Combined Shape Bike IQ

Ride Report

Every ride you record in Bike IQ produces a comprehensive report. This is the reference for everything in the post-ride screen: what each section shows, how to interpret the data, and how to get your rides out to other platforms.

For details on what happens when you end a ride — saving, discarding, Strava publishing, and crash recovery — see Finishing a Ride.

Bike IQ ride history showing monthly distance trends and a list of past rides with metrics
Ride history — monthly trends and past rides with distance, elevation, and duration

Report Overview

The top of the ride report shows the headline numbers: total distance, moving time, average and maximum speed, elevation gain and loss, calories burned, and a power summary (average watts, normalized power, and total energy in kilojoules). These give you an immediate snapshot of the ride before diving into specific sections.

Which sections appear in the full report depends on the sensors and data available for that ride. A ride with a power meter and heart rate monitor shows more sections than one recorded with the iPhone alone.

Route Map

An interactive map displays your GPS track. You can pan, zoom, and explore the route in detail. The route polyline can be color-coded by any of the following metrics, giving you a spatial view of how your effort varied across the ride:

  • Speed: blue (slow) to red (fast)
  • Power: colored by FTP-based zones, from blue (easy) through red (maximal)
  • Heart Rate: colored by HR zones, blue (recovery) through red (VO2max)
  • Cadence: red (low RPM) to blue (high RPM)
  • Elevation: green (low altitude) to red (high altitude)
  • Grade: blue (steep descent) through red (steep climb)
  • Gear Ratio: blue (easy gearing) to red (hard gearing)
  • Wind Impact: green (tailwind benefit) to red (headwind penalty)

The color scale runs from blue (or green) at the low end to red at the high end for most metrics. Switching between metrics on the same route often reveals patterns invisible in the raw numbers — you might notice that your power dropped on a section where the headwind was strongest, or that your cadence fell as the grade increased. For a deeper look at color coding and map layers, see the Map Display guide.

Power Curve

The power curve plots your best average power at every duration, from 1 second up to the full ride length. A high value at 5 seconds reflects your peak sprint ability. The value at 20 minutes approximates your functional threshold power. The value at 60 minutes shows your sustained endurance ceiling.

Tracking this curve over time is one of the most powerful training tools available. When the curve shifts upward — when your best 5-minute power improves from 280W to 300W, for example — you are objectively getting stronger. A curve that shifts down signals accumulated fatigue or detraining. Individual ride averages cannot capture this level of detail; the power curve can.

Power data comes from either a paired Bluetooth power meter or from Bike IQ's virtual power meter, which estimates watts from physics using your iPhone's sensors and weather data.

Power Distribution

The power distribution histogram shows how much time you spent at each wattage range. A steady endurance ride produces a tight, narrow distribution clustered around a single intensity. A ride with repeated surges and recoveries spreads across a wide range.

Variable efforts are harder on your body than steady ones at the same average power. Knowing whether your ride was steady or spiky helps you interpret recovery needs and plan future sessions.

Normalized Power

Normalized Power (NP) accounts for the metabolic cost of variable power output. It weights surges more heavily than easy spinning, reflecting how your body actually experiences the effort. A ride with frequent hard accelerations and recoveries will have a Normalized Power meaningfully higher than its average power, even if the average looks modest.

NP is more useful than average power for comparing the true difficulty of different rides, especially when terrain or wind made the effort uneven.

Heart Rate Zones

A breakdown of time spent in each of five heart rate zones. This tells you whether the ride matched your training intent.

  • Zone 1 — Recovery: easy spinning that promotes blood flow without adding training stress
  • Zone 2 — Endurance: aerobic base-building intensity, where most training volume should live
  • Zone 3 — Tempo: moderate effort that builds muscular endurance
  • Zone 4 — Threshold: the intensity you can sustain for roughly an hour, where significant fitness gains occur
  • Zone 5 — VO2max: hard, short efforts that push your cardiovascular ceiling

If you set out for an easy endurance ride but spent 30 minutes in Zone 4, the zone distribution reveals the mismatch. Over time, reviewing these distributions helps you build discipline around intensity targets. Requires heart rate data from an Apple Watch or paired heart rate monitor.

Gears

The gear section includes a shift timeline and a radial gear ratio plot. The shift timeline marks every gear change on the time axis, so you can see your shifting patterns across the full ride. The radial plot visualizes which front-rear combinations you used most, with each combination sized by time spent.

Gear data helps you optimize shifting habits and understand the relationship between cadence, gearing, and power. If you consistently grind a heavy gear at low cadence on climbs, the data gives you evidence to adjust your approach. This section requires a SRAM AXS electronic groupset paired over Bluetooth.

Elevation

The elevation profile plots your altitude across the full ride, making it easy to identify climbs, descents, and flat sections at a glance. Total elevation gain and loss are calculated from barometer data, which is more accurate than GPS-derived altitude.

Weather

Ride-time conditions including wind speed, wind direction, and temperature. The weather view contextualizes your performance — a strong headwind explains why a familiar route felt harder than usual, and a tailwind puts fast segments in perspective.

Laps

Per-lap statistics with each lap shown in its own row: distance, time, average power, average speed, average heart rate, and elevation gain. Comparing lap-to-lap metrics reveals pacing strategy and fatigue patterns. Declining average power or rising heart rate across successive laps indicates fatigue. Consistent numbers suggest well-managed pacing.

Laps can be created two ways. Manual laps are marked during the ride by tapping the lap button or using a voice command. Auto laps are generated at fixed distance or time intervals, configured in Settings. Manual laps are ideal for interval sessions; auto laps work well for steady rides where you want consistent checkpoints.

Power Balance

Left/right power distribution for riders using pedal-based power meters that report per-side data. A perfectly balanced rider produces 50/50. Most riders show a slight asymmetry. Tracking power balance over time can reveal imbalances worth addressing through bike fit or targeted strength work.

Editing Ride Details

Ride titles and descriptions are editable. Tap the title to rename the ride, or add a description to annotate conditions, training goals, or route notes. These details are preserved when you export or publish the ride.

Exporting Your Rides

Rides can be exported in two formats. GPX captures your route and basic metrics. FIT includes the full sensor data stream — power, heart rate, cadence, speed, and more — and is the format used by most training platforms.

Share exported files via AirDrop, email, Messages, or any other iOS sharing method. The share sheet gives you access to all installed apps that accept these file types.

Publishing to Other Services

Rides can be published directly to Strava and synced to Apple Health. Publishing sends your ride data to the connected service without needing to export a file manually. See Strava and Integrations for setup instructions and supported platforms.

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