Tools and apps for Bike to Work week

It’s currently National Bike to Work Week, which encourages everyone — not just hardcore cyclists — to take two wheels to work and school.

As with many things, cycling has been improved over the last several years with a whole suite of apps and hardware. Here are some of our favorites:

Apps

• Strava is the defacto GPS ride tracker in our opinion. It’s easy to use and has a built-in social network, so you can compare your rides with your friends, review your history, and more. The optional premium membership adds a lot of nice things, but is by no means necessary.
• Runkeeper is another great GPS ride tracker. While the name would indicate that it’s only for running, it can also track biking activities as well. We think it’s the best run tracker for iPhone, and it makes for a great biking companion.
• Dark Sky is the best radar app for iPhone. Getting push notifications when you’re about to get rained on is simply amazing when on a bike. With Apple Watch, that notification is easier to see than ever when pedaling.
• Bike Repair is a mobile bike shop. You can enter bike inventory and skim almost 60 in-depth repair guides, which is great if you’re stuck somewhere with a breakdown.

Gear

• The Garmin Edge 810 bike computer is a great choice if you want to track your rides with more precision than an iPhone can give. It can talk to cadence and heart rate hardware, and with Garmin Connect Mobile app, it’s still easy to share your ride with friends.
• Portland Design Works’ Danger Zone Tail Light is a lightweight AA battery-powered tailight that will help alert traffic to your presence. It has three modes, is weather resistant, and can clip right to your seatpost.
• The Cygolite Metro 500 USB Bicycle Headlight is a headlight that charges over USB, making it easy to top off while at work before an evening ride. It has several light modes and while it’s not the slimmest headlight on the market, it does a good job and has great battery life.
• The Camelbak Products Big Chill Water Bottle will keep your water cool for hours. The insulation also keeps condensation down, keeping your bike from getting wet as you ride. Camelbak’s unique locking mechanism will keep water from leaking out of the top, even if the bottle gets turned upside down in your bag or car.