Merry Christmas to everyone who reads London Cyclist! I hope you’ve stuffed yourself with food and had a great day with family and friends.

It’s a strange little English tradition that on Boxing Day we like to head out for a walk. Of course, this is London Cyclist, so walking is out the question! Instead, how about going on an awesome bike ride with your family or friends?

I’d like to send you seven awesome routes in and around London for free. To receive them, all you need to do is enter your first name and email in the box below:

I’ll then send you a link to download the routes. You’ll also receive the London Cyclist Newsletter once a week. If you’d like to stop receiving it, you can do so at any time and your email is never shared with anyone.

Important Note: If you are already subscribed to the newsletter you should see a copy of the 7 routes in your inbox already!

The routes that are included are:

Tower Bridge to Greenwich Park: If a friend visits me in London and is up for a little cycling I love to take them on this route. It follows a quiet route to Canary Wharf and then crosses under the Thames using the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. A remarkable sight in itself. On the other side there’s time to explore Greenwich Park before riding back for a nice meal with a view of Tower Bridge.

Quirky London: A great ride that takes you all around the centre of London. A good one for those who want to step away from the typical cliché tourist spots!

Wandle trail: A ride for all ages following the river Wandle from Croydon to the Thames. On the way you visit numerous parks, attractions and welcoming pubs. The ride is well sign posted and the vast majority is traffic free.

Boris Bike Tour De Hyde Park: A ride for those who wish to try out the Boris cycle hire bikes and ride around the centre of London on a gentle, traffic free route. Great for families with young children!

Discovering Hampstead Heath: Another personal favourite of mine that visits tranquil spots around Hampstead Heath. You’ll discover a secluded pergola, the swimming ponds of Hampstead Heath and sweeping views over London.

Thames Path to Richmond: Take a trip to Europe’s largest urban park with excellent views along the way of the Thames.

Surrey Hills Road Loop: A 25 mile ride that proves why Surrey is so popular with road cyclists. The route passes three magnificent pubs and gives you sweeping views over this beautiful part of the UK.

To get a copy of the routes simply let me know to which email you’d like the routes sent to:

Our usual competition rules apply. The only thing that’s different is I’ll be testing Punchtab to run the competition. I’ve been playing around with it and it seems to be a good way of letting people enter in any way they prefer. To enter simply follow the instructions below:

(Note: If you are reading this in your RSS feed you’ll need to visit the site to see the entry form!)

Also – thank god it’s Friday! And for this weeks “Comment Friday” I’d like to open up the comments to which rides you are dreaming of completing next year. I’ll start things off:

• Dunwich Dynamo – I’ve had a years absence from this and I can’t wait to ride it again.
• Tweed Run – I’ve never been along to one of these jolly good rides and I’ve got a feeling I’m missing out.
• Another big ride abroad – this year I followed the River Rhine. In 2012, I’d like to do a similar trip.

For more inspiration on great rides see our post on 10 events you shouldn’t miss out on. Last entry for the competition will be on Thursday, December 15th at 10pm. I’ll announce the winner shortly after on this blog post.

Out of 136 entries we’ve randomly selected Liz Almond (number 26). Congratulations to Liz and thanks to everyone for taking part! I’ve emailed Liz and if I don’t receive a reply in a reasonable time then we’ll be pulling out another random number.

The first product I’m testing the water with, is the Tigra iPhone bike mount. The product is also part of the idea from which the shop came from. I was getting a lot of reports of dodgy fake copies of the Tigra mount circulating on the internet and I wanted to be sure I was directing readers to the correct product. Then, I thought to myself, why don’t I just sell it through the blog?

This would mean I could be sure of its quality and help people decide if the product is suitable for them.

I can’t really say for sure which products will follow but it’s an exciting side project and we can see where it leads.

The good news is, to celebrate the launch I’m able to offer the Tigra mount at a strong discount. Normally, it costs £39.99. However, until the end of August it is £29.95 with free delivery. I rave about the Tigra mount all the time so it’s a good chance to grab it at a nice discount.

Have a quick click around the shop and if you’ve got any thoughts then drop me a line in the comments or by email.

As we’re nearing the end of week 2 of the London Cycle Challenge the 53 strong team is sat around the middle of the board in the 51-100 members category. Between us we’ve burnt 825 delicious cupcakes!

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the abuse I’ve been getting for being away for the past week and thus failing to clock in any miles:

“My feeling is that Andreas has made such a killing on his exo App sales that he is now in the South of France driving a Porsche. Memories of biking in London are becoming a fading memory ……. perhaps ……. ?????” –Bilboben

I can safely confirm I’ve not retired to the South of France and driving a Porsche. It’s a Lambo and it’s in the North of Italy.

