Planning a cyling route on a Garmin 310XT

I've been planning a few training rides recently and also some weekend trips like the one a couple of weekends ago, down to the New Forest and back.

My Garmin Forerunner 310XT has a very basic capability to follow a pre planned route via a kind of breadcrumb trail. It doesn't give you a map of the surrounding area but it does give you the route and direction to take.

It looks like this:

I normally set the zoom to 300ft or 0.3km to make it clear enough to follow.


Garmin give you the means to upload a route to the device by planning it turn by turn on the Garmin Connect website. This just wasn't going to work for me so I've found a really good system.

The way I've been doing it has planned local cycle rides and sportive routes plus more importantly it's generated routes for long distant bike rides. Last year I made routes for a 3 day Swansea to London ride and a 4 day Edinburgh to London challenge.
All the routes have been relatively quick to make and have followed the most amazing quiet, safe cycling roads, faultlessly for thousands of miles over the last year.

Here's how to do it.

If you have a newer Garmin you can skip many of the later steps and just put the route file into your New folder on the Garmin or it's memory card.

You will need a free account at Strava.com.
You will need a Garmin Connect account and Garmin Express.
You will need a free account at Gpsies.com.

1. The point to point route is created in Strava's brilliant route builder application on their website. This uses Strava's heatmaps to work out which roads are most popular with cyclists, then uses those roads in preference when building your route.
I've been routed down exquisitely beautiful, smooth tarmacked, tiny farmer's lanes which would never have come up on traditional map planning, let alone knowing whether the surface was suitable for your road tyres.

You can also select 'minimum elevation' to avoid the hills if that's what you want. As Strava routes you down the popular cycle ways you can be sure that if there's a hill on route, you'll be going over it!

2. Export the route. For the 310XT you need to export as TCX. If you have a newer device that may be all you need to do, then copy the route file to your New folder on your device.

3. Import the file into Gpsies.com.

4. Export the route, download the gpx track from Gpsies.com. This re plots the course and makes it acceptable for upload to Garmin Connect.

5. Upload gpx track to Garmin connect under 'upload activites'.

6. Click on 'save as course'. If you right click on this and open in a new tab it will be easier to complete the next step.

7. Delete the track you just uploaded, hopefully it's in the previous tab otherwise you'll have to search for it in your activities. Mine are always buried around the year 2000 somewhere!
If you don't delete the original track Garmin won't send the course to your device for some reason. It has cost me many, many hours of frustration to work this out!!

8. Go back to the course you saved and click send to device. Select your Garmin 310XT. It should then sync across via Garmin Express.

9. On your 310XT go to Training/Courses and your new course should be in there. Select Do Course and off you go!
Don't wander too far off course because the map will disappear entirely until you find your way back. Garmin will then tell you Course Found! As if it has found it for you... Hmmm!

Very rarely there may be a problem with the course which can be resolved by setting the speed and time values to zero when creating or editing the course.


That's it. Seems very convoluted but it's definitely worth it. The best cycle routes I've done have been created this way. Enjoy :)

Weekend training

Bank holiday weekend with my son at his mums, so a load of spare time to get some miles in.

Decided to do my long run on Sunday, combining the healthiness of intense cardio exercise with the cumulative hangover I'd achieved from two nights drinking. Having left my car in Richmond an early start was required to reach it before the traffic wardens were entitled to notch up another kill.

In the end I got the train halfway and ran from Surbiton station, reached my car in 5 1/2 miles, my longest run for months. Felt strong so I ran another mile to give myself a pleasing 10k total.
Got a good euphoric buzz from the running and promised myself to build up to half marathon fitness as a priority.
Strava link.

Just got home and about to step into the shower when I'm called out for a bike ride. Only a moments hesitation and I was out the door again for a really good fun ride out to Richmond Park and around. 30 miles ish in total.
Strava link.

Monday the sun was hot and another unexpected call out for a ride. Went to the hills this time to begin some training for a trip on the horizon to the Pyrenees.
Another good ride of 45 miles.
Strava link.

Pretty happy with the weekends training, the Pyrenees cycle trip is in July and with some strong cyclists so I need to do some work to get my fitness up in time.

There's also a slight temptation to do the Dragon Ride in June, a 224km brutal hilly ride around the Brecon Beacons in Wales. Will ponder this a bit before signing up as it's in less than 5 weeks!

