Many of you must have the same love-hate relationship with komoot ( or other Navigation systems). Most of the time its amazing, sometimes it sends you off a road you've been cycling for hours, up 100m elevation on gravel and 500m later onto the same road again🤣.
Sometimes, it sends you on ways that are barely rideable or strait up end in a cul de sac which means 10km detour.
More than once I was stopped by a nonexistent bridge, or the way ended in rocks or brush. Once komoot tried to navigate me through an active military shooting range😅. Another time I had to push my heavily loaded bike over a tiny hanging bridge which was heavily swaying.
Tell me your stories and show me pictures of your favorite fails.
by windchief84
10 Comments
i see no fail only adventure
Why use Komoot, a proprietary app that has always been dodgy, and which recently got bought by Bending Spoons that is expected to further enshittify it?
Instead, you can use any OSM-based app and get the same map data that Komoot relies on, but free and with a choice of routing engines to rely on. You can still have navigation fails, but at least that ecosystem of FOSS software encourages cyclists to contribute back to the community so other cyclists won’t experience the same fails.
Did 80km between Montpellier and Le Vigan in southern France. Komoot sent me through a fancy private property (Domaine de l’Hortus) where a dog nearly bit my ass, then on a technical VTT trail (I asked for Gravel), then on a road “Firemen only” with super sharp stones to discourage cars from going there, to finish with the crossing of the Tunnel du Cap de Coste, a decommissioned train tunnel, 1.3km long, pitch black, full of sharp track ballast, with water dropping from the ceiling, and bent walls under the weight of the mountain.
Had a flat, fucked up my knee.
Never-fucking-again.
The only fail I see is the fence, and even that is a stretch.
I have crossed quite a few puddles of water, sometimes you just have to strip down and carry your bike on shoulders through water, part of the fun.
Last year, we planned quite chill ride with my friend in the flat countryside and then into local hills. We passed through village, we were riding on gravel route by the creek between fields, and then we were supposed to take left turn up. But wait a minute, there is no route to the left… Turns out the route from Komoot was now covered by a wheat field. No matter, we had to go up, so we hike&biked through the side of the field, in weeds, to not damage the crop. And then we had to pass through stinging nettle, to get out on the other side of the field. 😅
Theough the years, I had many hike&bikes like this, if cause by too much rellying on Komoot, or just my planning on the spot, some were type 2 fun at thr moment, but they make good memories to look back at. Hike&bikes through steep dries mountain creeks…
Now, to prevent this, I always check Strava heatmaps, to see, which routes are actually being used by others.
This “path” Komoot routed me on last year was… fun. Bugs everywhere over my legs, and stingy plants all over the path.
https://preview.redd.it/71sirxc82lxg1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=147e1572c6a286da43d8094638cdb94b92be87c4
The great thing about Komoot and most other bike navigation apps is that they use Openstreetmap data, which is free to edit by anyone. So, if something is not right, you can correct it, and make everyone’s trip easier.
Today I was doing a training ride for an upcoming long road ride. But I was riding my bikepacking rig (gravel bike) with fast gravel tires on it. So I wanted to mix in gravel and just let komoot reroute me without double-checking the route. Ended up on rocky singletrack after a nice gravel road ended abruptly with no detour and it was too muddy to ride on those tires. Best part was Ive definitely been on the exact same route before and realized about 75% of the way through. Last time I was on my MTB but it still sucked.
Other worst cases have mostly been private property that I either sent it through anyways or detoured begrudgingly if it was hard blocked. Usually it’s just single track when I’m not in the mood but it’s all part of the adventure.
ohhh I just posted this (first pic is the Komoot fail) [https://www.instagram.com/p/DXkZDWbiIbG/?img_index=1](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXkZDWbiIbG/?img_index=1) before that pic we had to cross a very sketchy stream of water and got stung by some wild plants. the trail looks abandoned and filled with construction waste
Not being a local, I once went on a trip starting in the center of Madrid. I got off to a great start, crossing Casa de Campo Park toward the west of the city and following the gravel route I had planned on Komoot. After making a few quick turns to get away from a major road with poor cycling infrastructure, I accidentally entered a gated community without realizing it – the barrier was open, and there were no guards trying to stop me.
As I cycled through the neighborhood, I started to notice that something felt off: tall property walls, security cameras everywhere, and no one out on the streets. The gravel path I had planned to follow was fenced off, with barbed wire and cameras like the ones shown in the picture.
So I kept riding around, hoping to find a way out, but there were high fences and cameras everywhere.
Eventually, I found a closed gate in the fence, with a resident walking his dog approaching from the other side. Pretending to take a water break, I waited until he rang the bell for the guards to open the gate. Then I approached and slipped through as he went in.
Fuck gated communities, by the way.
https://preview.redd.it/cvvp1jmxblxg1.jpeg?width=2847&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b4d93fe88f2d6b9dd431071f3860659e1832aca
https://preview.redd.it/cfe65bvzclxg1.jpeg?width=4624&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b4bd7922a0f0f1186ef5c10eec201f514b8253d