How to import external tracks (Garmin, Google Earth, …) to Elite RealTour trainer

Latest September 12th, I broke my clavicle while biking not so far from home. Training for a half IronMan event (70.3 Pays d’Aix), I was pretty much disappointed. But anyway, as I use to say “what doesn’t kill you, make you stronger” even if it may be hard. Knowing that the recovery will take some time, I decided to purchase a Home Trainer in order to train on my own bike during the upcoming winter time, and get out of winter in better shape than I was early September.

[ad]

Being a geek, I choose to purchase the Elite RealTour, that you can plug in your computer to track your progress and define your own training. The Elite RealTour has been around for some years now, and while not being a bleeding edge technology, it’s working and was discounted and therefore cheaper than its siblings like the RealAxiom for example.

Anyway, one thing missing in this product is the ability to import your own tracks or to create/download new ones from any mapping software or web site like Google Map or Garmin Connect. Knowing that the RealAxiom has this feature, I decided to see if there was not a way to bring it to RealTour and I ended up with a workaround. Not a very straightforward one, but by the end you will have your own tracks in RealTour and that’s all that’s matters for me 🙂

Here is how to proceed :

  • Let’s assume that being the proud owner of a RealTour, you already have the latest version of the RealTour software set up on your computer
  • Create an account and/or login on realaxiom.com in order to download the RealAxiom software (link)
  • Install the RealAxiom software on you computer
  • Run the RealAxiom and made the necessary settings for it to run (personal info, computer performance tests, …)
  • Once in the program, choose “More” at the bottom right, and then “Import”

  • The Import tool appears on screen
  • Select a track from your harddrive in File Path (format may be one of the following : TXT, XLS, CRS/TCX, KML, RAX, TRC) and fill in the various parameters according to your needs. Most of the times, I put Distance (Incremental), Height (Elevations), Km a unit and ticks the “Smooth” checkbox. You can then preview the track or just import it using the “Import” button. Don”t forget to put a meaningful name in the “Course name” field.
  • You’re now done with your track and it should appear in RealAxiom. Let’s now move it to RealTour and get on bike.
  • Exit RealAxiom, and go to the RealTour data directory. Under Windows 7, it seats at the following location : C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Elite\RealTour\Data
  • Make a backup copy of the Courses.* and Segments.* files, just to keep on the safe side (another saying I like : better safe than sorry !)
  • Go to the RealAxiom data directory (C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Elite\RealAxiom\Data) and select all the Courses.* and Segments.* files
  • Copy them to the C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Elite\RealTour\Data and you’re done
  • If you open RealTour now and go to “Axiom programs“, you should see your imported tracks seating there (go to the top of the list as they will appear there)
  • Get on your bike, and ride your favorite tracks now. Enjoy !

You may also like...

2 Responses

  1. Unai Sukia says:

    Hello , I lost realaxiom DVD and I had to reformat the computer .
    I have a 2011 elite RealAxiom roll , Where I can get the software ?

Leave a Reply to Unai Sukia Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.