# How to Record a Bike Ride on Your Phone — and Add Day 2 Later

Record your ride with your phone's GPS: pause, continue another day, see moving time, stops and top speed, compare with the planned route, export GPX.

Updated 2026-10-26 · TrailScout blog

## Quick answer

In TrailScout press Ride → Record a ride, wait for GPS ready and start. Keep the screen on — web pages lose GPS when the phone locks. Pause and resume any time; the recording survives a reload. Press Stop & save, name it, and it's in your library with its profile, climbs and a Ride tab — moving time, stops, average and top speed, climbing rate, and how it compares with the route you followed. For a multi-day trip, open the recording the next day and choose Add a day.

## Key takeaways

- Recording uses GPS only — no mobile data needed.
- Ride stats: moving time, stops of 2 minutes or more, average, top speed over 20 s, climbing rate.
- Recordings made while following a route are compared with it.
- Add a day keeps a multi-day tour in one route with a stage per day.

Recording a ride gives you a GPX of where you went, the real numbers of the day, and a route you can ride again or share. TrailScout records in the browser — no extra app — and keeps the recording on your phone.

## How to record a ride

1. Open [TrailScout](index.html?app) on your phone (the hosted app, over https, so location works).
2. Press **Ride → Record a ride** (or the ● button on the map).
3. Wait for **GPS ready (± 5 m)** and press **Start recording**.
4. Ride with the **screen on** — the app keeps it awake; phones pause GPS for web pages when locked. See [keep your phone screen on](blog/keep-phone-screen-on-bike-navigation.html).
5. **Pause** at a café, **Resume** when you go on.
6. Press **Stop & save**, give it a name. It's in your library under **My recorded routes**.

If the page reloads or the browser closes by accident, the unsaved recording is **restored, paused**, the next time you open TrailScout.

Recording while navigating? Tick **Record the ride while navigating** in Settings → Navigate and it starts with [Bike GPS](blog/phone-as-bike-gps-voice-navigation.html).

## What you get after the ride

A recording is a route like any other: map, elevation profile, [climbs](blog/find-every-climb-on-a-route.html), surfaces, 3D. Plus a **Ride** tab with the real numbers:

| Number | Meaning |
|---|---|
| **Moving** | time spent moving |
| **Total time** | from start to finish, stops included |
| **Average** | average moving speed |
| **Top speed (20 s)** | best speed held for 20 seconds (no GPS spikes) |
| **Climbing** | height gained per hour while climbing |
| **Stops** | every stop of 2 minutes or more, on the map |
| **Compared with** | the route you followed: on the route, route ridden, planned vs you |

## Multi-day rides: add a day

For a tour, keep every day in one route:

1. Record and save day 1.
2. The next day, open that recording and choose **Add a day (continue recording)**.
3. Day 2 is added as a new **stage**. The **Days** tab shows each day's distance, time and climbing and the totals; the gap overnight adds nothing.

Rename days or merge two days into one from the list. Planning such a trip? See [how to plan a multi-day bikepacking trip](blog/multi-day-bikepacking-route-stages.html).

## Share and export

**Share** sends the GPX, copies a summary or saves the file. With an account you can keep recordings on all your devices. See [how to export a route as GPX](blog/export-route-as-gpx.html).

## Frequently asked questions

### Does recording use mobile data?
No. GPS works without data. The map needs tiles — download an offline area to avoid data use.

### Why are there gaps in my recording?
Usually the screen was locked or another app was in front. Keep TrailScout on screen while recording.

### How accurate is the distance?
As accurate as the phone's GPS, typically a few metres per point. Heights from phone GPS are noisy; switch the recording's elevation source to Terrain for clean climbing figures.

### Can I record a hike or a run?
Yes — the recorder doesn't care how you move. The speed-based estimates are tuned for cycling.