On Monday, Portlanders will be able to use a new mobile app that will make cycling even sweeter. Biko launched two years ago in Bogota, Colombia and has since spread to Medellin, Vancouver (Canada) and Mexico City. On Monday it will launch in the United States and Portland is one of the first five cities to get it (Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles are the others).
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Portland-based Ride With GPS has just turned your smartphone into a much more useful tool for exploring backroads by bike. On Monday they announced their biggest new feature since launching eight years ago: “offline maps,” which allow you to download route info and get voiced, turn-by-turn directions on your smartphone (iPhone or Android) even without a cell signal.

Combine these new offline maps with their already stellar GPS navigation and cycle-computer app (free, or $3.99 to unlock all features) and you’ve got what Kevin Prentice, the company’s head of business development calls, “a viable substitute for a traditional cycling GPS unit.”

With this upgrade, you can now open up the Ride With GPS app (released last year), select one of your existing routes, hit “download” and a few taps and seconds later you’ll be ready to ride. “Offline Maps allows riders to take unfamiliar routes,” says Prentice, “knowing the map will be available if they lose service.”
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