Mountain biking season is almost here! As temperatures rise and lingering traces of snow finally melt from ski resort slopes, mountain bikers will soon head for the hills for a muddy opening day at the bike park.

All this anticipation made for some exciting news this week in the mountain biking world. In case you missed it:

On Tuesday, Colombian biker Marcelo Gutierrez’s descent of a steep 1,000-step staircase went viral. A camera strapped to his helmet documented his thrilling ride down 6,500 feet of Bogotá’s Montserrate mountainside in the Red Bull Downhill race. Check out the video!

This week also saw significant hype for the upcoming premier of Strength in Numbers, an Anthill Films production that documents mountain biking around the world. The most epic action scenes and stories from over 450 hours of footage are packed into a film sure to hit home with the mountain biking community. We’ve seen the trailer, and trust us, it looks awesome.

And if that isn’t enough to psych you up for the season, this weekend, in La Bresse, France, the professionals will fight to secure a spot on their nation’s Olympic team. As the final event during the Olympic qualification period, the fourth round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup will be one to watch.

To celebrate upcoming trail openings, runtastic is offering an upgraded version of our MountainBike PRO app for free now through Saturday, May 19.  With a clean interface, this easy-to-use app tracks your ascent and altitude and provides other helpful metrics like distance, time, pace and calories burned. New features in version 1.3 include added support for runtastic heart rate receivers and BLTE heart rate straps and a male voice coach.

For your free verson of MountainBike PRO, visit the App Store now!

Are you ready to ride?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get the runtastic Pedometer PRO app for free with App-o-Day for limited time. Learn more here:

“Featured by App-o-day: 9/10, Gold Hit Winner” – http://www.appoday.com.

Features of the app:

• Automatically records all your steps
• Works anywhere: pants or jacket pocket, hand or arm, in a bag or purse
• Calorie counter
• Speed calculation
• Distance covered
• Step frequency calculation
• Diary of all activities with detailed analysis
• Social sharing on Facebook and Twitter
• and many more…

Enjoy the runtastic Pedometer PRO app for free – Featured by App-o-Day!

Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen the print, online and broadcast media in the U.S. tackle a fairly weighty topic: the obesity epidemic. Starting with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity’s “Weight of the Nation” conference in Washington, D.C., May 7^th through 9^th, and continuing through this past Monday and Tuesday with HBO’s documentary of the same name, the statistics are hard to avoid – or ignore:

• More than two-thirds of American adults over 20 are overweight and one-third are obese.
• One-third of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight and 18 percent are obese.
• Five of the 10 leading causes of death in America can be linked in some way to obesity, including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, stroke, and kidney disease.
• Obesity is costing U.S. businesses more than $73 billion per year—and adds $150 billion to health costs today, a number that is expected to grow to $300 billion by 2018.

America is out of shape and obesity is the biggest health problem in the country today. The prevalence of unhealthy, inexpensive, packaged food is one factor contributing to the obesity epidemic; inactivity and the lack of physical exercise are equally to blame.

This is where runtastic can help in the fight against obesity. Once you’ve made the decision to lose weight, eat better, and increase your physical activity, runtastic apps can help motivate you to set goals, track your results, and stick with your exercise program long enough to see a difference.

External motivation is a big part of continuing with any exercise program, and using runtastic apps on your smartphone – whether you have an iPhone, an Android, a Blackberry, or a Windows Phone – can help you see your improvement, whether your goal is distance, length of time, target heart rate, or weight loss-related.

Take Steffen Wegerer, for example. In one year, Steffen went from weighing 380 lbs. to just under 200 lbs. and he attributes a lot of his success to the motivation he received from using runtastic. Says Steffen, runtastic “gave me the ability to monitor my pulse and stay in the optimum zone of fat burning.  I always had my smartphone with me; so the app was the perfect solution. I got addicted to reviewing all the great details of my activities including maps, calories burned and pulse zones. These were fun to look at and made me want to work harder and do more.” (You can read more about Steffen and his phenomenal achievement here).

