Pink and Lavender Crepe Myrtle flowers

These beautiful bunches were seen during a cycle ride in one of the new residential layouts near Kelagari village.

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Zeopoxa Cycling versus Google Fit

I've been using Google Fit and Zeopoxa for quite a few months now. GFit tracked my walking while Zeopoxa tracked bicycle rides. Both apps are user friendly and provide just the right information, However I hadn't explored GFit features as much as Zeopoxa. Google Fit tracked only my walks, couple of weeks ago I noticed that even my cycle rides had been tracked since June 2021. Since then I started comparing the details in both apps, there are slight differences in the values, only in decimals. Having studied the apps for weeks, I got an idea of sharing my observations here.

Zeopoxa menu has the following options: Activity, Statistics, Challenges, Records, History, Overall, etc. The ones mentioned here are the ones I access regularly. At the beginning of a ride, an activity has to be initiated by touching "Start" and at the end of the ride touch "End." The tracking can be paused during breaks and resumed later using the "Pause" and "Resume" options.

This is the history tab- a list of all rides. The app also allows manual entry in case you missed initiating a ride. Touching the red circle with plus mark opens the Manual Entry form. Just enter the details and save - an entry is created. While a tracked entry includes the route, elevation gain & elevation loss, a manual entry will not have this information.

Moving on to the Statistics tab. By default the weekly stats are shown. To see monthly, yearly, or all rides data, touch "More Data." The Yearly view shows month-wise breakup and All shows year-wise breakup.

This is an individual activity... details of the ride in one glance. There are four tabs here, the default tab is seen below. The other tabs gives elevation vs speed data, speed vs time data & the last tab shows details like bike type, heart beat, weather, workout, etc. The last tab is something I've never bothered to explore.

This is the "Speed vs Time" comparison.

This is the "Elevation vs Speed" comparison. The top speed of the ride is shown.

Zeopoxa data is stored on your phone, so it's important to save backup files to an online storage. Zeopoza creates a backup at the end of every session, the files can be viewed under Files > Zeopoxa in your phone. I upload the files to my Google Drive once a week. If required one could do it daily. In case you factory reset your phone, you can upload the backup files and view historical data of your workouts. Restore option is available under Settings.

Moving on to Google Fit. Below is the home screen.

Google Fit tracks walks and rides on its own however it misses out distances at times. So it's better to manually track activities. Touch the plus icon on the home screen to see below screen.

Touch 'Track workout' to initiate an activity. Here you record a number of sports activities like walking, running, cycling, aerobics, jumping, etc. Remember to end the session at once your workout is done. The recorded activity can be viewed in the Journal.

The navigation to the 4 tabs are at the bottom of the screen. In this screen-shot, two rides and one walk is shown, scrolling down will all tracked activities in the reverse chronological order. 

Below is the view of an individual activity... the route and summary. Distance, duration & average speed are common between Zeopoxa and GFit.

Clicking on the map will enlarge the route to full screen and back button will restore this view.

Scrolling down the activity screen will reveal the Speed vs Time comparison. This data is presented in the same way in both Zeopoxa and GFit.

GFit allows editing a saved activity where as Zeopoxa doesn't allow that. GFit shows individual activities and weekly summaries. Monthly, Yearly and Overall stats is not available, i.e. to my knowledge.

I like both Zepoxa Cycling and GFit equally. And I'll continue to track my activities in both. Statistics in both match more or less except for minor differences in distance ridden and top speed. This difference, of course reflects in the average speed. The differences shouldn't matter to amateur  like me.

Disclaimer: This is purely a personal view. This post is not be considered as promotion or expert review of any app mentioned here.

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Nandibatlu Hoovugalu

Nandibatlu Hoovu is one of the flowers which qualifies as an offering in Hindu rituals. The white colored flower has thick petals with a pleasantly mild aroma. Nandibatlu leaves are glossy deep green colored with a bitterish aroma. When this plant's leaves or stems are broken, a sticky white liquid oozes out. This plant is said to have medicinal properties. There are two types of Nandibatlu plants. Both plants are similar in looks, the distinguishing part being the flower- 1. five distinct petalled flower and 2. multi overlapping petals. Both plants can grow up to 7 feet tall. These buds seen below are the second type, the flower with overlapping petals.

A bud and a fully bloomed Nadibatalu flower.

The flowers usually grow in pairs or small bunches of 7 to 8 flowers.

This is the first type. the one with five distinct petals. These buds are smaller and lighter.

A fully grown Nandibatlu plant can bear several bunches, each bunch consisting of 8 to 10 flowers.

Nandibatlu plants need solid ground and open space around them. They can be planted in pots but the growth can be limited.

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Wasp Spider nest

My aunt had spotted a white colored bulb-shaped nest in one of the mango trees next to her house. She remembered to show it to us during our cycling stopover last Sunday. The nest is anchored to the end of a stem. It's made of silky white threads woven around dry blades of grass or some kind of fibrous material. The nest's entrance, an inch in diameter is at the top. The nest is spherical, approximately 2.5" in diameter.

The spider has chosen a site carefully, its not visible in plain sight. The nest is concealed behind a curtain of leaves. One can spot it only on careful observation or by chance. I think my aunt saw it by chance, assumed it to be a bird's nest. As I know birds build nests with grass, twigs, leaves, etc. I'm unaware of any bird that weaves silky nests. With little research I happened to stumble on a photo of a similar looking nest with a caption "wasp spider nest." I know there are wasp spiders in these trees, had shot one many years ago. You can take a look at it here- tiger spider. Its limbs are yellow-black, like a tiger's pattern.

Here's another view of the nest. The nest could be several weeks old going by its looks.

I'll check it out during my next visit, let's see if there are changes to the nest. And, here's a picture of a wasp spider I shot some day in January 2010.

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