But next week I’ll be back with a vengeance so I’ll soon be shunning my Newbie badge in favour of one of the Cycle Champion badges!

How is everyone finding the challenge?

If you are not yet logging your miles then join here < we need 47 new members!

After a huge number of downloads we’ve made a real splash in the Apple App Store with our London Bike Rides app and reached the number 2 position in under 24 hours! Thanks to the many of you who’ve downloaded so far!

Today we have two £50 iGo Bike Gift Vouchers up for grabs for anyone who leaves a review of the app. These are redeemable in many of London’s independent cycle retailers.

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is:

1. Download the London Bike Rides app by clicking on the icon below or by downloading it from the app store on your iPhone.

2. Leave a review in the app store (positive or negative!). Again, it’s possible to do this on your iPhone.

3. Copy and paste your review to the London Bike Rides iPhone app comments section, so that I know who’s left a review.

We’ll then randomly select two winners by next Thursday (23rd). The reviews we’ve been getting so far have been really positive:

The vouchers are courtesy of iGo Bike Gift Vouchers. They make the perfect gift for fathers day and can be redeemed in independent cycle retailers across the UK. Whether you are encouraging your friend to give their bike an annual service, helping them purchase a new cycling jacket or contributing to a new bike purchase the iGo Bike Gift Voucher is a wonderful way to show you care.

Clearing up some questions:

1. What about an Android version?

In a weeks time when the dust has settled I’ll be able to think more clearly about how to go about doing an Android version. This could come in the form of a petition to see how many names we could get or perhaps even a Kick Starter funding drive to pool some money together to get things moving if this is something people are passionate about. For now the eBook version contains the rides included in the iPhone edition as well as GPS and KML coordinates that can be followed on the Android.

2. What about those of us who’ve downloaded the eBook version?

There’s good news here too. I’ll be providing a big update to the eBook version. Firstly, they’ll be a number of updates to the rides based on the improvements I made for the iPhone version. Also, I’ll be adding additional bonus rides.

3. When are you going to shut up about all this iPhone stuff!?

Sorry! We’ll be returning to our normal blog service first thing next week!

We’re rapidly approaching the release date of the new London Cyclist app that contains 30 amazing cycling routes in London. If the weather today is anything to go by then it can’t come soon enough!

Videos and pictures have all been added and the routes have been fine tuned to perfection. I’ve also hired a separate agency to do our icon design to be sure it’s something you can proudly display on your iPhone.

As soon as I announced the app I got some excited emails asking if people can be part of the beta testing. This is when any bugs are ironed out because there’s nothing more annoying than merrily following a route and then the app suddenly disappears. I’ve already recruited a load of guinea pigs but I need two more.

Ideally, with different iPhone models. One iPhone 4 and one iPhone 3G. I’d also like it if these guys can provide a bit of a testimonial of what they thought of the app that I can post next week.

If you’d like to take part then please leave a comment below with your iPhone model and level of technical knowledge (from I can barely turn on my iPhone to I’ve designed my iPhone to make me my morning coffee).

I’ll pick two people and email them later today.

See also:

• First screenshot from new routes app
• The announcement of the app launch

It’s that time of the year again. When Boris calls me up and says: Andreas, will you, and all the beautiful cyclists on the blog, take part once again in the London Cycle Challenge. And I’ll say, I’ve told you before Boz, don’t call me before 8am – I need my beauty sleep.

So, here it is:

Team London Cyclist Blog

As you can see we currently have one lonely member (me) so if you’d like to log your miles this summer then please do join.

I’ll be posting inspiring speeches and so forth like the one at the start of this post which I haven’t plagiarised from a certain prime minister during a certain world war.

Oh, and grab one of these:

https://cyclechallenge.tfl.gov.uk/sites/all/downloads/Individual_mileage_log.pdf

Print it off (using the office printer) and pin it near your computer screen so you don’t forget to log miles. Optionally, draw funny moustaches on the people in the pictures.

Finally:

Post a prediction in the comments of how many miles you’ll be covering from the 18th of June to the 15th of July (28 days). It’s always good to set a target I’m told!

Here’s our team page:

https://cyclechallenge.tfl.gov.uk/team/590

Things are coming along nicely with the new app that will be your own personal tour guide to great cycling in London. In our most recent design mock-up we’ve switched up the fonts slightly as well as the icons at the bottom that I purchased off Symbolicons. In the screenshot above is the ride overview screen where you can browse pictures, watch video and read a short description of the ride.

Most of my time currently is taken up by riding the routes again and filming them for the App. Thankfully we’ve had some great weather in the past week so the videos won’t be featuring grey skies!

Also, I’ve got a great picture of a beautiful bike resting next to Tower Bridge that I think we’ll be the initial loading screen view of the app.

eBook updates

If you’ve purchased the London Cycle Routes eBook then shortly after the app launch I’ll be sending an updated version which will also include some additional bonus routes!

