Ride with gps

[Broughtonblue]

I'm a bit of a tech numpty, so please be gentle with me! Just discovered a local cycling club that plan their routes using ride with gps and publish them before the ride. As my weight is increasing rapidly, and my mental health is going downhill again, I'm tempted to have a ride out with the club to get me going again. My question, is there anyway of downloading their rides to strava or my garmin 305 without paying the monthly subscription to RWGPS, I'm pretty new to the area so would probably like to do a few of their rides before joining them as I would like to make sure I'm up to speed and don't get dropped on my 1st ride 😀

 

[Biggler]

I'm not a paid member of RWGPS but I'm able to do this with my own routes.

 

[Peter Salt]

Export .GPX file and then drag and drop it onto the device or Garmin Connect.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Export .GPX file and then drag and drop it onto the device or Garmin Connect.

^ Wot he said

 

[Aravis]

^ Wot he said

Yes. The only think I'd add is that I find it beneficial to reduce the number of points to about a third of the number RwGPS produces by default - 3000 down to 1000 for example. You can't do this in free RwGPS so I load the GPX file into BikeHike and do it there before copying it to my device. If BikeHike is unavailable the reduction can be done in Plotaroute but it's a bit more fiddly.

 

[T4tomo]

Yes. The only think I'd add is that I find it beneficial to reduce the number of points to about a third of the number RwGPS produces by default - 3000 down to 1000 for example. You can't do this in free RwGPS so I load the GPX file into BikeHike and do it there before copying it to my device. If BikeHike is unavailable the reduction can be done in Plotaroute but it's a bit more fiddly.

this may be an unnecessary complication, given its not really a RWGPS plotted route

local cycling club that plan their routes using ride with gps and publish them before the ride

OP @Broughtonblue is it an edge 305? (i.e not a garmin watch) that's quite an old device. you'll need to plug it into your computer and drop the FIT file you downloaded from RWGPS into the "new files" folder on your garmin.

when you then restart the Garmin it should appear in the routes menu

 

[Dogtrousers]

A free basic RWGPS account is a really useful thing to have. I had one for years before I upgraded to premium.

Unfortunately I think they can be a bit pushy about getting you to sign up for premium, and you can't blame them I suppose - they have bills to pay. So you may have to be quite assertive about wanting a free one when creating an account.

There's a table of features you can get with different types of a/c here: https://ridewithgps.com/choose_account (scroll down for a table)

I think you can download public routes without any account at all, but I think you may lose some features like custom waypoints.

 

[Broughtonblue]

@T4tomo sorry my mistake, I have a garmin 530! 👍

 

[T4tomo]

@T4tomo sorry my mistake, I have a garmin 530! 👍

ah, there are ways of auto syncing it via garmin Connect then if you have set up a garmin connect account and linked it to ride with GPS account (you use the send to device button in RWGPS)....but my manual method still works fine as well.

My OH has the 530, I have an old 800 or 810, so I'm used to the manual route. so use that if dropping routes onto her garmin.

 

[Dogtrousers]

@T4tomo sorry my mistake, I have a garmin 530! 👍

It's super easy to get a route from Rwgps to a 530 with a premium Rwgps account, but I don't know if all the steps will work with a free a/c. However you can always try it and find out which, if any, bits don't work with a free a/c.

Here's what I'd do. But bear in mind I have a premium RWGPS a/c so not everything will necessarily work.

It looks laborious but most of the steps are one time only setup steps.

To begin with

• Create a free RWGPS account. (One time only)
• Make sure you've got Garmin Connect installed on your phone and have the 530 set up and connected over bluetooth (One time only) This not 100% essential, but I'm assuming this below. You could use Garmin Express and a cable on a PC instead.
• Go to the club's route on the RWGPS website. Under "more" click "copy to my routes."
• Either that or create your own route.

Method 1: Connect IQ.

• Install the ConnectIQ app on your phone. Use this to download the rwgps app to your 530. I've forgotten exactly how to do this but it was easy. (One time only) You can probably do this on a PC instead of the phone as an alternative.
• Actiivate the RWGPS connectIQ app on your GPS and link it to your RWGPS account. Again I've forgotten exactly how to do this. It involves getting a code from the app on your GPS and entering it into the RWGPS website. (One time only)
• Open the RWGPS connectIQ app on your GPS. Select "recent routes" and you will see the route you created above. Select download and bingo it will appear under courses on your 530.

Method 2: Garmin Connect.

• Allow RWGPS to talk to Connect. Another one time setup action that I've forgotten how I did it. It's under settings/connected services in the RWGPS website. You have to enter your garmin id and password. (One time only)
• Go to the route you created and click the drawing pin to "pin" the route. This will send it to Garmin Connect.
• After a brief delay the route should be available in Connect
• Go to Garmin Connect on your phone, open the route, click "send to device", choose your 530 and sync the device. It will appear under courses on your 530. Alternatively, you could do this step using Garmin connect website and Garmin Express app on a PC.