Download Bike Rides.
You can purchase the rides on the Shopping Page.
But first, you need a bit of knowledge. Let me explain…
As much as I love paper, and enjoy consulting paper maps, getting a ride on your phone or bike computer makes loads of sense. You’re probably carrying it already, it has mapping capabilities, it can tell you where to turn, it doesn’t get destroyed when wet like an old-fashioned map. (well, at least not if you’re using a bike computer or phone with an IPX rating of 7 or higher)
So, to that end, I’m offering the rides in the Where To Bike New York City book as downloadable singles and borough and wormhole bundles. Pay a fee, download a PDF with intelligence you’ll need (turns, advice, etc) and a GPX map file, and you’re good to go.
What you need.
To download bike rides, You’ll need at least a computer or mobile device to do this. You can download the files straight to your phone, open the files with an app, and you’re golden. Or you can download it to your phone, tablet, or computer, move it to a GPX-enabled bike computer, and go from there.
The downloading from your computer/tablet/mobile device is pretty much the same as any download. Sign up, pay, and boom.
The PDF can be printed to put in a pocket, or stored on your mobile device for reference.
Opening the GPX files on your phone.
If you want to do the dirty deed with your phone, you’ll need an app that reads a GPX file. There are so many. Apps I’ve heard of include: Beeline, MapMyRide, RideWithGPS, Strava, Zeopoxa, and many more. Depending on your phone plan, battery life, access, and privacy issues, you may or may not want one that allows you to use the app without data (aka offline). Search for “maps” on your phone and see what comes up. Google maps doesn’t always work.
Once you have the app installed, you search for the downloaded file in “files,” then touch the gpx file’s icon. That should pop up a window asking which app you want to use to open the file. Choose the app. When it opens, you’ll see the route placed on the map.
If you don’t like riding with a phone, a GPS-enabled bike computer is as good or better.
You can also push or transfer the GPX file to many a GPS-enabled bike computer. If you don’t already have one, this is probably a discussion for another day. You should know that most bike computers sold these days seem have GPS capabilities, which can be a good thing–don’t have to set up a speedometer on a wheel and the rides can be recorded and saved or shared (if you’re into that sort of thing). Though you’ll need the computer to also have mapping capabilities. Some bike computers have a companion app that goes on a phone, others have an app for a computer or can be accessed through a web browser. The biggest player in this market is currently Garmin, though in the US, Wahoo is making big strides. Others include: Cateye, Hammerhead, Lezyne, Stages, and many others.
In some cases, you’ll need a cable to transfer the ride from your computer/tablet/phone, but many fancier bike computers these days can communicate wirelessly, usually via Bluetooth or Wifi, with other computers This is where the companion app comes in. So you just need to have the device which is storing the GPX files to “find” the bike computer and then you can easily transfer.
Opening the GPX files on your computer.
There are a bunch of free, freemium, and paid programs that should open GPX files on your computer.
For Apple Computer users, you go to the App Store and look for “GPX” or “GPX Viewer.” It should give you a bunch of options. Two free ones that seem to work well are Router and Avenue. A freemium app that works is Bike Routes. I haven’t delved into the paid ones yet, but they probably have more features than free and freemium. That written, I think it best to start simple and free and freemium will do that for you.
For computers running on Microsoft Windows, there are choices as well. GPX Viewer is one such app that is an add-on for the Microsoft Edge web browser–also works with many versions of Android, iOS, and Android.
Where the rides are.
The rides are in all five boroughs (The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island), northern New Jersey, and Westchester–rides NYC people can easily get to.
The rides are priced individually and in groups. Each ride is less than a cup of coffee, though I’ve thrown in some free samples. I’ve also created bundles, mostly by borough. So you can get all a boro’s rides at once and save a…bundle.
You can purchase the Where To Bike New York City rides by using the pull-down menu at the top of this page, or you can click here: https://www.wheretobikenyc.com/download-new-york-bike-rides/
And if this interweb thing and downloading and such are too complicated, you can also purchase the book (though none of the Westchester and only some of the Jersey rides are there). Ride and have it sent to you through the mail.