enhanced Garmin GroupRide Feature

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There seems to be a new and enhanced GroupRide feature about to hit an Edge screen near you very soon, following the feature’s limited introduction in around September 2023. The enhanced feature will likely be a headline for the imminent Edge 1050 but by its very nature relies on other people using it! So Garmin would be CRAZY not to roll it out to other Edge 5xx, Forerunner 9xxx, and Fenix owners soon after.

Existing GroupRide feature

First up, you probably know about the existing LiveTrack and GroupTrack features. They are predominantly safety or convenience features, either to help you find someone else or someone else to find you – be that on a ride or in an accident. the new, enhanced GroupRide is different to that, it’s a performance feature.

More: Garmin Edge 1050 confirmed

the Limitations of LiveTrack, GroupTrack and the existing GroupRide

You can currently only see where people are and how far they are from you. The map view for that information can be useful during a ride and similar features exist within the Strava and Wahoo ecosystems.

Other limitations are imposed by Garmin namely:

1. All riders must be Connections with you in Garmin Connect
2. Each GroupTrackmenber must be paired to their phone with LiveTrack AND Grouptrack enabled
3. the Garmin device must support Grouptrack!
4. Positions are only visible once the ride has started recording
5. The maximum display distance is 16km
6. Once-per-minute positional updates

One of the great things about Grouptrack even now is that you can upload a route to the cloud and share a 5-digit code with friends to enable them to download the route…cool!

What enhanced GroupRide Adds to the Mix

In addition to your location, your performance stats will now be available for other group members to see. Stats include HR, cadence, speed and power.

The GroupRide feature set also includes something linked to climb detection. I don’t know what this is. I’m speculating that it might save the group members’ performance stats dynamically during the ride for climbs encountered during the ride. ie the climb would not have to be from a pre-planned route.

At the end of each ride, the GroupRide features give out ‘awards’. These seem to be based on the raw performance metrics plus Garmin composite metrics like your Climb Score and Stamina. (Is climb score already a thing?…it soon will be!! It’s definitely in the new GroupRide feature but might be the cycling variation of the Enhanced Climb Score for runners I heard about some months ago)

There are also other competitions. I’m unsure if these relate to individual rides or include multiple rides or if competition is something which Garmin ‘invents’ for the ride or is predetermined by someone in the group. Either way, that’s in too.

There is also a leaderboard. Presumably, this will be for some of the competitions and there are definitely separate leaderboard(s) for climbs. This will exist in a ‘provisional’ state and be updated periodically as new group members complete.

Take Out

Normally I’m a bit grumpy about these kinds of features as they always sound great but fall down when we try to use them.

However, I reckon this is a great idea and could spice up my Sunday rides. Well, I say that but only me and one other person in our group ever have a Garmin (and I prefer something else when possible ie Wahoo).

This sort of feature would change how I ride if my group used it, I’m pretty sure it would also change how others ride too. Depending on the route, I would certainly save myself for the hills or extended efforts. Whether or not that’s a good thing, I don’t know. On balance, it’s probably good to spice things up.