Pedalling on Regardless

Komoot is an app that turns the iPhone into a Sat Nav for cyclists – with the addition of a few other bits and bobs. In late 2022, Jacqui and I flew Ryanair to Bristol with our bikes and set out to cycle home to Aberdeen. I found a set of daily routes on a LEJOG site, but in the event we abandoned these and started using Komoot to create routes of our own choosing. So, how did Komoot work out as a daily routing device?

Komoot proved to be indispensable in truth. Without turn by turn instructions and/or the ‘blue line’ navigation aide, progress would be darn near impossible. At its best, Komoot is a joy to use and a huge time and trouble saver. That said, it is far from flawless as we learned the hard way.

Lessons Learned with Komoot

1. Komoot is better at tactics than strategy and so it is better used with an overall tour plan in place for the areas to be visited and/or multi-day trips. Left to its own devices, Komoot takes you to all sorts of places you may not want to be: major roads, up big hills, on rough cycle tracks etc.
   
2. We found asking Komoot to plan Bike Tour routes made for very frustrating experiences as it seemed determined to take us out of traffic when and wherever possible. For example, we would be taken on rough trails or detours to avoid perfectly negotiable roundabouts on roads of any size. We did much better when we asked for Road Cycling routes.
   
3. Komoot is pretty power hungry and soon exhausts iPhone batteries, especially when providing turn by turn instructions audibly. We have relatively aged iPhones and found we needed to use power bricks to help see the batteries through 4-5 hour routes. I went for this cheap OKZU model from Amazon.
   
4. It goes without saying some sort of holder is needed to attach the iPhone to the handlebars. We bought cheapies and they worked well, but I had failed to consider the fact that it might rain. We soon discovered that our iPhones were not waterproof. Luckily, some of our hotel stopovers provided shower caps – perfect as phone covers! For the mount, I went with this cheap, but very well made Grefay model from Amazon.
   
5. We paid the one-off cost to download the Komoot maps and we thought they were good value. We didn’t pay for the Premium membership and I don’t think I’d be inclined to – we did not miss it.
   
6. We ended up buying the maps for both of us, but an alternative might be for one to use Komoot maps and one Google Maps as a backup. That worked quite well for us. Komoot did the fine detail, Google provided the big picture stuff.
   
7. There are a lot of facilities and features in Komoot and they take a while to get used to in use. Set aside time for customisation and familiarisation. I found this introduction and overview a useful starting point.