For the past [few months] I’ve been building Ride Journal, a place to keep the version of the day your GPS track can’t. Until now it’s had exactly one user. I’m ready for a few more. Not many.
If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know I love activity-tracking apps for what they do: the mileage, the elevation, even the AI ride summaries that somehow compliment you no matter how badly the ride went. What they don’t do is tell you why you changed the route, who you met along the way, or why a seemingly ordinary ride is still the one you think about a year later.
For me, that part lived in a Moleskine notebook. I’d jot down a few thoughts at the end of a ride and glue in photos printed from a tiny Bluetooth printer. Then came the tracking apps, and the creative part went out the door. I still jotted my notes and added photos, but they often got lost in all the data. Ride Journal is my way back to that Moleskine habit, minus the pen and the sticky paper (although I still keep one).
One of the journals that eventually became Ride Journal — my actual ride journal.
That habit is also where the Journal section of this site came from: rides, trips, and and other adventures, written up the way I’d want to remember them. Ride Journal started as a way to make that easier for me. Now I want to make it possible for everyone else.
You don’t need Strava or any other activity tracking app to use it. Add an entry, drop in your photos, write what happened, and that’s a journal. You can also upload a GPX file from any device or app, or embed a route or ride straight from Ride with GPS, with more options on the way. If you do connect Strava, it just saves you some typing, and anything that comes from Strava stays private no matter what. You’ll see it in your own journal; nobody else will.
Your journal is private by default. Some entries are just for you. When one deserves an audience, you can make that entry public, but only people you share the link with will see it. If you want other users to find you, you can make your profile discoverable in the Ride Journal community. Even then, people only see the entries you’ve made public. The rest stay yours. Either way, what other people see is what you wrote and the photos you chose to share.
It isn’t only for bikes, either. Some of my favorite entries came from the training hikes before taming Peru’s Salkantay Trail. Those entries had very little to do with mileage and everything to do with the experience.
What I’m asking for
I’m not looking for people who sign up, poke around once, and disappear. That’s what I’d do, so no judgment. But right now I need people who will actually use it:
Journal a few activities a month for at least three months.
Tell me what’s broken, confusing, or missing. There’s a short check-in, nothing elaborate.
Put up with some rough edges. It’s a beta. Things will break.
Actually use your spot. If you go quiet for a a couple of months, I’ll pass it to the next person on the list. No hard feelings.
A note for Strava users: Strava only lets me connect a limited number of people while the app is in development. If you want to test the Strava import, please check the box on the form. Everyone else can jump in without it.
What you get
Right now, nothing. No swag, no gift cards. Ride Journal is free during the beta.
But if it eventually becomes a paid app, and that’s the plan, the people who helped build it will be grandfathered in as Founding Members with lifetime access. You shouldn’t have to pay for something you helped make.
How to join in the fun
Complete the simple form at ride-journal.com/join, then watch your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link. That tells me you’re a real person and not a bot that’s suddenly taken an interest in the outdoors. Once I have enough testers on the list, I’ll send you an invite. If you don’t make the first group, you’ll stay on the list for the next one.
That’s really the whole point: not a solitary habit, but a shared one. Thank you so much for being willing to help me make Ride Journal a success!
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