As most of you already know, Sunday afternoon was supposed to be filled with miles and miles of north Georgia mountain biking, but responsibilities at home made getting away for an entire day nearly impossible. That’s ok…it happens from time to time, but that does not mean I have to be off the bike for that day…it just means I do not have the time to soak up the entire day with a ride.
That is where the road bike steps in and saves the day. In a 2 hour span, I was able to get out and rip out 36 miles on a local road route and get some serious spin time in. For Sunday’s ride, I decided to do something a little bit different. I wanted to really leverage the Garmin Edge 705 by doing a completely new route solo. Normally, without the Garmin 705, doing a new route without the aid of another rider that already knows where they are going is filled with numerous glances at a map and countless stops with the puzzled “do I turn here?” face as I try to figure out exactly where I am and where I should be going. I don’t know about you guys…but that is not my idea of a fun ride. I want to be able to blast through the miles without the worry that I am heading in the wrong direction.
MapMyRide.com – Finding New Road Routes
To find a route close to my driveway, I headed over to MapMyRide.com. I created a profile (not necessary if you just want to find a ride) and started searching for a ride that was in the 40 mile range around my area. Luckily, I found one rather quickly that fit my needs for back roads, traffic and distance. By clicking on the Route tab at the top of the map, I was able to export the ride as a GPX file that I uploaded to my Garmin Edge 705. Once I had it uploaded…I loaded the map and had turn by turn navigation for my road bike ride.
Everything worked flawlessly. As I would approach every turn, the Garmin would give me a 15 second warning and show me exactly where I needed to be on the map. I went the entire ride without a worry about where I was or where I was going. I was able to focus on pace, pedal strokes and form as I continued to blast through some great headwinds in the north Atlanta suburbs.
On top of that, my wife knew exactly where to look for me if something went wrong. She had a detailed map with directions to start the “oh shit” search as I ventured off onto the road without my support cars.
The combination of MapMyRide.com and the Garmin Edge 705 make new rides an absolute blast and has allowed me to further expand my routes in my area without the need of assistance. All I have to do is make sure that the battery is charged and I am off for a quick spin on the road. It was not the mountain bike ride that I had planned on that day, but it was still a great time on a bike.
The following screenshots are taken from GarminConnect.com that map out my recorded ride and one screenshot from MapMyRide.com.
