had issues. We used Mapmyrides and Bike Route Toaster to create our routes for the 5 days of riding. Then emailed out the links for anyone to download to their 705 unit in advance of the trip. One morning I think Ben even used the send map function to pass along our route that day to someone that was having issues or didn't have the map in their Garmin unit. We used the mapping function to follow turn-by-turn (in purple) where we went daily rides. We never got lost. It was great. When using this feature, though, don't forget to "zoom-in", otherwise on unfamiliar roads, you may miss the turn, where the road has a fork or non-90 degree turn. We had a few times descending downhill at 40 plus and missed the turn and just had to turn around and go back to the proper street. My next test with the 705 will be to race against myself or prior rides along the same route.
Other tech stuff about our trip. When riding in the rain, or knowing you will be riding in the rain always carry or pre-purchase 2 sets of brake pads. I know we all didn't mind supporting the local bike shop, but it would have saved us all about 5 trips to the bike shops buying them in advance. Just one more thing to put in my "tool box" for future out of town/ out of state trips.
Wednesday was our 'easy' ride day and I had a 12/25 cassette on my bike. Was it too much? no not really, but there was no real spin relief for the legs on the super steep or long climbs. I was glad I brought two other 'climbing' cassettes - a SRAM 11-28 and a Shimano Ultegra 12-27. I choose the 12-27 for the remainder of the trip. This was a great decision.