New lease of life

So the engine swap took 4 days and lots of swearing, bruising and skinned knuckles. It's not something that I'd relish doing again!
The positive side is that my van has a new lease of life and it started up first time after at least a million cables and pipes had been disconnected and reconnected with only my memory to guide the reinstallation.
Apparently it will take 6 weeks for my oil stained skin to replace itself and I can look like a normal human being again!

Thanks to Gary who helped a lot and P.J. Autos in Byfleet, who lent me the engine hoist and some tools and even offered to lend me a car while mine was out of action.

Last weekend's adventures postponed!

On Friday the engine on my work van spectacularly went bang. The cambelt had snapped and subsequent damage to my engine was fairly catastrophic!

With some wrangling Saturdays work was done out the back of my trusty (!) Alfa 156 and the a plan of resurrecting my poor van was hatched.

I decided, after seeking advice, to change the whole engine for an identical one from another van. Ideally one I could see running.
An evening of scouring ebay and Gumtree with no stone unturned became my Saturday night escapade. An identical van in any state with a good engine was my quest.

After emailing, texting and phoning about 12 potential engine organ donors 3 eventually replied and the hunt was on.

Sunday morning I was on the road at 8.30 to Hillingdon to see a tatty berlingo with a good heart. On arrival the heart turned out to be black and oily, but I was a desperate man so I gave it every chance.

After a 5 minute test drive I noticed that the coolant reservoir also had a good thick layer of oil in the top of it. Bad news. The mechanic who was selling it said I wouldn't believe him but that must have only just happened.
He was right. Buyer beware!

Next up I heard from one I'd emailed in Brighton. A long drive but I was running out of options.
Thought I could drive down, hopefully buy the van and drive it home then cycle back down to pick up my car, around 60 miles cycling.
Luckily my friend Gary wanted to get out of his home and offered to help as a driver.

The Brighton van was rusty, living at the seaside had taken it's toll but the engine ran beautifully. Apparently it was his sons van and he had no real explanation for the nude female portrait on one wall in the back of the van!

After a short financial negotiation and a lot of reassurance from me that I wouldn't land them with a stream of motoring offenses I was on the road home, all be it the back roads where the number plate recognition cameras wouldn't pick up it's lack of road tax :)

And now the hard work begins. Apparently Citroen allow 9 hours labour to remove and refit an engine in workshop conditions, I've got to do it twice and I'm going to also do the cambelt and clutch, if not more, while it's out of the vehicle...

Watch this space.

Here's the donor van.

This is the portrait. Gary calls it 'The fallen Madonna with the big boobies'

Windy ride home

Set off at 7.45 this morning from Lyndhurst and followed a lovely route back home.
Bit of a breezy headwind took it's toll but the highlights of the scenery, the fresh air and doing something fun overwhelmed any hard work.
Went through some postcard picturesque villages with millponds, thatched cottages and views for miles.
Got home earlier than expected at about 2pm.

115km today.
Here's a link to my ride.

After work escape

15:51 and I'm on the train to Alton to pick up the trail where I bailed out last time. Took me 10 minutes after work to pack some overnight stuff and I'd already uploaded the route to my Garmin ready for the off.
The sun's shining and some tailwinds await my arrival in Hampshire!

Chatting to a guy on the train who is doing a 200 mile ride around a lake in Sweden, also told me about another race called the island hopper, 17 islands to run across and swim between them. Total run is marathon distance. Feeling some inspiration and I'll have to look these up.

20.00 65km later arrived at my guest house, lovely place, and headed out to the pub.
Beautiful ride down, fairly brisk pace and it seemed downhill most of the way.
I've now got a dilemma for tomorrow, ride back home as planned 122km or do the Wiggle New Forest Sportive route 111km and the train home from Brockenhurst... Nice decision to have to make!

Strava link to this evenings ride http://app.strava.com/activities/287948718

Weekend microadventure

So my Saturday night has just freed up and my mind has leapt at a sunny cycling opportunity.

Over Easter I planned to ride down to the New Forest, ride the Wiggle New Forest Sportive route then ride back, over 5 days.
After two consecutive companions pulled out I went anyway, only to be hit by 45mph headwinds on the second day and similar forecast ahead! A tactical withdrawal and a train home from Winchester means I have unfinished business with this trip.

A quick check if the weather for Saturday says sunshine and tailwinds. Google maps says 73 miles to Lyndhurst so the weekend adventure is up and rolling.

Off to book my room in the New Forest.

I'm going on holiday!! :)