Courses for Garmin

morana

as I have rejoined the peleton I was wondering if anybody had any courses (for Garmin) for NCD specifically in the lanes and smaller roads?

Thanks

smacl

I just make my own up a day or two before I'm heading out, using one of the many mapping tools, and mooching google streets to see what looks interesting. I tend to go for routes avoiding all major roads, preferring l-roads to r-roads, and taking in one or two villages en-route and ideally places I haven't been before. Only thing to watch for with the l-roads is that the paving can be poor, so wider tyres are a benefit, and they often throw up some pretty serious ramps so it is worth looking at the gradient profile on whatever mapping tool your using. Current course creation program I'm using is https://www.bikemap.net/en/route/create/ courtesy of Alek. I don't know NCD, but I'm sure if you put down a rough start location and length, people here could cobble together a couple of routes. No problem putting some together myself, though it would be on roads I've haven't cycled.

Raam

I just follow my nose and explore.

triggermortis

It's very easy to make your own courses as has been mentioned already. If you make many small clicks on a route you're making it is easier to amend instead of just,say, clicking on Swords then Skerries. If you do that, the program decides the best route and it can be more fiddly to drag the desired course to where you want it.
To start I'd just follow Raams advice and just go explore. Routes can be sometimes hard to follow and you miss what is around you while you're navigating sometimes

Beasty

Head towards Swords and from there follow Raam's nose (it's very easy to spot!:p)

There are plenty of side roads to explore either heading out towards Skerries, up through Ballyboughal to the Naul, or perhaps over towards Ashbourne. It's also easy to head out or back along the old N1 or old N2 which tend to be relatively quiet once outside the M50 if you've had enough of the side roads. In fact exploring the smaller roads of NCD without a plan can be more enjoyable than spending all day looking at the Garmin....

smacl

Beasty wrote: »

In fact exploring the smaller roads of NCD without a plan can be more enjoyable than spending all day looking at the Garmin....

Yes and no. By planning a route through unexplored territory in advance, I find I cover more ground and get to places I want to see more readily than random exploring. If I go off exploring without a planned route, and get a bit lost, I tend to spend a fair amount of time backtracking rather than going forward. With a route on the 810, I leave it sitting on the speed/clock screen and it only pops the map up when I'm approaching a turn (or starts beeping at me when I've missed one usually at the bottom of a steep descent).

Beasty

I never admit to going the wrong way and only turn back if I reach a dead end.....

smacl

Beasty wrote: »

I never admit to going the wrong way and only turn back if I reach a dead end.....

Whenever I try that, I tend to keep going forward for another hour or so and end up back where I started. For some reason whenever I stop looking where I'm going my damn bike keeps taking me back to either Straffan or Knockanarrigan, and I still don't really know where either are other than not where I was going

morana

did a nice 80km today and covered a lot of good lanes. A good few Swords league notices up as well. I will give that tool a go. Thanks to all

Mercian Pro

morana wrote: »

as I have rejoined the peleton I was wondering if anybody had any courses (for Garmin) for NCD specifically in the lanes and smaller roads?

Thanks

Join Swords CC. Have done 30 leisure spins with them since joining last December and have discovered roads, lanes and paths in NCD that have no right or reason to exist. Other than Balheary Avenue, we seem to be on different roads every time we head out.

morana

Mercian Pro wrote: »

Join Swords CC. Have done 30 leisure spins with them since joining last December and have discovered roads, lanes and paths in NCD that have no right or reason to exist. Other than Balheary Avenue, we seem to be on different roads every time we head out.

i dont think that fine club would have me :rolleyes: I am a member of the Ravens but the lads are in a 4 year taper at the moment but who knows they might reactivate some time soon!

Beasty

morana wrote: »

i dont think that fine club would have me :rolleyes:

We're not that fussy....

...and you can be a member of more than one club.

Maybe you should give their upcoming beginner spins a go:P