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Errors in Courses from Ride with GPS - Time to Turns and Destination; Displaying Routing Data

I got an Edge 1030 to replace a dying Edge 800 as a holiday gift.  Haven't used the courses much.  But now with the summertime season for organized rides, I will end up using the feature more.

One thing that drove me crazy when doing this on the Edge 800 was the wild inaccuracy of time-to-destination and time-to-turn.  From files downloaded from Ride with GPS, which seems to be the standard platform for centuries, double centuries, Fondos, etc., the Edge would always assume that my average speed was going to be something between 3 and 4 mph.  I remember doing a lot of web research on this without a definitive answer.  There is an app up on the web that supposedly could fix it by correcting all the times embedded in the file.  It looks many years out of date and doesn't seem to run as promised on a modern Mac.  I remember seeing a post that suggested that one could fix the problem by editing the TCX file with a text editor.  There is a variable at the beginning of the file called "TotalTimeSeconds" that one can use to replace whatever time the route creator input to something that would approximate your target time.  But it doesn't seem to work to correct the Edge calculations of time-to-destination or time to the next turn.  At least the Edge 1030 seems to calculate time to destination based on your average speed of the current ride.  But the nice screen with all the turns lays out continues to believe you are moving at 3.67 mph.  

If anyone wanted to see what this looks like, one could download the TCX for the Terrible Two Double Century here.  The TotalTimeSeconds variable is set to 19610, which is 5:26:50.  Which is kind of fast for a 200 mile ride.  But if one imports the file to the Garmin unedited, the Garmin calculates a 54:38:40 "Time" based on an average speed of 3.67 mph.  If one edits the TotalTimeSeconds to a more reasonable time, it doesn't seem to affect the Garmin's calculation of turn times whatsoever.  Is this just a flaw in the way that Ride with GPS creates these files?  If so, is it fixable?  I don't want to have to create manually course files for every organized ride that I do.

I also am puzzled by why the Edge 1030 seems much more restrictive about how the data is presented.  In the Edge 800, when one began to use a course an additional data screen would show up with data relevant to the course (time to turn, time to destination, time at destination) etc.  In the 1030, you seem to get one additional screen with the coming turns and that's it.  Do I need to create my own additional data screen?  Also kind of frustrated that the turn-by-turn text listing page can't be customized.  Unless I'm missing something.

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to offer.

  • Two weeks ago I used about six routes downloaded from RWGPS. The time to turns was off somewhat due to speed fluctuations but it was not a large amount. Same with time to destination. Your issue may be due to the how the route was planned.

    Yes, you do need to create a profile with your desired data screens. The 1030 has a amazing number of data fields to show.

  • Thanks.  Since this seems like a not uncommon problem with these routes, I would appreciate any tips anyone might have as to whether the TCX file is editable to fix the problem.  If you open a TCX with Excel, it recognizes the file as an XML file.  But sends a bunch of errors about some data not being readable.  

  • I don't know how to fix your issue but TCX files are editable as text (though, it would be tedious if many changes where necessary).

    Try notepad++ (I wouldn't use Excel).

  • "Also kind of frustrated that the turn-by-turn text listing page can't be customized."

    Customizeable on the 1030? That's not possible,

    These are a list of "course points". You can add custom items in RWGPS (with a paid subscription) and in Garmin Connect.

    The Edges support a limited number of types (icons) but, while some of the icons might not be what you want, they could be used for anything you like. It seems there's a limit of 200 course points.

  • If all you are interested with is the actual route and not the flags you can instead export a gpx from RidewithGPS. Then import the gpx to your courses on Garmin connect (web site). In editing the course you can set the pace calculator with your average speed. The resulting course should fix your issues. Personally I do this and also add course points (flags) at the same time to flag important locations such has villages, feed zones, climbs, etc.