Happy 2016: Ryde and Bike Strap are Nearing Release!

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Hello bikists. It's been nearly 5 months since my last update and so much has happened. Where should I begin?!

Last month my wife and I welcomed Valentine, a healthy and strong human male, into our family. It turns out infants are adorable. Which is good because I've never seen so much poop. Ever.

Ryde Roadmap

Ryde has moved forward significantly since August. Last month I raced Valentine's due date to push out Crews: a feature which gives ryders a way to form their own communities and compete on a shared leaderboard. This month version 0.12.1 made crews more stable and scalable.

Pre-crews I was very much in prototyping mode. This meant engaging the community and rapidly incorporating feedback. It also had the unfortunate side effect that I didn't have a formal roadmap. Until now.

  • 0.12.2 - Open Beta to All: In this release I will add the much requested email login option. As with every change, the new FTUE will have to be tested. This means I'll be widening the beta to include everybody on the Ryde mailing list! If you've been waiting patiently all this time for an invite, be on the lookout for an email from me some time this week.
  • 0.12.3 - Gameplay Improvements: Some testers have asked me why the leaderboard resets when it does. Here in PST it resets at 4pm on Sunday. WTF? After 0.12.3 the leaderboard will reset at midnight on Mondays for all users. Regardless of timezone. Also look for improvements to manual checkins.
  • 0.12.4 - Google Places Integration: The trip approval flow (the thing you have to do in order to earn your points) has been the most iterated part of Ryde. In 0.12.4 I will drop Foursquare's API in favor of the Google Places API. This will solve compliance issues with Foursquare's TOS which would be a blocker to app store release (and will also satisfy one beta tester's request).
  • 0.12.5 - Polish and App Store Submission: Many testers have sent feedback to me that still hasn't been addressed. There's a good chance I'm going to incorporate it in this release. This will be the last release before app store launch!
  • Notable Omission: The location engine is the core experience of Ryde. It tracks users using the latest in location and routing technologies. Unfortunately it's also still quite bare-bones. Even more unfortunately I've made the difficult decision to push back improvements until after App Store launch. I would love to work on this more than any other part of Ryde, but beta ryders are having a lot of fun already. Who would I be to rob would-be ryders of the awesomeness that is playing Ryde for even another minute?!

My goal is to release Ryde 1.0 to the iOS App Store on March 18th. I also don't like deadlines very much. So we'll see.

Bike Strap Beta Release

I know that my website says the Bike Strap Beta is already available for purchase. But anybody who tried to purchase one between November and today received an email explaining why it's not ready yet.

For the last several months I have been making tiny tweaks, improving durability, and riding down literally hundreds of stairs. The result? The 3D printed version of the Bike Strap will now stand up to Modeo's rigorous testing procedure.

At this time I'm waiting on one tiny iteration of the bracket to show up from Shapeways. If it passes our testing regimen then I will reach out to everybody on the Bike Strap mailing list for pre-orders. It's been a 2 year long road to get here, but it feels good to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Whether it's a new accessory or the latest app, bike products have a reputation for being hacky, buggy, and failure prone solutions. I think you deserve better. Your participation has been and always will be essential in achieving this goal.

Thanks for your patience,

Jon

And now, a cool bike photo: