Frostpendeln

What is Frostpendeln?

Frostpendeln is a German community event, running since 2020, that gets people cycling through the winter. From November 1 to February 28 riders collect kilometers on frostpendeln.de, team up and swap stories. The name means something like "frost commuting", though leisure rides and errands count too.

The organizers say the point is the shared total and beating last year's, not crowning anyone. They report more than 2.4 million kilometers for the 2024/25 season and more than 1.5 million in the first two months of 2025/26. The site is in German, and three commuters run it in their spare time.

Key Features

Kilometers by vehicle and by purpose

Reports go into three vehicle categories: bicycle, pedelec and S-pedelec. Each one also has a reason for the ride: work, errands, leisure or other. You can report every ride, or one week or month in a single entry under any date in that period.

Teams and group accounts

Riders can start or join a team, with no size limit. Last season's results list ADFC chapters, schools and training centers, companies, city teams, counties, regional teams and private teams. Families or departments can also share one group account, with one person entering the kilometers. A team has its own group chat.

No overall winner, on purpose

The FAQ rules out rewarding anyone for their place in the list, so that nobody rides on a dangerous day to chase kilometers. Results are still published by team and by city. Monthly draws give away sponsored prizes, and the February 2026 draw included an Ortlieb pannier and AGU overshoes. Last season's terms opened them to adults living in Germany who reported at least one ride that month, opted in on their profile and filled in country, town and postcode. The admin told a reader in October 2026 that a certificate is coming, with details at the end of the season.

Frostpendeln Tracker app

New for 2026/27, the tracker for iPhone and Android records a ride by GPS and, once you've bought the upload, sends it to Frostpendeln when you stop. It shows speed, time and distance, with temperature, wind and a 60-minute forecast. The app also handles teams, team chat and stories, and its Google Play text says it shows when other riders are out at the same time. The maker says it isn't meant as a fitness tracker. It's in German. Version 5.1.1 came out on October 23, 2026, in both stores.

Who It's For

• People in Germany who ride to work or school in winter, on anything from a balance bike to a velomobile
• Strava users joining a colleague's, club's or town's team who would rather not type in every ride
• Company, school and ADFC groups that want a shared total, using the same team feature as anyone else

Worth Knowing

Strava doesn't connect to Frostpendeln directly anymore. For the last two seasons you could link your Strava account and rides arrived on their own. The admin wrote in September 2026 that this has ended, and that rides from other recorders can now only come in through the tracker app. In October 2026 the admin added that there's no API for entering kilometers and won't be. Older comments under the FAQ still describe the Strava link, so read their dates.

The route that replaces it runs through your phone. The maker's posts on the app say Strava rides can reach the tracker through Apple Health or Google Health Connect.

On iPhone, Strava's help page says to connect Health under Settings, Manage Apps and Devices, Health, allow Workouts & Routes, then turn on Send to Health. In the tracker you allow read access, tap "Jetzt synchronisieren" under "Gesundheitsdaten" in Settings, then upload the imported rides from "Fahrtenverlauf", the ride history.

You don't have to run the tracker during the ride. The admin says that in this setup you open it only to transfer rides, whenever you have time. Uploading needs a one-time €1.99 in-app purchase, which the maker says goes toward the app's costs.

Android is less clear. The maker's posts cover it, but the tracker's Google Play text gives Garmin, Fitbit and Samsung Health as examples, not Strava, and says it reads cycling workouts only. Strava's help pages say it no longer sends activities to the Google Health app, so Health Connect is the path to try: there it sends time, distance and calories from GPS-based activities, and the page doesn't mention the activity type. We couldn't confirm from these pages that a Strava ride shows up in the tracker as a cycling workout.

The maker says a report needs only the type of workout and the distance from Health data, and that calories and heart rate aren't uploaded. Its Google Play text says distance and duration go to frostpendeln.de. The maker says routes aren't sent to Frostpendeln. To record in the background, the tracker needs location access set to "Always". The maker's post describes it as used for distance only, and saving a route is an option that keeps a GPX file on your phone. The app's App Store privacy label does list precise location, not linked to your identity.