Export Routes From Bikely, Import Courses To Garmin Training Center

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I struggled to get the the bikely route into the my Garmin Forerunner 305 to try out the "course" function. Let's do a little tutorial here.

First of all, bikely is a GREAT resource for bike rides in and around Greenville, since the Greenville Spinners seemed to utilize this page a lot. But you can search for routes all over the world and the data base grows daily. I like it more than mapmyride, because there is no advertising floating through the maps and the site also seems to load faster. Another plus point for me on bikely is, that cue sheets can be attached to routes... ready to print.

But let's get going with the "tutorial".

Step 1: Pick a route or draw your own route on bikely.

So just assume for a minute that I am in France and happen to have my bike with me....

In the map view, you can see the elevation profile of the course. If there is a cue sheet maintained with the route, you can just click on "cue sheet". As mentioned yesterday, I recommend having a back-up to the Garmin along for the ride.

Step 2: Download route to your computer.

While in the map view, click on "Share" an select option "Download .GPX".

So far, this is pretty straight forward. The problem now is, that you can only download .GPX and .KML out of bikely, but Garmin only understands .TCX and .CRS files.

Step 3: Convert GPX download to TCX file

 Visit GPSies.com Convert site and upload your GPX from the route that you downloaded earlier. Then choose TCX format and click convert and save the new file on your computer again.

Step 4: Upload TCX file to Garmin Training Center.

File> Import> Courses and select your course file.

Step 5: Upload route from Garmin Training Center to your FR305

Of course you have to connect your Forerunner to your computer first and then send course to device in the training center software.

DONE! All that is left to do now:

Step 6: Get on your bike and ride the course!

Garmin FR305> Training> Courses> Select your course> Select "Do Course"
In order to switch between the data fields and the map press the "mode" button a couple of times.

Happy riding! ;-)