Runkeeper makes greats plots of bicycle rides or other journeys but uses up lots of power. I discovered this when I borrowed Ladybug’s iPhone so that I could plot my Changi breakfast ride one Sunday. The phone lasted about 3.5 hours (we took long breaks that morning) before giving up its ghost. So there was no power for the plot of my ride back via Pasir Panjang.
I wondered aloud at how to manage the long ride that beckoned in February and one of the Zendogs, Aaron Chia, sent me this ebay link – it reads “Portable Mobile Charger 1900mAh” sold by togytech. At US$9./unit, I decide to go ahead and buy three – if it worked, the iPhone would be powered for the entire NTU Bike Rally – even at my speed.
I checked my Paypal record and this had cost me SG$31.87 in total.
Aaron Chia’s recommendation
The portable charger was delivered to my doorstep
I charged one of the portable chargers for the LSM2251 Ecology class’ trip to Pulau Ubin. I activated the Runkeeper app on the bumboat as I headed over and it worked like a charm! Admittedly the iPhone was somewhat ungaily with the charger attached, but I no longer had to worry about battery life anymore.
When I got back home that Saturday, I gleefully shared the map of my morning’s roving between all the module’s groups over the four hours (they were on foot, I had been on a bicycle).
The map certainly helped demonstrate the utility of simple mapping tools which are available on smart phones.
Pulau Ubin on 12 Feb 2011
If you have laboured over manual plots, you appreciate this convenience, surely. However, I still do manual plots, especially in unfamiliar territory. For how else would I really know where I went or will be going to?
Well, the iPhone I have borrowed will last the ride easily. Since the recent flu left me in a weakened state and also put to bed any thought of a preparatory ride, the question now really is will I last the ride?!
Otterman speaks... 