Archives

Add The Ride Calendar To Your Phone Or Tablet

A few months ago I told you how to get the ride calendar into your Google Calendar and then sync it with your phone. The problem is, to get that to work, you must have a Google Gmail account, and not everyone does. Here is how to get it on your phone or tablet even if you don’t have a Gmail account.

First of all, this only works for Android devices and Apple devices, like the iPhone and iPad. If you have a Windows Phone, you must follow the instructions linked to above.

The easiest way to do this is to view this page on your phone and click on the following link: https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/rcnjg09bcfvr7ju6ds9jetkvds%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

Your phone should tell you that you have subscribed to the calendar. Now you just need to pick the color you want the calendar to show as. I believe you need to have iOS 6 or higher to do this, but this is available for the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 5, so most should be able to do this. I don’t have an Android device to test with, so if that is what you have, you’ll need to poke around in the calendar settings to see what you can and cannot change.

You should pick the calendar color you want the ride events to show up as so they stand out and you don’t confuse them with work or personal events. I like orange since it reminds me of Harley Davidson’s orange color.

Launch Your Calendar App and select the Calendar button
Launch Your Calendar App and select the Calendar button
Select the arrow next to the OCHOG Ride Calendar listing
Select the arrow next to the OCHOG Ride Calendar listing
Select the color you want the calendar entries to be displayed in
Select the color you want the calendar entries to be displayed in

Once you select the color, select Done and that’s it. Note that I do not set “reminders” on the event itself so you shouldn’t get any sort of alarm. If you have any questions or problems, track me down at the monthly meetings or rides and I’ll try to help.

Latest Ride Calendar Has Been Posted

Please note that the latest ride and event calendar has been posted on the site. There are a number of great rides in the coming weeks that include, but aren’t limited to:

  • The Death Valley 3 day overnighter
  • Borrego Springs lunch ride
  • USS Iowa destination ride
  • Mentone lunch ride

We also have Lake Hughes Rock Inn lunch ride back on the agenda. Whoever out there has been doing a rain dance on the Lake Hughes weekend, please stop. Thanks!

Note that all events are on the Google Calendar on the event page. You should be able to click on the events and add them to your own Google Calendar if you use that service.

Making The Most Of The Google Calendar On The Event Page

We have been using Google Calendar on the event page so you can easily see when rides and other OCHOG events are coming up. How can you make the most of it though?

The easiest way to use it is to just click on an event, like the image below shows where I have clicked on the Nov 30, 2012 New Member Ride.

There are 3 areas of interest:

  1. Click on the “map” link to get a map to the ride start location or event.
  2. Copy the calendar event to your Google calendar. This will make a copy of this one event and place it on your personal calendar.
  3. More details will sometimes reveal additional information about the event beyond the start time and location.

The problem with doing it this way is if an event changes for some reason, your calendar won’t get automatically updated. There is a way around that.

If you go into your Google Calendar, there will be a section on the lower left called “Other Calendars.” Click the little dropdown arrow on the right-hand side of the “Other Calendars” title and select “Import by URL.” Now, copy and paste the following URL into that box:

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/ochog.activities%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics

Now all of the OCHOG calendar events will show up in your calendar. You can select the color on that screen as well by clicking on the drop-down arrow next to the “OCHOG Ride Calendar” so you can tell OCHOG events from yours.

Now when events are added, changed or deleted, your calendar will automatically be updated.

But wait! How do you see this on your phone? Well, this assumes you are using Gmail on your iPhone, Android phone or Windows Phone using CalDav, which is how Google Calendar syncs.

Now, you should have all of the OCHOG events on your phone and computer, all dynamically updated, so the only thing you have to worry about is making sure your bike has enough gas!