A quick tip for cycling in this kind of heat: head out very early in the morning or later in the evening (with a light), and above all plan your route using a solid app. That way, you won’t end up stuck in the middle of nowhere with another 10 km to ride home in full sun.
Holidays are a great time for bike rides - a relaxed, greener way to play tourist, slow down, fit in a bit of exercise, and enjoy being outdoors. But between high temperatures, the campsite neighbour’s questionable directions, and a lack of planning, a peaceful countryside spin can quickly turn into a nightmare.
To help you avoid that, here are a few apps that can make it easier to map out your route and stay ahead of the forecast and other outdoor surprises.
Komoot – cycling route planning
Komoot is built around one simple question: “Where am I riding today?”. Available on Android and iOS, it lets you plan bike rides in two different ways. You can either enter a start point and an end point, then set criteria such as road type, elevation gain, and similar factors. Or you can browse routes shared by community members, filtering by what suits you (location, loop, bike type, difficulty, surface type, and so on) as well as any points of interest they’ve added.
Once your route is ready, Komoot switches to navigation. You can follow directions by voice guidance or on-screen prompts, depending on what works best for you. It also allows you to download maps for offline use - useful in areas with no mobile signal.
Geovelo
Geovelo is a free, community-powered app. Like Citymapper, it aims to provide cycling routes that are both dependable and safer. It also lets you track personal stats and compete against other users through real-world challenges, in a similar spirit to Strava.
Geovelo’s standout feature is likely its mapping solution designed for local authorities. By analysing users’ routes, it helps identify habits and provides towns and cities with key insights for planning and improving their cycling infrastructure. On top of that, the app is ad-free for cyclists, giving it a genuine public-service angle. For turn-by-turn navigation you can always rely on Google Maps or another GPS app, but Geovelo is more bike-focused, especially in urban areas.
Decathlon Shopping
Decathlon, a major name in sports equipment in France and across Europe, is known for particularly competitive pricing - and some products are designed in France too. Through the app, you can source bicycle spare parts or book an appointment at one of their workshops for a quick pre-season service, helping you avoid mechanical issues when it’s time to set off.
With the Decathlon app, you can browse the company’s product catalogue and order the items you want for home delivery.
Meteo France
Before setting off on a cycling trip, you need a reliable weather app. Even casual cyclists should check conditions before getting on the road. Meteo France is the most widely used option, although there are plenty of alternatives - download the one you consider most trustworthy.
With Meteo France, you can view how the sky is expected to evolve hour by hour, giving a fairly dependable idea of the day’s conditions. And if you need to postpone your ride, you can also check the outlook for the coming days.
Windy
If you want a more detailed forecast - especially accurate information on wind strength - Windy is the app to install. Highly precise thanks to interactive maps and multiple forecast models, this Android and iOS app gives you access to more than 50 weather maps to monitor wind, temperatures, rainfall, pressure, storms, cloud cover, and even air quality.
Because for cycling, even on a sunny day, riding into a headwind can quickly turn a gentle outing into an uphill battle… better to avoid setting off in those conditions.
Strava
Strava is better known for tracking running routes than cycling rides, and yet it works just as well for bike outings too. It records your cycling movement to collect a few key stats, such as your average speed. You simply start tracking when you get on your bike, and the algorithm handles the rest. Your phone can stay in your pocket - no need to take your eyes off the road.
Where Strava differs from apps that only log your rides is in its social features. For example, you can see what time your friends achieved on a particular segment and try to beat their record. Naturally, that’s more about a sporty session than a gentle ride.
And if you ride an e-bike, it can also be useful to have a separate battery-monitoring app that matches your motor system (Bosch, Shimano, Decathlon, Giant, etc.).
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