Another new runtastic app that can provide motivation to lose weight is the newly released Ideal Weight 2.0. Available for the Apple iPhone, Ideal Weight 2.0 is a simple BMI calculator that helps you determine and reach a healthy weight. The app graphs weight history, provides diet and fitness tips, and lets you see how your weight compares to averages based on age, gender and country. Pretty cool! Plus, you can post your successes online and get encouragement from others in your social network, via Facebook and/or Twitter.

Making the decision to lose weight is hard, but sticking with your exercise program just got easier, thanks to runtastic. Download runtastic and Ideal Weight today…and keep us posted on how YOU’RE going to beat the obesity epidemic.

Are you an enthusiast of outdoor activities? Then the runtastic Altimeter app is for you, take advantage of all these great features:

- Built-in compass

- Accurate measurement of altitude through online service

- Photo feature with built-in altitude reading and sharing

- Share your outdoor photos with friends via Facebook or email

- No internet connection required

- Display in meters or feet

- GPS coordinates

- Weather and wind info

- Sunrise and sunset prediction

- No ads

DOWNLOAD HERE NOW:

      

                                                                         

 

Enjoy using our Altimeter app on your hikes, walks, bike rides, and other outdoor activities!

***

Dear fellow runtastic user,

My name is Steffen Wegerer, I am 42 years young and an avid sportsman. You might think – why is that so special? As of now nothing, except I might not have written this story 15 months ago. At that time I weighed 172 kg (380lbs) and led a sedentary life, lying around, barely able to walk up a flight of stairs. That was the limit of my strength.

Up until January 1^st, 2011 swimming, running or cycling were just words I knew from watching TV or reading books. In January 2011 I woke up and decided to change my life.

I decided to battle my weight problem with the Low Carb method. Why Low Carb? I was inspired by the book “Metabolic Power” by Dr. Ulrich Strunz and knowing that everything else I tried before (and they were not just little attempts) had not worked for me. Eating protein, starting to move more, dealing with a little hunger…didn’t sound too bad at first and it wasn‘t. In the first few weeks I lived off of protein shakes, which I mixed with water instead of milk to save calories and I “pulled through” like this for 4 weeks.

In February, already 9kg (20lbs) lighter, I exercised for the first time in years. Nordic walking was my introduction to a new active lifestyle. In order not to lose motivation, I made the decision to make my project public. I told friends, colleagues and others and put my progress on the Internet for everybody to see.

Since I am tech savvy, I started looking for a suitable fitness app for my smartphone. Ultimately, after trying a few apps, I “stuck” with runtastic and was motivated to continue my training. The main reason I used this app was that it gave me the ability to monitor my pulse and stay in the optimum zone of fat burning.  I always had my smartphone with me; so the app was the perfect solution. I got addicted to reviewing all the great details of my activities including maps, calories burned and pulse zones. These were fun to look at and made me want to work harder and do more.

Over the months, I started to integrate small amounts of running into my walking. In the beginning, I could run only 10 meters (33 feet), then 50m (165ft), 100m (330ft) and 1000m (3300ft). After countless workouts and calories burnt, I started losing more weight and feeling great. For the first time in 20 years I weighed less than 100kg (220lbs). The amazement at seeing a two digit weight on the scale was priceless!

To stay motivated, I rewarded myself with small comforts. As the pounds dropped off and I felt better about myself, I would buy more fashionable clothing in smaller sizes and promised myself to never buy a larger size than the last. I was constantly tempted to eat unhealthy, but to moderate this I would treat myself to the occasional piece of chocolate or plate of pasta – as my weight started to drop.

Today my weight fluctuates between 92 – 97kg (203 – 213lb). I do not want to see the number 100 again on my scale.

Now I am training for my next big goals, to finish a triathlon (Olympic distance) and run a half marathon.

As you can see I changed my life and I know you can change your life too. For me, I let my weight and laziness get in the way and I had given up.

I hope that my story motivates others to lose weight and feel better. I would be happy if I can help someone get healthier, more fit and on the path to an improved life.

You can follow my progress and contact me with any questions on my website http://www.run2life.de. I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Team runtastic congratulates Steffen and wishes him all the best for the future.