“An app for exploring nature paired with the very thing accelerating its collapse”: Cycling route-planner Komoot flooded with complaints over new ChatGPT app; “Have fun and eat carbs!”: Pogačar’s surprise Radio 1 appearance + more on the live blog
First Published: Feb 25, 2026
SUMMARY
"An app for exploring nature paired with the very thing accelerating its collapse": Cycling route-planner Komoot flooded with complaints over new ChatGPT app
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You might remember last week Komoot announced the launch of a ChatGPT app to offer users AI-powered route planning. It basically means ChatGPT integration allows users to put text prompts into the AI service and then get sent back to the Komoot app with what was recommended.
You might write something like: ‘Show me maps of three 50-mile road cycling routes from my house that take in quiet roads and a coffee stop’. Maybe, given the app’s reputation for at times questionably ‘on-road’ routes, you might want to add something like: ‘Definitely don’t send me down a muddy gravel track that you claim I can do on 28mm tyres’.
The update comes less than a year after Komoot was bought by an Italian tech firm infamous for mass layoffs, sparking redundancy fears and comments from employees saying they felt “blindsided” by Bending Spoons’ purchase.
The acquisition also came in the same month Komoot announced that new users would be required to pay a monthly fee, £4.99 per month in the UK, to sync their routes to third-party devices. Two months later, in May, the redundancy fears were justified as it was reported 85 per cent of Komoot’s workforce had been let go.
So, it’s to that context that the new ChatGPT integration hasn’t been particularly well-received by users and followers on social media. Komoot’s Instagram post communicating the launch is inundated with people saying they won’t use the app again.
For example:
“Cool, an app for exploring nature paired with the very thing accelerating its collapse. Do better Komoot”
“You could have fostered the community to keep exchanging tips and recommendations for all to enjoy the outdoors… Or this. That’s me checking out, it was nice using Komoot when it was ran by lovely people who were truly engaged with outdoors activities but this is just… wow.”
“No one asked for this.”
“This is like an oxymoron”
“Are you insane? Outdoor app + AI that destroys the outdoors. Bye bye thank you for all the years without AI Slop.”
As per the International Energy Agency, a request made through ChatGPT consumes 10 times the electricity of a Google Search. The UN Environment Programme also notes that global AI-related infrastructure may soon consume six times more water than Denmark, a country of 6 million people.
Not all the comments were negative, a few from users saying they were excited about the prospect of AI integration, however the vast majority expressed opposition (or disbelief) at the ChatGPT app.
Komoot says the app will give users “a faster, more flexible way to find new places to visit”.
“The app makes suggestions based on your request, like route duration, location, and places along the way such as coffee stops or waterfalls. Komoot users can use the ‘Open in Komoot’ function to port the information directly to their Komoot account, where they can save, edit, download a route for offline navigation, and more.
“The app breaks down barriers to the outdoors by unlocking 4 million Highlights and 7 million curated routes to people across the world.”
Any Komoot users got thoughts on this one?
The cheapest ways to make your bike faster and more comfortable
"Have fun and eat carbs!": Tadej Pogačar's surprise Radio 1 appearance features some cracking advice for Greg James's Comic Relief epic
If you were listening to Radio 1 just before 9 you might, like a few of us at road.cc, have been surprised to hear a very familiar voice appear as part of the Sit Down Stand Up! For the uninitiated, that’s where Greg James and a guest cold call celebrity friends to find out whether they are sitting down or standing up. In this morning’s case, Formula 1 driver Ollie Bearman called Tadej and later got a call back live on air. Now, unfortunately for the game, the four-time Tour de France winner was stood up when he called, not sat down as they wanted, but it did give Greg James a chance to get some pointers for his 1,000km Comic Relief tandem cycle.
> Check out the Mercian tandem that Greg James will ride 1,000km for Comic Relief
Now, we quite enjoyed the caller who said Greg James asking Tadej Pogačar for cycling advice was like asking David Beckham to sort your five-a-side team but, as it happened, Pogačar did have some pretty good info…
“On a tandem bike? I want to try it, I’ve never tried it, but the advice I can give you: have fun and eat some carbs!” he said. “Don’t listen to social media about protein… eat some carbs and you’ll be fine. Have a beer after the ride.”
