Jerry - did you replace Ascent with something else? I have over 10 years of data in it. I’ve heard also that newer Garmins (which I am also looking at) may not sync directly but at least you can import the GPX. I got the info from the Ascent forum which is still operational.
I do have my 2008 unibody MP that I can keep it on, but you know how it is about wanting everything on your main machine……
Diane
I was just looking up various programs that could be of help to me. I do not care about uploading tracks after the fact (or during) - I am only interested in making tracks as part of planning and sometimes for documentation (but not of my own exercise), so I use gpsies.com (no other service comes near when planning tracks for road cycling as one can switch between following roads on foot, bicycle, car and change between Google a Graphopper(?) on the fly + more + free). Use Pocket Earth pro on iOS for uploading tracks to see over OSM maps. Will not buy a cycle computer that needs charging more than once a month or battery change 2-3 times a year, so Garmin is out and they are clumsy, but may be of use in terrain … .
Thanks Jerry! The downloaded data is important to me as I mountain bike. Import/export routes to the GPS etc.
I have made routes on MapMyRide (the free version) but I don’t even do that often. I will check out your recommendations though!
I am afraid of using my phone on the mountain bike as I don’t want to take it out in a crash. Sure wish there was a way to turn on my 4s for GPS only, but I still think the Garmin battery lasts longer. I don’t charge it very often as it gets a charge when I plug it in to download and I just let it sit for a bit.
Some of the watches are pretty cool but I tend so smash things on my fingers and wrists so I don’t do that either.
Diane
Ascent stopped working for me a while back for unknown reasons. It no longer works on my MacBook Pro (High Sierra, 10.13.4) or my Mac Pro (Sierra, 10.12.6). I’ve played with GoldenCheetah and don’t particularly like it, so I’m left with rubiTrack and Garmin Training Center (32 bit). There’s also TurtleSport, which I’ve just barely looked at. I still use Garmin Connect, Strava, and SportTracks on the web so I’m not particularly lacking in places to put tracks. Garmin changed the FIT format on newer devices, so their tracks no longer work reliably with older software. You can still send them to GC and download a GPX.
Paul Schinder
schinder@pobox.com
I was not thrilled with Garmin Connect ever since the first time I hooked up to it (with the help of Garmin tech support), it completely wiped out all the data on my unit.
I will not use Strava or anything else I need to create an account for. It’s why I like Ascent.
I read High Sierra definitely broke it but it is still working on my Sierra machine.
Is there anything else that works as a stand alone product?
Diane
Paul Schinder
schinder@pobox.com
dianed143 Diane D
April 18
I was not thrilled with Garmin Connect ever since the first time I hooked up to it (with the help of Garmin tech support), it completely wiped out all the data on my unit.I will not use Strava or anything else I need to create an account for. It’s why I like Ascent.
I read High Sierra definitely broke it but it is still working on my Sierra machine.
Is there anything else that works as a stand alone product?
RubiTrack and Garmin Training Center are the stand alones I use. Good luck finding GTC anywhere, and since it’s 32 bit and it’s been a long time since Garmin supported it, it’s days are numbered. RubiTrack is very nice but has to be bought. GoldenCheetah is free and open source, so it should always be available, but I’m not that fond of the interface. It’ll do everything you’re likely to want, though (and if you can code, you can make it do whatever you want). These days Garmin Connect is used via iOS Garmin Connect or Garmin Express on macOS, and newer devices send directly to Garmin Connect via Bluetooth->LTE or WiFi, so it’s all automatic now. No need to plug the device in, although I usually do anyway.
Bump to an old thread.
I got a Garmin 1030 the other day. Holy hell what an adjustment! I finally figured out I can start and stop a workout using an actual button but damned if I can get it to stay on the screen I want it on - or even find the screen again. I’m really on the fence about it.
As I knew, I can’t import directly into Ascent (which is still working fine on my 2016 Sierra laptop).
Turns out Garmin support didn’t delete my Garmin Connect account when they wiped out my 705, so now my stuff seems to go to my phone, the cloud (when it wants too, I have to hit upload a number of times while doing some little dance) and then I can export it back down and import it into Ascent. I need to import the TCX file; the FIT file does nothing and GPX is missing heart rate.
Sadly, I discovered the Montebello site has gone down in the past year or so, so all those forums are gone now too.
I’ve tried Rubitrack and Golden Cheetah. Rubitrack imported the GPS easily and I was able to export a years of data at a time from Ascent and bring it in. But I don’t think Ascent exports my equipment data, and as I was going through Rubitrack preferences, it crashed on me and everything was gone when I reopened it. Hopefully it’s a weird glitch. $55 is not a horrible price but not if it crashes. I also can’t figure out how to group things by year in the list view, which is how I liked Ascent:
2019
March
Feb
Jan
2018
Dec
etc
Were there any others I should try?
