads.
• Improved trail directions interface. Get driving directions to the trail from wherever you are directly in the app.
• iPad compatibility (iOS app only).

The existing free apps have also been re-branded “Singletracks Lite.”

For those who already have the iPhone or Android app installed, be sure to update your app today to start taking advantage of the new features! For those who don’t have the app, here are the download links:

iPhone free | iPhone paid ($1.99) || Android free | Android paid ($1.99)

For those who have been looking for medium and large Singletracks t-shirts, we just got a new batch of updated t-shirts this week. The new shirts are black and are printed on high quality Alternative Apparel stock which means they’re lighter weight and more fitted than the previous shirts. As always, 100% of t-shirt proceeds will go to IMBA. Sizes S, M, and L are available.

For those looking for XL and XXL shirts we still have the forest green shirts available for $10 (there are also a few smalls as well). Once the forest green shirts are gone, they’re gone so claim yours today!

Shipping is $3 per order and all orders this week include free stickers.

Just wanted to share a few things that are going on here at Singletracks this month.

Trail Tuesdays

Every Tuesday we’ll post a trail-related article on the blog (in fact we started this a couple Tuesdays ago). Articles will include trail reports, featured destinations, and mountain bike trail news.

Mountain bike rentals

A couple weeks ago we added a field to our bike shop database to note whether shops rent mountain bikes. It’s a question we constantly hear (and ask ourselves whenever we travel!) so help us out by updating rental info for your local bike shop. Look for the “Does this shop rent bikes?” link on the right side of the page and let us know either way.

Unbiased product reviews

We’re in the process of removing affiliate sales links from the singletracks gear review pages in an effort to keep our mountain bike product reviews as unbiased as possible. We’ve always shied away from placing affiliate links in product review articles (“pro reviews”) to keep things honest and now we’re extending that thinking to user-generated product review pages. So whether you’re reading a full blown product review on the blog or checking out the list of “best MTB products,” know that we aren’t trying to make a buck for ourselves by promoting certain products or brands over others.

And unlike some other MTB blogs and websites, our ad sales and editorial teams are completely separate. That means we don’t charge manufacturers for product reviews (advertorials) and our writers aren’t influenced by ad contracts. This is a pretty standard arrangement for print publications but as far as we know it’s still rare in the online world.

Faster page load times

We’ve been tweaking pages and scripts on singletracks and the upshot is you should notice much faster page load times throughout the site. Just like in mountain biking, faster is always better!

New snow sports site launch: THIS IS AN AD

Ok, shameless plug time. Last week we launched a snow sports website (skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, etc.) called SnowToIt.com and we’re running a contribution contest through the new year. The site works like singletracks (user reviews, photos, videos, etc.) and if you add your content right now you have a pretty good chance of winning one of 9 weekly prizes like a $50 Backcountry.com gift card. So if you’re off the bike and on the snow already, SnowToIt.com is a great place to find resorts and backcountry trails!

Hey guys, we are proud to announce the roll-out of a brand-new feature on Singletracks.com: the Mountain Bike Photo of the Day!

Each day we’ll select a quality mountain bike photograph to feature as our POD. The POD will be posted to the dedicated Photo of the Day Page and to the Singletracks.com Facebook page. Each week we’ll also publish a blog post with the best photos from the previous week and you can view all the past photos of the day in the gallery.

Today’s photo of the day! Rider: Christian Robertson. Photo: Greg Heil. Trail: Timeline, Evolution Bike Park, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, CO.

In short, if you love taking mountain bike photos, this is a great way to get your photography recognized! We’re also allowing everyone who submits a photo to include a link to their personal blog or website in the photo credit. So not only are you getting your name out there, but you’re spreading the link to your website around too.

How is the POD selected?

There is no single factor that determines which photos will be selected for POD. Some photos have certain defining factors that make them desirable, and other photos have very different factors. However, here are a few key guidelines:

• Most of the PODs feature someone actually riding a mountain bike, and absolutely all of them will relate to mountain biking in some way. However, having a rider in your shot is not absolutely necessary if you do an excellent job on one of the next points.
• Your photo has a much better chance of getting selected if it makes good use of basic artistic elements. Some of these elements include composition, lighting, and color.
• Another way to help your photo stand out is to have the image tell a story. Since this is mountain biking, it isn’t absolutely necessary – pure action shots are totally fine. But telling a story with your photograph can definitely help it stand out above the rest.
• All photos selected will be at least 900 pixels along their longest side.

Finally, we want to be clear that you don’t have to be a professional photographer to have your image featured as POD… you don’t even need to own a professional-grade camera. If you enjoy taking photos with your point-and-shoot and you think you have a couple of great images, we would love to see them! While we won’t be featuring just any old snapshot, the bar isn’t set so high that only the elite can reach it.

Get Started

So get started submitting photos: upload them to the Singletracks database as you normally would, use the upload form on the POD page, or post them to the Singletracks Facebook wall to get your submissions a little extra attention. You can also submit photos via email to pod@singletracks.com – just be sure to include the photographer’s name, a link (optional), and a caption.

We want to see your photographs, and we want to share them with the world!

More information is available on the POD FAQ page. If you have a question that the FAQ page doesn’t answer,  feel free to ask it in the comments section below!

