Strava Routes – multiple laps

I have a route I will be riding twice this weekend. I have the lap mapped on Strava.

I would like to create a two lap route, so I have info about what is coming up, how much further to go etc, even when on the second lap.

I realise I could edit the route to extend it along the same route as the first lap, but much of it is not on established trails, so a lot of manual fiddling and it’s likely to take ages.

I also don’t want to have to mess about with the Garmin device partway through, i.e. to stop recording, then select the same course and set it to navigate that afresh, then combine the two activities afterwards.

Is there a way, in Strava Routes (or maybe Garmin Connect), to tell it that my ride should be this route twice?

Plot the route in Strava Routes to cover the lap twice?

I’ve been sent the route by the event organiser. I think they’ve probably simply ridden and recorded the route.
As I said, loads of it is not on established trails, which Strava will not recognise, so to plot a second lap, I would have to use manual mode with hundreds of waypoints.

As I said, loads of it is not on established trails, which Strava will not recognise, so to plot a second lap, I would have to use manual mode with hundreds of waypoints.

Strava doesn’t care if it’s on trails or not; you can plot a route across a featureless bog and your GPS will simply give you a line across it.

However, the plot will have to be in manual mode – trying to do it via automatic will result in it snapping to the nearest trail or simply failing to understand the instruction.

I’ve done loops and out-and-back stuff where the route goes along a road/trail then a few miles later comes back along the same road/trail and it’s never confused the GPS yet. If you create one loop then duplicate the file and combine them via gpsies, that would probably work. Might need to play with the start / end point so it recognises that it has finished the first loop and then needs to start the second, don’t overlap them. Finish Loop 1 100m short of the start of Loop 2.

Is it a gpx file or similar? There are apps that will allow you to edit a .gpx, perhaps load the file twice then join the two together? I’ve used GPS Trackmaker in the past to fiddle with files, it might cope.

https://download.cnet.com/GPS-TrackMaker/3000-12940_4-10065579.html