How to upload Strava routes to your Garmin

It's useful to have a route to follow on your Garmin. Here's how to upload one from Strava

Ryder Hesjedal's Cannondale-Garmin team bike 2015

(Image credit: Watson)

First you need to create a course on Strava, for the route you want to follow. You may want to do this by mapping the route out yourself on the Strava desktop app, or you may decide to choose from one which you've already ridden or that someone else has recommended. You may even decide to follow a pro's route.

Then you need to connect your Garmin to your computer, so that it appears on your computer's desktop.

Next you'll need to export the route from Strava as a GPX file or a TCX file. The Garmin Edge 500 range only works with TCX files, but other Garmin computers can use either a GPX or a TCX file. Basemaps help as they give you a map and directions to be followed.

>>> 12 neat features you didn't know your Garmin had up its sleeve

As a default, the downloaded file will be saved to your Downloads folder on your computer, unless you've chosen a different location. You can then drag and drop the file to the Garmin icon on the computer desktop, placing it in New Files.

And that's the lot. Your new route should appear on your Garmin and you're ready to follow it.

Enjoy the ride!

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Paul Norman

Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.

He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.