Why

Most weather apps just tell you the numbers—temperature, wind, UV, etc.—but as cyclists, we need to know what those numbers mean for the ride.

Weather 4 Bike bridges that gap: it translates raw weather forecasts into clear, activity-aware guidance for road, gravel, and MTB. With one glance, you know whether to head out, wait, or change routes.

What

• Smart ride scoring (1–10) with plain-language recommendations
• Forecast views: current, hourly (next 24h), and 7-day cards
• Location aware: auto-detects your city, with search + recents for flexibility
• Biking Conditions panel: key factors plus collapsible details for deeper insights
• Clean design: dark mode, responsive layout, mobile-friendly navigation

How the scoring works

Scores start at 10, then deduct points based on real-world cycling factors:

• Wind – Penalized by speed; road cycling also factors in direction (head/tail/crosswinds).
• Temperature – Ideal range: 15–25 °C. Above 30 °C penalties increase; above 35 °C it can drop to “no-go.”
• Humidity – Above 90% caps the overall score lower.
• Visibility – Below 10 km reduces the score; heavier penalties under 5 km and 2 km.
• UV index – High UV adds a deduction and recommends early/late riding.

The details panel breaks down exactly why a score was given, so riders understand the recommendation rather than just taking a number at face value.

Tech stack & architecture

Lightweight and modular for speed and clarity:

• HTML + Tailwind CDN – quick styling and iteration
• Vanilla JS modules for clean separation of logic:
  • weather.js: fetch, parse, and format data from Open-Meteo
  • location.js: geolocation, geocoding, recents, last-used persistence
  • insights.js: scoring algorithms and safety checks
  • app.js: UI state, rendering, events, icons, Unsplash banners
• Static icons served directly with graceful fallbacks

Data sources

• Forecasts: Open-Meteo (hourly + daily, no key needed)
• Geocoding: Open-Meteo search + BigDataCloud reverse lookup
• Banners: Unsplash API (cycling and mountain landscapes)

UX highlights

• Current conditions: large temperature, concise meta (wind, UV, updated time)
• Activity insights: score chip with contextual color + expandable details pane
• Hourly forecast: scrollable, icon-driven timeline
• Daily forecast: compact 7-day grid
• Mobile ready: hamburger menu keeps header controls simple

Accessibility & performance

• Fully keyboard-navigable, with ARIA states and dark-mode high contrast
• Lightweight, framework-free build with minimal blocking scripts

Deployment

It’s a static site—GitHub Pages works instantly:

• Include .nojekyll so assets serve properly
• Enable Pages on the branch root and you’re live

Quick start (local)

python3 -m http.server 9000

then open http://localhost:9000/

What’s next

• Route-aware wind: adjust scores based on planned direction
• Rider preferences: personal heat/cold sensitivity sliders
• PWA mode: offline cache and installable app
• Trail & radar layers: MTB trail status + live radar overlays

Btw, it’s under MIT license – so feel free to help and improve it.

Closing thoughts

Weather 4 Bike reframes weather around what cyclists truly care about:

1. Can I ride?
2. How good will it be?

By translating raw data into scores, alerts, and recommendations, it shortens the gap between “what’s the forecast?” and “should I ride now?”