Creating route for roadbike - Garmin and RWGPS

[Markymark]

Just properly used my Garmin Edge Touring and it's great. Created the route in ridwwithgps and all was fine apart from the section it wanted me to do on a canal path which I ignored as it simply was not suitable for my road bike.

How to I avoid this in the future?

When creating a route I can see I can optimize for driving as well as cycling, but then it tries to route via major A roads which is not what I'm after.

 

[vickster]

@jefmcg is a route planner extraordinaire

I'm not sure you'll ever be able to avoid all stretches of slightly rougher terrain, without meticulously checking every part of the route and rerouting

Why was the canal path unsuitable for a roadbike? Or was it that you'd have to ride slower?

 

[Markymark]

Why was the canal path unsuitable for a roadbike? Or was it that you'd have to ride slower?

Ta. The path looked really bad just on the bit I saw, flipping between mud, gravel and concrete with lumpy steps in between.

 

[vickster]

Fair enough

 

[JamesK]

I think the idea is that in the routing options on your garmin you set it to car/motorcycle....? This should avoid canal paths, tracks etc. I am new to my Garmin, and I read this but haven't had a problem yet with it set to bicycle. I only changed it after my latest ride.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I set the avoidance on my edge touring, to avoid narrow trails, and anything without Tarmac. It sent me here.

That's right, the towpath on the Kennet and Avon canal. I don't know which part of unsurfaced, or narrow it didn't get.

(ETA that was on 23 section tyres, and clipped in)

 

[LocalLad]

this is something I'm interested in too - I am a touch lazy and want to just drop in 2/3 key places to route me through and then go with the flow. I tried this with Google Maps, and it was generally ok, but wanted to send me across something that looks a bit like the photo above for about 5 miles.

Would be interested if anyone has a good way to do this without poring over each and every bit of a journey - I want to avoid major roads but stay on tarmac wherever possible.

 

[vickster]

You could look at routes on cycle-route.com for your local area

 

[nickyboy]

I used to have exactly the same problem. I'd plan a route and not realise that it had sent me down some unsurfaced bridleway, canal towpath or whatever. As soon as you select "Driving" instead of "Cycling" when you do the route planning on RWGPS the problem goes away. No need to do anything with your Garmin

Routing via A roads is only a problem if you don't put in cues along the way. There is also an "Avoid highways" box you can check on RWGPS

 

[Markymark]

I used to have exactly the same problem. I'd plan a route and not realise that it had sent me down some unsurfaced bridleway, canal towpath or whatever. As soon as you select "Driving" instead of "Cycling" when you do the route planning on RWGPS the problem goes away. No need to do anything with your Garmin

Routing via A roads is only a problem if you don't put in cues along the way. There is also an "Avoid highways" box you can check on RWGPS

I have played around with it and did a test route using this option to see what 'avoid highways' means and it would happily take me on the 3 lanes north Circular, not something I'd do by choice....

 

[Racing roadkill]

I have played around with it and did a test route using this option to see what 'avoid highways' means and it would happily take me on the 3 lanes north Circular, not something I'd do by choice....

Oh yes, mine has sent me down the A303, and the A34 before now. Both life affirming experiences.

 

[Arthur]

I get the same thing with RWGPS in cycling mode (and the lethal dual-carriageway issue in car mode), so I always plan in cycle mode, then zoom in on the route before I save it and drag any off-road diversions onto the nearest available road, creating extra waypoints. It normally recalculates the route very well. Route planning takes me a bit longer but avoids any nasty surprises on the ride.

 

[jefmcg]

I don't think RWGPS is a great tool. I tried to create a simple route following the A4, and it kept leaving the main road and diving into the side streets (that were longer and involved 2 right hand turns on and off the main road). My old favourite is - I think - the first route planning website like this http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/, which I have been using since 2007, but unfortunately it hasn't changed much in that time, and my route following software can't read the GPX anymore I haven't found a better one yet.

Do have a play with the strava route planner. It uses popularity, and as they have 10s or 100s of 1000s of UK users, it leads to some quite good routes. But it's pretty beta. I tried a route on the weekend, didn't like it so clicked "less elevation" and it changed to a route with 4 metres more climbing. But especially if you are going somewhere you don't know, it gives you great access to local knowledge.

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/strava-routes-the-wisdom-of-crowds.168493/

 

[Pale Rider]

I set the avoidance on my edge touring, to avoid narrow trails, and anything without Tarmac. It sent me here.

View attachment 91998

That's right, the towpath on the Kennet and Avon canal. I don't know which part of unsurfaced, or narrow it didn't get.

What you can't see is the metre wide strip of billiard table smooth asphalt on the other side.

 

[Mark1978]

Just properly used my Garmin Edge Touring and it's great. Created the route in ridwwithgps and all was fine apart from the section it wanted me to do on a canal path which I ignored as it simply was not suitable for my road bike.

How to I avoid this in the future?

When creating a route I can see I can optimize for driving as well as cycling, but then it tries to route via major A roads which is not what I'm after.

Drag the little streetmap man over your map. If the roads on your route all turn blue then they are accessibly by car, so will be accessibly by bike. If they aren't blue then do a streetview of the junction to take a closer look.