Ok Android users, this one is for you: the singletracks Android app was officially published yesterday afternoon! Download it for free to find nearby trails, read and post reviews, and read the singletracks blog, just like the iPhone version.

We also quietly added trail progress bars to everyone’s “My Account” page earlier this week as a fun way to track how many great trails you’ve ridden. The first bar shows the percentage of trails in your state you’ve ridden; the next shows the percentage of IMBA Epics; and the third shows the percentage of the singletracks top 100 mountain bike trails. We’ve also updated the top 100 trails page to show you which trails you’ve ridden at a glance (your trails are shaded green on the list).

Feel free to post your stats here in the comments or in this forum thread we just started. Who is the king of the IMBA Epics? The most well-traveled mountain biker in your state? Let the smack talk begin.

Thanks to singletracks member ckdake for the progress bar feature suggestion!

Just a quick note to everyone that we updated the singletracks iPhone app this week and the new version should be showing up in iTunes today. This is officially version 1.0 (the first one was 0.9) and we’re really stoked about it. The updated app features a more native look and feel and should be more responsive as well. Here are the highlights:

• Create or log in to your singletracks account within the app. Once you’re logged in you can update trail statuses, add trail and gear reviews, add trails to your wishlist, and check-in whenever you hit the trail.
• View up to 18 photos of each trail in the new photo gallery.
• New search and filter functions make it easy to zero-in on the trail and gear reviews you want to find.
• Improved blog integration with thumbnails and enhanced readability.

Of course you can still find the closest trails based on your current location and get turn-by-turn directions to the trailhead. There are some other nice little surprises included as well that you can only access when you’re logged into your singletracks account. The app should also work well on iPad for those of you who roll that way.

For those who aren’t on an iPhone, you can access the mobile site through any web browser right here. And for those with an Android phone, good news: the new app should be super easy to port which means we hope to have an Android version available in the next few weeks.

We’ve already got a big list of new features for version 1.x and even 2.0 so stay tuned!

The singletracks Name that MTB Trail contest starts today and the first two pics have already been posted. Head over to the contest page and submit your guesses now!

Everyone who submits at least one correct answer during the contest will score free singletracks stickers and the top three finishers will get $50 HuckNRoll gift cards PLUS two picks from the MTB grab bag. Full contest rules and details are available on the contest page. Winners will be announced following on August 11, 2011.

We’re kicking off a new contest next week so start brushing up on your MTB trail photo knowledge! For those who missed the last name-that-trail contest, here’s how it works: each day we’ll present 3 mountain bike trail photos that are posted somewhere on singletracks and we’ll ask you to ID each trail. Correct responses earn 1 point each and the members with the most points at the end will win prizes.

What are these prizes we speak of? How about $150 in HuckNRoll gift cards, Crankskins frame protection gear, Answer gloves, a Kore direct mount stem, and more.

The contest will run from Monday, August 1 through Monday, August 8 Wednesday, August 10 so don’t go anywhere!

Warm up: first comment on this blog post that correctly IDs the trail pictured above gets a set of singletracks stickers in the mail.

In case you missed it, we’re taking pre-orders for another round of singletracks jerseys through tomorrow, Friday, April 22. For just $55 you get a full-zip, 3-pocket jersey with the singletracks logo and original artwork by our own element22. Order today to make sure we get your size!

We also just got a fresh batch of singletracks t-shirts in this week and those are still just $10. All t-shirt and jersey proceeds will go to IMBA to support trail building and MTB advocacy.

Congratulations to the February Forum contest winners, Dorado and kvnrbrts. Dorado’s post, “urban riding??” received 59 replies during the month of February, earning him the sweet Giro XAR helmet and matching DJ gloves. kvnrbrts’ post, “Random trail sightings…” received 42 replies which means he snagged the Crankskins 12 mil frame protection kit.

Thanks to Giro and Crankskins for sponsoring the contest – we saw a big increase in the quality and quantity of forum conversations during February and are stoked to see things continue into the spring and summer!

Stay tuned for a BIG trail contest announcement later this month…

Just wanted to let everyone know about a few recent updates here on singletracks:

Trail Check-in Points

Singletracks members will now receive 2 points for each trail check-in via m.singletracks.com. As more and more members use this feature we’ll recognize the “trail marshall” (kinda like the mayor) of each trail based on the number of check-ins.

For those who haven’t used trail check-ins before, the feature is only available on the mobile website (not the iPhone app yet – we know, that thing needs an update – in the meantime we’re using the mobile site ourselves). Just login and click the “check in” link on the appropriate trail page; we’ll record your location when you check in and we’ll show you a list of others who have checked in to the trail within the last 24 hours.

On a related note, we re-organized member profile pages a bit with new tabs for trail lists, photos, custom bikes, and other stuff.

Stickers and Singletracks Merch

We just updated the singletracks merch pages with new offers including a singletracks sticker 4-pack for just a buck. Yeah, shipping is still $3 but it doesn’t matter how much you order so throw in a t-shirt and some printed maps to maximize your order!

Mountain Bike Tour Finder

We recently partnered with SWAE Sports to offer info on booking guided mountain bike tours and trips around the world. Browse trips, get more info, and even book through singletracks – it’s super simple to do. Singletracks receives a small commission from each trip booked through the site so it’s a great way to show your support. Now is the time to start planning amazing MTB trips for the summer and fall!