Mid-Essex Mid-Week Nocturnal Series

[delthebike]

Oaky, are you feeling quite yourself? There has been forward planning and you didn't mention it! 

[Oaky]

It'll all end in tears, mark my words!

[Tomsk]

  Three Elms.  Bar snacks.

By the badger-avoiding route, of course. [Straight down the main A130....the traffic will have culled them all].....

[Oscar's dad]

A good ride last Wednesday ...


[Lots of beer miles]

I hope I can make it next week as I like The Three Elms.  Doggers did a great job with the route.  Must be Oros' turn to step up soon 

[Oros70]

I hope to make it out this week.if i dont let me know the pub for the following week and i will do the route as i dont know many real ale pubs or i can set a route to a kitten killer.
The spoons in witham has made it into the 2015 real ale guide book.

[Oscar's dad]

Houston we have a problem ...

Our newer members seem to use Garmin Connect to produce and share routes, this is because they very sensibly use Garmin Edge devices.  But, us old hands mainly use eTrex devices which don't like Connect cos Connect is all about courses.  So we use BaseCamp in conjunction with a variety of other mapping solutions as eTrex devices are all about tracks and routes.  Therefore we aren't speaking a common language. 

So we either need to sell incompatible devices and buy compatible devices - not a sensible option.  Or we all start using a mutually compatible means of sharing routes which can then be downloaded into our Garmin of choice.

Discuss.

[The Retiree]

Huggy pointed out to me last week that he managed to get my last route into his Garmin somehow! due to this exact reason.
Huggy could you share with everyone how you managed to extract my route from connect and into a format friendly for the etrex devices please.

Moving forward I am happy to use a bikely or similar route planner if that makes things easier? i only use connect as I can be all flashy and bluetooth the route to my Edge without having to plug into the computer 

[huggy]

Houston we have a problem ...

As a workaround at least for the period that Garmin does not support its own etrex devices on Connect:

If you go to the course details page, you should see a url similar to this...
http://connect.garmin.com/course/1016524

Take the number at the end (1016524 in this case) and plug it into one of these, and you can download a file for the course directly.

http://connect.garmin.com/proxy/course-service-1.0/json/course/1016524 (json)
http://connect.garmin.com/proxy/course-service-1.0/fit/course/1016524 (fit)
http://connect.garmin.com/proxy/course-service-1.0/tcx/course/1016524 (tcx)
http://connect.garmin.com/proxy/course-service-1.0/gpx/course/1016524 (gpx)
http://connect.garmin.com/proxy/course-service-1.0/gpolyline/course/1016524 (gpolyline)

(07/10/2014 - Links edited after several quite obvious typos that no one picked up on.)
The text that appears can then be saved as a .tcx or .gpx file, whichever is your preferred, and then imported to Basecamp from where it can be uploaded to your device.  That is if the link does not generate an automatic download of the text file.
Lots of faff but we're used to that as cyclists!!
Using Bikely can be equally problematic due to it generating excessive track points which can't be loaded directly to the etrex to navigate by.  I usually take a Bikely route and import it to BikeRouteToaster then export a more friendly GPX format of file which can then be loaded to Basecamp for archiving and loading to the etrex.  A different process of faff!!!
We could insist on using Basecamp to create tracks/routes but my experience is that BC has its own foibles that I have yet to beat in to submission.

My enduring preferred method of creating routes is to use BikeRouteToaster where links to your meticulous work can be shared.  This method of course had a fairly difficult issue a while ago when BRT went offline for several months to come back recently in a new format.

[Oscar's dad]

The text that appears can then be saved as a .tcx or .gpx file, whichever is your preferred, and then imported to Basecamp from where it can be uploaded to your device.

I probably being dim but how do you do this bit ^^^?

[The Retiree]

Bike Route Toaster suits me, I used to use it all the time before it went offline for those 7 months. I will use this moving forward to make it easier for you guys to upload to your devices.

I believe the Train Driver himself Mr Skeet is joining us this week! 

[huggy]

The text that appears can then be saved as a .tcx or .gpx file, whichever is your preferred, and then imported to Basecamp from where it can be uploaded to your device.

I probably being dim but how do you do this bit ^^^?

Method 1:
Click on the page of text
Ctrl-A
Ctrl-C
Open new Notepad or Word file
Ctrl-V
Save file as {name}.tcx or {name}.gpx

Method 2:
View webpage source code
Save as {name}.tcx or {name}.gpx

Method 2 may get refined as I QA it later...

In Basecamp import file - select your new tcx or gpx

[delthebike]

bikehike can save as tcx, gpx route, txt, gpx track,   kml, or gpxx route. 

[huggy]

bikehike can save as tcx, gpx route, txt, gpx track,   kml, or gpxx route. 