We also enjoyed the UAE Team Emirates star’s reaction to hearing the 1,000km distance… “Ah, it’s okay, it’s manageable, no?”
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I've had a Komoot subscription for a few years. I won't be using the ChatGPT thing as everything about AI is objectionable, but that apart, the remark above about 'don't send me down a muddy gravel track' is absolutely on the nose. I first got Komoot as a way in to my local off-road routes, which did work, so if I'm planning a road ride I have to examine the Komoot route carefully as it does default to the shoddiest surface available. I think Komoot was always off-road focussed so this is simply in its nature.
Can it go lower than that? Also, what's the maximum rear cog one can configure? One would assume with a virtual set up like this that the range is more or less infinite but "up to" makes it sound as though there are limits.
Correct. The Guardian is not a source of scientific data. It is a newspaper that REPORTS on the findings of scientists. And scientists are almost unanimous that anthropocentric global warming is real and represents a thereat to humanity. Anyway, this article isn't from the Guardian, so I don't know why you're wanging on about it.
Have the people complaining actually tried the ChatGPT for Komoot app? It doesn't sound like it to me. Because if they had, they would have much more specific complaints about how crap it is. (I'm going to confess I'm a bit of a hypocrite - I haven't tried it myself, as I don't have a ChatGPT account (I do have a Komoot account). But plenty of examples on the internet of people trying it and getting routes that have seemingly little relationship to the prompt supplied).
“planning the race for the morning hours and avoiding the afternoons could substantially increase rider and spectator safety” but it would reduce the appeal to sponsors and TV broadcasters, who pay the bills and so are far more important than the riders and spectators. It's therefore not going to happen. Even making a last-minute switch in extreme situations probably won't work because of the amount of logistics and people involved - the TdF is SO much bigger than the Tour Down Under.
Ah, the scientific rigour of the climate-change-denying right, a blank assertion with no evidence offered coupled with an insult. Pathetic.
Or, in higher temperatures, use ice jackets and ice bundles which can be replenished from the support car.
A cooling sleeve cools you down for maybe 30 minutes and then it becomes a hassle, it also prevents heat leaving the body as an "empty" sleeve now becomes an extra layer. It does make some sense for a time, but in the long run it's just problematic to use. It's just much easier to just pour water over your body.
This kind of journalism makes me laugh. As climate change brings ecological breakdown and migration on a biblical scale and international food security puts the price of food out of most people's pockets then there isn't going to be any bike racing in the morning or any other time. Get an allotment and learn how to protect it. Good luck everyone.
I often wonder why they don't wear cooling arm sleeves and cooling hats under their helmets. At a guess it's probably something to do with 'the rules', as this is road racing. Headsweats caps and similar make a big difference to how hot you get and you avoid getting your head sunburnt through the gaps in your helmet.
2 thoughts on ““An app for exploring nature paired with the very thing accelerating its collapse”: Cycling route-planner Komoot flooded with complaints over new ChatGPT app; “Have fun and eat carbs!”: Pogačar’s surprise Radio 1 appearance + more on the live blog”
Have the people complaining actually tried the ChatGPT for Komoot app? It doesn’t sound like it to me.
Because if they had, they would have much more specific complaints about how crap it is.
(I’m going to confess I’m a bit of a hypocrite – I haven’t tried it myself, as I don’t have a ChatGPT account (I do have a Komoot account). But plenty of examples on the internet of people trying it and getting routes that have seemingly little relationship to the prompt supplied).
I’ve had a Komoot subscription for a few years. I won’t be using the ChatGPT thing as everything about AI is objectionable, but that apart, the remark above about ‘don’t send me down a muddy gravel track’ is absolutely on the nose. I first got Komoot as a way in to my local off-road routes, which did work, so if I’m planning a road ride I have to examine the Komoot route carefully as it does default to the shoddiest surface available. I think Komoot was always off-road focussed so this is simply in its nature.