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how do i strictly follow a course without being rerouted to what garmin 530 thinks is a shortcut I want

7300675
over 2 years ago

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.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Firstly, under Menu>Settings>Your Activity Profile>Navigation> Routing> set Recalculation = OFF.

    It doesn’t work predictably in conjunction with following a course and has been a source of angst for many as you have discovered.

    Under Menu>Navigation>Courses>Course Options set Off Course Warning = ON, so you’ll get a warning but it’s up to you what to do about returning to the course.

    The course “crossover” you described is one case where vigilance is needed because when proceeding on the wrong leg, you’re not actually off course, just in the wrong place. When in doubt, check the map screen.

    Other navigation settings are optional depending on personal preference and type of file provided by the organizer (TCX/FIT or GPX), eg Turn Guidance & Course point display. I tend to have both = ON and also use the Course Point distance field to give a countdown to the next point.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to PeterK_55

    Ok, so I finally got back to trying this setting out on the exact course again.  With Recalculation set to OFF, it still guided me to make a wrong turn after missing my turn.  Too bad there isn't a setting for "strictly follow race course" or something similar.  

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 7300675

    I have come across this many a time. Over the years, I have learnt to have the Edge set for Car/Motorcycle rather than Bicycle, this stops it wanting to take you along the likes of cycle paths etc. Also have the same maps you plan the course or route on, on the Edge, this gives you 100% compatability. I also find a GPX file is better than a TCX, TCX can get altered when you load them into the Garmin, GPX files don't.

    But, even so, it can still happen. I do an event which has a cross roads controlled by traffic lights where I turn left at it, but the Edge always wants me to turn right, proceed for about 200 yards, turn around back to the cross roads and then go straight across to where I should be going. Everytime I do the event it does this. From doing this event for many years, I have always known it is wrong and ignore it,  but that instruction is not in the GPX file when I put it into the Garmin so why it appears, I don't know.

    One other thing to do is have your map zoomed out a bit and you will see any strange loops etc on the map or if you think something odd is about to happen, zoom out quick on the map page. That is why I like to use the Garmin remote, I can switch to the map page straight away with just a press of a button without having to scroll through other pages or take my hands off the bars to operate the edge.

    Today on my ride I also remembered something else that can change your course, in the settings having an avoidance for "A" roads enabled. A few years ago I used do an event and at a certain point I would end up going over some big steep hills which I thought was part of the course and I would crawl up them. On my fourth year of doing the event, I casually mentioned to the organiser about these hills and I hate them and he told me I should not be going that way. When I looked at the course/route, I should have been staying on an "A" road but the Edge had been taking me off it because I had the "A" road avoidance enabled, over a big series of ridgelines and about 6 miles further on back down to rejoin the "A" road where the course was as the "B" road was no longer an alternate route. If there is an alternate way to riding on a "A" road, the edge will alter the course to put you on a "B" road even if it was only for about 100 yards so I found. I have a feeling though, this only affects TCX files and not GPX.