So I did a gravel race a few weeks ago with my Garmin Edge 530. I loaded a course from the race organizers into my Garmin. On race day, I loaded the course like this:
Training->Training Plan->Find a Course->(select course to ride)->Ride
This was my first time riding a course created by someone else and I made a mistake during the race and missed a turn. I should have turned left at an intersection, but I kept going. The Garmin correctly noticed I was off course and prompted me to turn around. So I did. I rode back to the same intersection and it told me to turn left, which I did. In doing so, Garmin guided me in the wrong direction. Why? I assumed it would have told me to take a right turn at the intersection to follow the rest of the race.
You see, this particular intersection was the only one in the race where the riders pass through twice. The first time, the riders are heading south and are supposed to make a left turn at the intersection. They then proceed to make a big loop of a few miles and hit the intersection again heading northbound. Riders then make a left turn at the intersection, heading west. As long as riders use a Garmin and don't miss a turn, things are probably fine.
For me the problem was i missed the first turn and the Garmin had me turn around. I did that, but then the Garmin thought that by following its U-turn advice, I also wanted to take a shortcut at the problem intersection. Apparently it thought that since I was actually riding a few hundred yards northbound on the course after the U-turn, I also meant to take a shortcut at the intersection and essentially avoid several miles of the course. This is obviously not what I wanted. Is there a way to force the Garmin to not be extra cute when it gives a U-turn signal? I just want it to force me to ride the entire course. No shortcuts, no prompts.
The end result for me is that I ended up riding alone for the rest of the race, not knowing I made a mistake until the race was over. Disappointing for sure.
