As a fan of Garmin GPS products for my car, I thought I might find some utility for one on my bike. It turned out to be a good idea, at least for me. Being able to create and download routes from my PC to my bike GPS closed the loop between simply feeling my way, with sweat in my eyes, to dead nuts easy to read directions, while in route. Don’t get me wrong, I like the adventure of feeling my way, but more often, I like following a plan. A bike specific GPS makes it easy, and I have been using one, in conjunction with route mapping web site services and software, for a few years. Here is my list of favorites:

  • http://connect.garmin.com/ – Not really a mapping route generator, more of a database to store your history, and a fine job it does at that. Includes a route player that simultaneously displays cadence, heart-rate, speed, elevation, and distance. Pretty flashy. It also does a reasonable job reporting historical data (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, averages, max/min, etc).
  • http://bikeroutetoaster.com – A great route generator. It can utilize OpenStreeMap.org data to create bikspecific routes. Provides a very good auto-router between points. Supports uploading and downloading your generated routes directly to and from your device.
  • http://www.gpsies.com – Creates routes just fine, but much better at GPS data conversions. Supports various formats for several GPS devices. It seems this site can take any gps output from various devices and convert it for use with any other device or other mapping software. That’s special. But, what’s really special is the conversion usually works. Most others I have used do not.
  • http://bimactive.com – Old favorite. It does a very decent job with everything mentioned above with an added twist – No GPS bike device needed! It uses your phone’s GPS feature to record AND upload your movements while in route. Go ahead, read the last sentence again . . It’s called Personal Live Tracking, permitting your significant other, friends, etc, to watch your progress as you go ($5 monthly subscription). Of course, at the end of your ride it will also accept data from your GPS device as well, filling in the holes for heart-rate and cadence. This site is also ready to push out your rides to your favorite social networking sites. Pretty slick. Yea, I know, Android has a few apps that purport to do the same thing, I tried them. They have a lot of catching up to do.

That’s my list. For a gadget geek like me, these tools add a dimension to cycling that keep me in the saddle.