Strava: awesome app for your iPad and iPhone.

Strava is the king of cycling apps. It can take any ride and turn it into a competition - brilliantly. It's so effective at making league tables out of the most innocuous routes that, according to the media, we're now a nation overrun by antisocial racers, risking lives to trim records, apparently.

For most sane people, how ever, Strava is simply a great incentive to get back on the bike every day_ Rides am tracked and stored, complete with detailed breakdowns.

The real fun conies in the challenging element - whether in beating your own persona] bests or those of others in your area. You don't even have to match someone's entire ride to join in; just complete one of the thousands of short segments programmed in Strava's database. Some of the more popular routes attract riders from far and wide for a crack at topping the leaderboard - riot all in the countryside, which is what gives Sirava its slightly controversial reputation.

Strava is also available in a running version.