Logging your distance

This article explains how you can use this web site to record your distance travelled by bike. You can record individual rides, or monthly summaries, either way, you can analyse your mileage (or kilometreage) online or via a spreadsheet download. You also get to add up to three other pieces of information (such as which bike you used) to include in your analysis.

Click any heading below to see more information. Click any image to see a larger version...

Getting started

To log your mileage you first have to log in to the site. This tells the site who you are and ensures your entries are recorded in the right place.

Then use the menus to click/tap 'Member services' and 'Ride logging' (see right).

That will take you to the logging screen for the current year.

Before you start logging for the first time, you can decide what you want to record in your log besides distance and destinations.

Click/tap the ‘Define log categories’ button to see the form on the left.

You don’t have to do this, but it might make your log more useful to you. I record two extra pieces of information:

1. Which bike I used for the ride

2. What type of ride it was

For example, I might record it was a Saturday ride on my Bish Bash Bosh.

Enter up to three categories of additional information and click/tap ‘Update category names’ to complete setting up your log.

You can change your mind later about which categories you want in your log.

Recording your rides

Click/tap ‘Add a new entry to your log’ on the main logging screen (see above) to record an entry, you will see something like the screen on the right.

At the top of the form, select the date for your entry. By default, the system assumes ‘today’. To make the best use of graphs, you should choose the last date of the month when recording a monthly summary.

Then enter your distance travelled. You can use either miles or kilometres (but not both).

You can see I have opted to record two additional categories of data: ‘Bike’ and ‘Ride type’. Your categories (if you asked for any - see above) appear here. Enter anything you like in your category fields (up to 12 characters).

Record details about your ride in the description box. You should at least record the destination if you are logging an individual ride. I also record key events such as “New chain” so I can look back at the log and find out how long items have lasted.

Finally click/tap ‘Add new entry’ to complete your entry.

Hopefully you agree that’s pretty easy. If you decide to record just monthly summaries, I can record them for you if you struggle with the system.

Analysing your log

Once you have recorded some rides, you can start seeing the benefit.

From the main logging page click/tap ‘Show graphs’. We show three sets of graphs. Here are mine as at mid-August 2019

My actual distance per month, in miles:

My cumulative distance per month, in miles:

Definite incentives for me to keep my riding up!

This graph shows which distance certificates you are targeting...

You can't tell from the images, but each graph allows you to hover over a data point to reveal more information.

Maybe you want to analyse your data a different way. For example, I might want to review the distance cycled on each of my bikes. Click/tap ‘Download your log’ to download a file containing all your data that you can open in a spreadsheet – like Excel – to analyse it any way you like.

Compare with other riders

Click/tap ‘Show table’ on the main logging screen to see how you compare with other riders:

Hmm. Could do better! You will, of course see all the entries I have blanked out here. Note we show you only totals for other riders, not their log details.

We use this to award the CCP cup (for the furthest distance cycled in the year). I have no aspirations to win that cup, however, but I still find it interesting to see how I'm doing compared to other riders.

Review and change your log

If you make a mistake, or you want to see the detail of your log online, click/tap ‘Review and change your log’ to see a list like this:

Click/tap one of the triangles next to a month’s summary to see all the detail for the month like this:

Again, this shows the categories I’m using – you will see your own. You can click/tap any of the edit buttons to see a simple form that allows you to change the entry you selected.

When to start logging?

No harm starting now. The system works best if you log entire PCTC years: October 1st to September 30th but you can start logging at any time. The system allows you to enter your log one month in arrears - so you get all of November, for example, to log rides for October.

Let me know on a ride or via email at: Andy@PortsmouthCTC.org.uk if you have any difficulties or suggestions for improvement.