http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...hlight=courses

I use www.gpsies.com because it is so fast to create a course and load, and it has multiple formats available which means you can also use Google Earth or load to another mapping program.

You do get a little pop-up message when you are off course, but I haven't been able to figure out an audible alarm.

Just a note: you do not upload a map to the Garmin; you upload a "cookie trail" or a black line of your course. You will see an arrow representing you traveling along this course. There are no street names, etc., but you can create waypoints icons for places such as your house or the bike shops and use for orientation.

I use motionbased as a course database. For instance, we're riding the Firecracker 100 in July 4th so I searched motionbased for other users' entries. I picked the cleanest looking one, downloaded it to my laptop and then uploaded it to www.gpsies.com, the Training Center app, my Garmin, etc.

Oh yeah, one last note: the Training Center loads all courses into your Garmin. You cannot pick and choose until the Garmin's memory is so full that it will then allow you to choose. I haven't reached this point yet, but I have read about it. The forum at motionbased is a wealth of info.