The Urban Cycling Challenge

City cycling isn’t easy. The stop-and-go rhythm, sudden traffic, unpredictable intersections, and tall buildings constantly interrupt your flow. And if you’re training, it gets even trickier because it’s hard to stay consistent when the environment changes every few meters.

Living and riding in Berlin, I’ve learned where things get tough. One of the most challenging spots is Yorckstraße, where a series of tight bridges creates narrow passages and frequent GPS dropouts. It’s a part of the city where I almost always lose connection, which can throw off my tracking mid-ride.

When I head out towards Potsdam, I pass through large wooded areas where the signal can weaken, especially deep in the Grunewald. Out there, it’s less about tall buildings and more about dense trees and being far from urban infrastructure. That’s when I really start to appreciate having a GPS system that stays locked in, even when I’m off the grid.

Conquering the City on Two Wheels: Sunflower GPS 2.0 for Cyclists

GPS in the city can be tricky. In tight spots with bridges and tunnels, l've often seen my phone's GPS jump around or lose signal completely.

At Yorkstraße, the tracking with Sunflower GPS 2.0 was noticeably more reliable. Even through these challenging parts, the GPS stayed smooth and accurate, remaining within about two meters of my actual path. This level of precision made a clear difference compared to the erratic jumps I'm used to with other devices.

This reliability isn't limited to urban riding. On routes through dense forests and remote areas, the GPS signal stayed locked in even when far from city infrastructure. Knowing my data was accurate allowed me to focus fully on my performance instead of second guessing my stats.

The watch also makes it easy to import routes and follow them in real time. That is essential for navigating the city without stopping or fumbling with my phone.

Overall, HUAWEI’s new GPS has proven to be just as reliable and often more so than other devices I've used.

FTP Precision in the City

For performance-focused cyclists like me, FTP, or Functional Threshold Power, is essential. It shows the maximum power I can sustain steadily, which is key for structured training and measuring progress.

Testing FTP in an urban setting isn't easy. Traffic lights, uneven terrain, and pedestrians create constant interruptions that make it hard to get a clean reading. I connected my power meter via Bluetooth to the HUAWEI WATCH GT 6 Pro , and the watch synced immediately, showing live wattage readings. Currently, my FTP is around 290 watts, which puts me close to my performance goal of breaking the 300-watt threshold.

On longer stretches like Karl-Marx-Allee or laps around Tempelhofer Feld, I could push consistent efforts and track my power accurately. Even with minor stops and changes in terrain, the watch uses adaptive tracking to analyze power output and provide realistic FTP estimates. This means that there’s no need for a controlled lab environment anymore. Urban FTP tracking is now a real possibility.

Other Data and Why it Matters

What I value most from the data is how seamlessly it combines power, heart rate, speed and elevation into a clear picture of my fitness progress without a complicated setup. The watch helps me identify when I’m riding efficiently within my optimal power zones and when I’m overreaching. Insights I use to fine-tune recovery days and structure high-intensity sessions more effectively. For me, it feels like an all-in-one tool. Even when I don't have my power meter with me or attached to the bike I’m using; the watch alternatively provides virtual power values that are extremely accurate and more than enough for effective training.

“When on an urban tour, the HUAWEI WATCH GT 6 Pro is enough to provide me an elite cycling experience – and plenty of data like FTP for me to analyze.”

During a ride through Berlin, I observed the intricate relationship between virtual power, heart rate, and speed. In the upper graph, power fluctuates between around 80 W and 430 W, while heart rate follows with a smoother curve ranging from about 90 bpm up to 120 bpm. The lag is easy to spot: after each power surge above 300 W, heart rate rises only gradually and stabilizes roughly 20–30 seconds later, showing the typical delay between muscular output and cardiovascular response.

In the lower graph, the link between power and speed is even clearer. During harder efforts, speed increases to 30–35 km/h, while in recovery phases or short stops it drops below 10 km/h—often even to near zero. Power spikes sharply after each slowdown, briefly reaching over 340 W, before settling again in the 180–260 W range during steady pedaling.

Integrating GPS and Virtual Power: Smarter Training in the City

GPS helped most by giving me accurate, reliable tracking without needing to think about it. It is calming to know the data stays consistent, even in tricky areas like Yorkstraße. On that stretch, where I usually deal with signal dropouts, the watch kept the tracking clean.