Earlier this year, I got a GPS unit for my bike. The reason (or excuse, depending on who you ask) I wanted to get one was because my bike computer of several years had not been working for the past couple of months. And there’s no way that I could live without a constant stream of data inputting into my brain, even when I am riding. And with a GPS, I’d be getting even more information!

I decided on getting the Garmin Edge 205 because it was designed and worked well on a bike. I was using it more to track my own movements rather than as a normal mapping device. And I didn’t need the higher end model which had an integrated heart-rate monitor and displayed altitude (both pieces of information that would distract and discourage me rather than provide me useful info to ride on).

So after a few months of usage, I had a good sample of data to start evaluating and displaying my rides (or “tracks” in GPS lingo). Initially, I had tried the Garmin software that came with the unit, but that was not a happy experience. I then looked for some third-party solutions, and found an open source application, GPSBabel, that enabled me to transfer and convert the proprietary GPS data to an open format GPX. I would then be able to view the GPS data in Google Earth.

Unfortunately, the conversion application didn’t work as well as I would like. The good thing was when I looked again at Google Earth, I found that the Plus version allowed for importing GPS data directly. I had to pay a little for the Plus functionality, but I figure it was worth it because it worked seamlessly and properly.

The next step was to figure out how to save and display the tracks that were generated from the GPS data. Fortunately, Google Maps could now display GPS data from Google Earth (as KML files). Here’s a screenshot of one track:

From there, I used one of my dormant del.icio.us accounts to create a feed linking to each of my mountain biking tracks. This way, I could post new tracks after each ride and even put down some ride notes.

You can see it all on the right side panel under MTB-Tracks or directly at del.icio.us/emmfan/mtb-tracks.

P.S. Wouldn’t you know it, the day I post this, I forget to bring my GPS on my ride.