As can Bikely, BRT & Google but the issue that etrex has is the number of track points generated in the GPX.  I never had any of these issues before my Edge 705 died 
Garmin have not made the etrex friends with Connect in the same way as the Edge devices are, a bit like residents on the two sides of The Pond - separated by a common language 

[huggy]

Presuming we are all out to play next week I have tried a second attempt at devising a route to this CAMRA pub http://www.the-three-elms.com/ in Chignal St James.
 http://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/8122710

Using some of the method described upthread for etrex users here are a couple of links to access the Garmin Connect generated course to the Three Elms as proposed by Navigator Elect, Doggers.

TCX course
http://connect.garmin.com/proxy/course-service-1.0/tcx/course/8122710

GPX route
http://connect.garmin.com/proxy/course-service-1.0/gpx/course/8122710

[Oaky]

...but the issue that etrex has is the number of track points generated in the GPX.

Never used Garmin connect to create tracks before, but does it really manage to hit the eTrex trackpoint limit on anything that's not a huge distance?

The limit for trackpoints is 10,000 per track.

Depending on terrain, and the twistiness of the roads, tracks I've made from other sites (BRT, bikely, bikehike, ...) typically come to ~1000 points or less for a 50+ mile leg.

[huggy]

...but the issue that etrex has is the number of track points generated in the GPX.

Never used Garmin connect to create tracks before, but does it really manage to hit the eTrex trackpoint limit on anything that's not a huge distance?

The limit for trackpoints is 10,000 per track.

Depending on terrain, and the twistiness of the roads, tracks I've made from other sites (BRT, bikely, bikehike, ...) typically come to ~1000 points or less for a 50+ mile leg.

When generating a navigable route from a track you are limited to 50 points and indeed if you import a route with more than 50 points the etrex throws a hissy and refuses to load it.  I draw your attention back to the point that this refers to generating navigable routes to provide turn-by-turn instructions.
I may be stuck in the world of Edge but I quite like the way those devices navigate by following a defined line rather than notional track points that it then navigates between on the road

[Oaky]

I must be missing something then... the link above:-

http://connect.garmin.com/proxy/course-service-1.0/gpx/course/8122710

gives you a track (with 1189 trackpoints), not a route.

I guess the limitation arises from whatever method you are using to turn that into a route, rather than from Garmin Connect itself?  (never tried this other than in Basecamp - where you are immediately asked for the number of route points... are some methods somehow creating a route with each trackpoint as a routepoint?).

I prefer to follow a track on the screen since then I actually end up on the same roads as have been carefully and lovingly selecting during the handcrafting of the ride and not some random approximation as per OD's preferred method 

[Tomsk]

I shall be giving the New Bike*  a proper test ride tomorrow night......veeeerrry carefully.

* [Hasn't got a name yet....]

[Oaky]

Don't forget to name your mudguards too!

[Oros70]

Sorry lads can't make tomorrow but will be out next week.so if you pick a place to go i will plot a route. The only real ale pubs i know are the compasses/the cats or the flitch of bacon.Have a good ride tomorrow night and stay safe.

[Oscar's dad]

Sorry lads can't make tomorrow but will be out next week.so if you pick a place to go i will plot a route. The only real ale pubs i know are the compasses/the cats or the flitch of bacon.Have a good ride tomorrow night and stay safe.

You'd better start doing some research then!  There are 200+ pages to plough through here 

[Oaky]

A large-ish subset of the places visited in those 200+ pages (and at least one or two we never got round to) are on this map.

[huggy]

I prefer to follow a track on the screen since then I actually end up on the same roads as have been carefully and lovingly selecting during the handcrafting of the ride and not some random approximation as per OD's preferred method 

And that's the difference in our navigation methods when we eventually get out on the bike!  To make a route with turn-by-turn instructions and alerts you need to convert your carefully plotted track in to a route with BaseCamp which can have no more than 50 points.  However, this is where my method diverges from OD's - I allow BC to create those points as it sees fit rather than trying to apply OD intelligence and force it to use Waypoints of my own 
It actually works quite well most of the time when you allow it to do its thing, the only issue I then have is that if I do go wrong it automatically recalculates and tries to take me to the next navigation point by its own preferred route which can result in later route variances than the original preferred path, although I do ultimately still get to the end point.

[The Retiree]

Oros I visited the CAMRA website for mid essex to find the Three Elms, plenty on there to choose from along with Oaky's map. Hoping to make it next week but not sure at this stage whether I am going to be able to make your maiden plotted route

[Oscar's dad]

If I'm not at the Spa Road roundabout at 1930 hrs carry on without me. I'll see you at the pub, hopefully.