What is the current website of choice for creating a road ride GPX to follow with a garmin? I use Garmin Connect generally, but almost every ride now it takes me up/down something entirely unsuitable for a road bike. While I understand this is simply answered by ‘get a gnarmac’, I’m already dangerously close to the S -1 end of the N +1 equation (and sometimes lead club rides, where some people ‘only’ have road bikes… *Shudder*).

With Garmin Connect I can choose for it to allow cycle paths, but then it also allows dirt tracks. I’d like to be able to create a route including cycle paths but no ‘off road’ bits.

Photo giving perfect example of a ‘cycle path’ according to Garmin.

Strava then Bikehike if you need to convert it to a .gpx track that plays nicely with Garmins

That looks a great cycle path, it’s the bike that’s the problem 😉

Ridewithgps

RideWithGPS FTW. I’ve planned everything up to a 1500km route with it without any frustration, and I’m a picky sod 🙂

Bikehike is my go to for on & off road.

I think the issue is (with Bikehike anyway) if google maps thinks it’s a road. If I’m unsure I’ll have a quick look on satellite or street view.

Ridewithgps. It’s pretty reliable with google maps, less so if you switch to OSM. I use the streetview icon to check if the plot is all on roads – just hover it over the route you’ve drawn and check that there are blue lines on all of it.

With bikehike some paths/tracks/lines are treated as roads but others aren’t. It uses Google maps for the routing. By default “follow roads” is on so if it suddenly takes a huge detour then undo your last point, turn the “follow roads” option off and click along the route you want to follow until you get back on something that’s obviously a road.

Ha, sounds like you’re hitting the same snag I’m hitting, in that some cycle paths are perfect tarmac, but others are gravel or fireroad. I use the Strava route plotter but it doesn’t make a distinction between tarmac and gravel cycle paths.

Ridewithgps. It’s pretty reliable with google maps, less so if you switch to OSM.

It uses Google for the route calculation regardless of which map you’re viewing. This means that when you view OSM/OCM you’ll see a lot of trails which aren’t used by Google Maps for routing.

The way I tend to do it is this:

For purely road routes, I view Google Maps and use “Follow roads” with the “Driving” option, which is pretty reliable at keeping you on tarmac. I usually set the start and end points and then drag the route to where I want it (if you let it do its own thing you’ll end up on major roads, but at least it won’t send you down unsurfaced tracks). If I need to check details I normally have a Google Maps tab open which I can switch to and check Streetview.

For mixed road/off-road routes with the CX bike, I normally view OpenCycleMap and primarily use “Follow roads” with the “Cycling” option, which means Google’s routing starts using dirt tracks as well as tarmac. Then when I get to a bit that’s visible on OCM but not routable by Google (eg green dashed paths on OCM, which are often bridleways) I switch to “Draw lines” mode and drag the route manually over that section. I tend to have Bing Maps open in another tab so I can check the OS map, which gives a better steer as to what’s likely to be easily covered on a CX bike.

For full off-road routes I tend to use mostly “Draw lines” on OCM, switching to “Follow roads” where there’s a significant road section, and again I have Bing Maps open in another tab.

All works well for me.

Garmin Connect and use of satellite view where it isn’t clear what you’re about to follow. Top tip zoom right in on satellite view.

I use gpsies.com and regularly switch to google satellite view if I’m not sure whether the ‘road’ is actually a rutted farm track.

GPSies. Can switch between numerous maps or satellite. Can upload or download with loads of file formats

http://cycle.travel/