Have you ever wondered how to load a route onto your Garmin/Wahoo and use it to navigate? Ride organisers will often post a link to their route, usually on either RideWithGPS or Garmin Connect, so here are the details for how to load a route from these route planners.
Notes from our recent Routes & Navigation Workshop (August 2025) covering Garmin setup, Route Library, creating Facebook events & Route Planning with RideWithGPS
How do I load a route onto my Garmin or Wahoo?Â
Loading up a route is now very easy to do directly from your phone, no computer required. This article covers both Garmin & Wahoo, with screenshots to show exactly what to do.
https://support.ridewithgps.com/hc/en-us/articles/13004717775515-Send-to-Device-on-Mobile
How to load GPX files?
Sometimes event organisers may send you a GPX file of the route, or you may have downloaded from another route planner such as Komoot. You can still load a file of the route (people often use or refer to GPX but TCX or FIT are equivalent).
Download the GPX or TCX file from the email or website. You need to move the file from the Downloads folder on your computer, into the Garmin/NewFiles folder on your Garmin. If you need more details, it is explained in the ‘Garmin Connect’ section of this page.
Garmin Connect
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/59613583 (Garmin Connect)
Once you have downloaded the FIT file, you need to find where it has been saved – most likely your ‘Downloads’ folder. If it shows at the bottom left corner of your browser, you can right click and select ‘show in folder’. If not, you may need to open the Downloads folder yourself.
“So I’m in Downloads…. and there are hundreds of files!!!!”
Top tip: sort the downloads folder so that the newest files will always be on top. To do this, click the ‘Date Modified’ column so the little arrow points down. You may need to click it twice to achieve this.
Once you see the file you downloaded, right click it and select Copy.
Plug your Garmin into the computer with a USB cable, if you haven’t already. The computer should recognise that you’ve plugged it in, with a ‘beep’ and possibly opening up a File Explorer window. If there is no beep, try another cable. Some cables can only be used for charging, and they won’t work to transfer data.
If a File Explorer window opens, great. If not, open the File Explorer and look on the left hand side for where the computer has picked up the Garmin and click on it, like this:
Now double-click the ‘Garmin’ folder to open it, and then open the ‘NewFiles’ folder. The folder will be empty – don’t worry! You need to go to your ‘Downloads’ folder, copy the file you just downloaded, then paste it into the empty ‘NewFiles’ folder.
Now right click and Paste the downloaded route file into the ‘NewFiles’ folder. If nothing happens, you may need to go back to Downloads and copy it again.
Strava
If you are a Premium Strava member, you can download any other rider’s route and load it to your Garmin in the same way as above. Strava gives a GPX file.
What Next?
Ideally, ‘Eject’ the Garmin from your computer by finding the ‘Safely remove hardware’ icon. On Windows PCs this is in the bottom right corner. If you are not sure how to do this, just wait 1 minute to allow the file copy to complete before you unplug the USB cable from the Garmin.
Your Garmin will then restart, and the new route will be in the ‘saved courses’ section. Remember to the turn off your Garmin, to avoid a flat battery when you are ready to ride! Individual models vary but in general you just click the route and then ‘Ride’ to start. Other members will always be happy to help with this when you are out on a club ride.