Beta testers

I’ve got a couple of beta tester slots left open and I’ll be recruiting for those next week. So keep your eyes on the blog if you want to take part.

It was Friday the 6th of May and I was hesitating. Biting my nails I nervously pondered what to do. What if they don’t like it? What if it doesn’t work? I didn’t have the answers so I reached out, put together a quick survey and attached it to the Friday newsletter.

I thought to myself if everyone hates it, then I’ll scrap the idea. If everyone loves it, I’m going ahead full steam! The survey responses came in thick and fast. In total, 158 people participated in around 48 hours. An amazing response! So I took a closer look. Of those with iPhones, 60% thought this was something they’d like.

Looking at the results I thought to myself, it’s now or never. I signed the contract, sent the payment and gave the go ahead for the work to start on the new app! Fingers are firmly crossed everything will go smoothly!

So what exactly will the new London Cyclist app do?

It solves an old problem cyclists have. Knowing great places to go cycling. I’ve always thought it’s a big shame to not discover some of the great and often very cheap days out you can have on the bike. There’s a whole load of nature trails, canal routes and scenic road rides in the London area but it takes a long time to figure out where these are. Most of the time you end up with too little information to enjoy the ride.

It’s why I put together the comprehensive 30 London Cycle Routes eBook and it’s why I’m now putting together the London Routes iPhone App.

I feel the capabilities of the iPhone make it perfect for enjoying rides around London. For example, you can add video to show off the routes before you ride them. You can drop pins on a map that can be tapped to bring up more information. You can pick routes based on difficulty, child friendliness and different levels of traffic. Also, of course, with the iPhone being GPS enabled you can see a little dot on the map showing your location so you can easily follow the route.

It’s like having a knowledgeable tour guide with you but at the same time exploring things at your own pace.

The app will be jam packed with cycling experiences. Whether that be discovering interesting things you never knew about London’s architectural history, following quiet country lanes with nothing but the sound of the gentle hum of your wheels rolling around or getting muddy on off-road forest trails around London.

When will it be available?

I’ve had a chat with the talented chap developing it and we recon this should be done by mid-June. Around 30 days from now. In the mean time, I’ll keep you up to date with how things are progressing.

News about the other London Cyclist apps..

I’m also busy working on the other London Cyclist apps. I realise progress on the Bike Doctor App has been slow but that should all be about to change. I’ve had a chat with Ron Forrester and we’ve agreed I should become the main owner of the app and use any money generated to make things better for you guys. Therefore, big updates should be on the way in the summer. The Android version will also benefit from these updates.

The London Bike Shop app is about to get a whole lot more brilliant for London’s cyclists and bike shops. We’ll have exciting details on this by the end of June. Also, there will potentially be an Android version in the works.

When people approach you all teary eyed that their bike was stolen you’ll be able to cold heartedly say to them: Didn’t you read that blog post on London Cyclist with all those good bike locks?

Cold but it’s for their own good!

Top 50 cycling blogs 2010

The monster list of cycling blogs as always pulled in a big crowd. There’s some great blogs in there. Bookmark them and love them!

30 London Cycle Routes eBook

My London Cycle Routes eBook got an enormous 23,304 visits! The second version that I released upped the ante to 30 routes and to date I’ve not had an unhappy customer! Check the eBook out and discover great places to ride in London.

Barclays Cycle Hire

The popularity of this blog skyrocketed around the launch time of the Cycle Hire scheme. The page has been visited 17,108 times. In the survey however it’s the one thing you’ve asked me to talk a little less about so I’ll stop talking n..

Cycling iPhone Apps

Ah the iPhone. Loved by its users and hated by everyone else. This follow on post recommended three new application I was enjoying using: Cycle Meter, Run Keeper and Outdoors.

Where is your nearest cycle hire stand?

This post answering a question everyone had in their minds. Unfortunately for me the answer was “nowhere near”.

7 Mistakes You Are Making With Your Cycling and How You Can Correct Them

This true monster of a blog post helped cyclists changed their erroneous ways and put them on a path to safe cycling. Since then I recommend one-on-one cycle training at every opportunity!

Cycling apps for the Android

Android users not wanting to be outdone by the iPhone have a similar dazzling array of applications to complete all functions imagined.

The Winter Cycling Gear that will make your cycling more comfortable and enjoyable

As the winter this year was a particularly painful one there was a need to grab the gear that keeps hands, legs, feet and pretty much all body parts warm.

Riding around London on the new Cycle Hire Bike

I got a sneaky test ride on the cycle hire bike before it was released and put together a big write up for London Cyclist.

All in all an amazing year! Can’t wait for next year’s big posts!