Garmin connect help

[Spinney]

I have a Garmin Edge 200 (the basic thing that gives you a breadcrumb trail, no maps).

Routes are set up online via Garmin Connect. I usually do a quick check against another map to check it hasn't taken me on bridle paths etc (although I do tick the option that says stick to roads).

However on yesterday's ride it wanted me to turn onto roads on private land. There was a notice at the gate saying that although it was private people were welcome to use the road on foot or on horseback, but it explicitly said no bicycles - so I had to find an alternative way round until I could pick up my planned route again. Many of the routes also include a little cutting of corners that, on thinking about it, are footpaths rather than easy cycle routes.

So I'm wondering if the Garmin Connect route creation thingy thinks I am a runner rather than a cyclist. The default speed setting for routes is also 6 mph. But I cannot see anything to change to tell it I am cycling (I am quite possibly being thick and missing something obvious here!).

And a smaller question - on the last two rides the thing has warbled at me a couple of miles from home, telling me that my virtual partner has just finished the ride. I never set up a virtual partner! Any idea why this has suddenly started to happen?

 

[172traindriver]

I have a Garmin Edge 200 (the basic thing that gives you a breadcrumb trail, no maps).

Routes are set up online via Garmin Connect. I usually do a quick check against another map to check it hasn't taken me on bridle paths etc (although I do tick the option that says stick to roads).

However on yesterday's ride it wanted me to turn onto roads on private land. There was a notice at the gate saying that although it was private people were welcome to use the road on foot or on horseback, but it explicitly said no bicycles - so I had to find an alternative way round until I could pick up my planned route again. Many of the routes also include a little cutting of corners that, on thinking about it, are footpaths rather than easy cycle routes.

So I'm wondering if the Garmin Connect route creation thingy thinks I am a runner rather than a cyclist. The default speed setting for routes is also 6 mph. But I cannot see anything to change to tell it I am cycling (I am quite possibly being thick and missing something obvious here!).

And a smaller question - on the last two rides the thing has warbled at me a couple of miles from home, telling me that my virtual partner has just finished the ride. I never set up a virtual partner! Any idea why this has suddenly started to happen?

With regard to the default setting of 6mph what I do when creating a route ,is to enter the speed I would hope to complete the in eg 17 mph then hit return and it recalculates the pace and time relevant to the speed you have entered.

 

[Spinney]

Hi 172 - yes, I do that. It was just that having the default at 6 mph was another thing that made me wonder if it is set to sort out routes for runners rather than cyclists.

 

[172traindriver]

Hi 172 - yes, I do that. It was just that having the default at 6 mph was another thing that made me wonder if it is set to sort out routes for runners rather than cyclists.

Never thought about your point, but it is always 6 mph as you state.
I have just swapped the speed without thinking about it.....sorry.
Not sure about virtual partner, but if after setting my expected speed and I can't maintain it it does tell me the course has finished before I get home.

 

[Spinney]

Not sure about virtual partner, but if after setting my expected speed and I can't maintain it it does tell me the course has finished before I get home.

I wondered about that, but I've only noticed this virtual partner thing on the last couple of rides. Mind, I don't do that many rides where I follow a route from it, but I have done enough to have noticed that happening. I normally just use the thing for tracking and sticking on Strava (to see how slow I was up the hills compared to last time )

 

[steverob]

No, it's not only you - Garmin Connect can be a buggy mess at times. I get the 6mph default no matter what activity I'm doing and also get the strange shortcuts along footpaths when plotting a route that I've said to only follow roads (you really have to zoom in sometimes to make sure it's not doing this). It also has a habit of choosing the wrong way round roundabouts and on dual carriageways. Also if I'm creating a new route on my home PC, it defaults to somewhere just outside Middlesbrough as my starting location for some reason - a mere 230 miles from where live! There's no settings in my profile I can change to prevent this - my home town is already there correctly. Interestingly, on my work PC it defaults to Central London, which makes sense as that's where I work.

Having said all that, they do fix things from time to time and it's a nice surprise when they do as they never seem to publicise what the updates contain. For example, previously if you were following a breadcrumb trail map with a virtual partner and came across a segment, the VP would reset to your location at the start of the segment and race you up it. The only trouble was, when you finished the segment, the VP would carry on from that point - so if you beat your PR on the segment by 10 secs, the VP would now be 10 secs behind you on the full route, regardless of how many minutes ahead/behind of it you were when the segment started, making it somewhat pointless for pacing. However this seems to have been corrected in a recent update and it now seems to have separate virtual partner settings for the route and for segments (or at least that's what I've experienced recently).

 

[Spinney]

No, it's not only you - Garmin Connect can be a buggy mess at times. I get the 6mph default no matter what activity I'm doing and also get the strange shortcuts along footpaths when plotting a route that I've said to only follow roads (you really have to zoom in sometimes to make sure it's not doing this). It also has a habit of choosing the wrong way round roundabouts and on dual carriageways. Also if I'm creating a new route on my home PC, it defaults to somewhere just outside Middlesbrough as my starting location for some reason - a mere 230 miles from where live! There's no settings in my profile I can change to prevent this - my home town is already there correctly. Interestingly, on my work PC it defaults to Central London, which makes sense as that's where I work.

I get all that as well!

The 'checking it's following roads' thing - in yesterday's example I thought I had checked roads, and the main 'diversion' that bothered me was on a road - just that it was a private road! Maybe the mapping doesn't know about private roads (although I think google mapping does).

Garmin also thinks I live in London, as opposed to just north of Bristol! I've also noticed the roundabout thing as well.

Glad it's not just me!

 

[Sixmile]

I haven't had these particular issues with my unit but nearly every time I plug my Edge into my PC I get an update to perform. I plug it in every other day or so.

 

[172traindriver]

I get all that as well!

The 'checking it's following roads' thing - in yesterday's example I thought I had checked roads, and the main 'diversion' that bothered me was on a road - just that it was a private road! Maybe the mapping doesn't know about private roads (although I think google mapping does).

Garmin also thinks I live in London, as opposed to just north of Bristol! I've also noticed the roundabout thing as well.

Glad it's not just me!

Mine always defaults to Milton Keynes for some reason, even though I live in the Midlands.
I would have thought like most things with your computer, it knows your location anyway as does your mobile phone.

 

[Spinney]

Mine always defaults to Milton Keynes for some reason, even though I live in the Midlands.
I would have thought like most things with your computer, it knows your location anyway as does your mobile phone.

The website remembers my courses and my rides, I don't know why it cannot remember the last place I started a route from! Bikehike does. I don't always start from the same place, or from the place where my computer is, but I'd settle for it starting at my last start location. Not bloody London again!