Diane
dianed143 Diane D
March 31
Bump to an old thread.I got a Garmin 1030 the other day. Holy hell what an adjustment! I finally figured out I can start and stop a workout using an actual button but damned if I can get it to stay on the screen I want it on - or even find the screen again. I’m really on the fence about it.
Sounds like you might have auto scroll on. Turn it off and see if it’s any better. You should be able to flip through screens manually but not have it switch automatically. (Personally I prefer auto scroll.)
As I knew, I can’t import directly into Ascent (which is still working fine on my 2016 Sierra laptop).
Turns out Garmin support didn’t delete my Garmin Connect account when they wiped out my 705, so now my stuff seems to go to my phone, the cloud (when it wants too, I have to hit upload a number of times while doing some little dance) and then I can export it back down and import it into Ascent. I need to import the TCX file; the FIT file does nothing and GPX is missing heart rate.
If you teach your 1030 about your WiFi network, it’ll upload using it, with only occasional failures if my 1000 is any guide. When I pull into the driveway and stop and save the activity, in the next minute I’ll see “Ride Uploaded”. The 1030 has Bluetooth, so it should also be able to upload through the Connect iPhone app, but pairing it to your phone is a little annoying (you have to pair both within Connect and through Settings->Bluetooth for everything to work, and by “work” I mean usually but not always. And, of course, you can always just plug it into your Mac and let Garmin Express take care of syncing if it hasn’t already by some other channel.
Sadly, I discovered the Montebello site has gone down in the past year or so, so all those forums are gone now too.
No surprise there.
I’ve tried Rubitrack and Golden Cheetah. Rubitrack imported the GPS easily and I was able to export a years of data at a time from Ascent and bring it in. But I don’t think Ascent exports my equipment data, and as I was going through Rubitrack preferences, it crashed on me and everything was gone when I reopened it. Hopefully it’s a weird glitch. $55 is not a horrible price but not if it crashes. I also can’t figure out how to group things by year in the list view, which is how I liked Ascent:
2019
March
Feb
Jan
2018
Decetc
Were there any others I should try?
I’ve been using rubiTrack since before it was released (I did some beta testing), and it’s always been reliable for me. (The oldest activities I have in rubiTrack are from Jan 2008). The closest thing to Ascent’s list view is Calendar view, but it’s not the same. Ascent was very nice, and it’s a shame that it was abandoned. I also use Golden Cheetah and Garmin Training Center (which probably won’t read FIT from a 1030 either, and is likely to stop working in the near future).
The only other app I know of is TurtleSport, which I fooled around with a few years ago, at turtlesport.sourceforge.io It looks like it’s been a couple of years since it’s been updated,. As I recall it’s not as full featured as rubiTrack or Ascent, but as I said that was a few years ago.
I did turn autoscroll off, though I discovered after the fact I had to do it for each profile.
I really only use two screens, my selected data and the map. I can’t believe I can only put 2 data fields on the map when I could do 4 on the 705.
I recorded my sleep last night and I had turned on auto upload yesterday, so that seem to work this morning. I do have it on wifi and BT.
Is there a way to autosave the ride? It’s an extra step to save it, though I suppose I’ll get in the habit soon enough.
I do like the weather feature in Rubitrack - it’s one thing Ascent never was able to automate before he stopped developing it. It was neat to see it pulled weather for my old rides too - though not neat enough to re-enter all my equipment data. I have data back to 2004 - though no location data till mid-2006. I used to use an eMap, which was difficult enough to connect to a Mac, plus a Sports Instrument bike computer with heart rate and gather all the info that way. As antiquated as that was, it was a huge improvement from my first heart rate watch which only held a few readings, so I’d have to program it before each ride or class so it didn’t run out of memory!
I took a look at Turtle Sport’s screen shots, and they have a view that looks like Ascent, so maybe I’ll give that a try. Or maybe I’ll keep working with Ascent - though it bugs me that I have to upload to the cloud to get the data into it.
Is there a way to see the TCX file directly from the 1030? I was only able to find the FIT files.
I should probably dig up Garmin forums to see if my nitpicky questions are already out there.
Thanks!
Diane
dianed143 Diane D
March 31
I did turn autoscroll off, though I discovered after the fact I had to do it for each profile.
Yep.
I really only use two screens, my selected data and the map. I can’t believe I can only put 2 data fields on the map when I could do 4 on the 705.
Two has been the limit for a long time now. Was that way on the 800. I use 4 pages myself (two data, map, altitude profile), and that’s why I like auto scroll. They should probably up that on the bigger screen of the 1030, but they haven’t.
I recorded my sleep last night and I had turned on auto upload yesterday, so that seem to work this morning. I do have it on wifi and BT.
Is there a way to autosave the ride? It’s an extra step to save it, though I suppose I’ll get in the habit soon enough.
No. You’ve got to manually save. It’s annoying, but detecting when the ride ends isn’t easy (did you stop for good, or are you stopped for coffee or a road obstruction and intend on continuing). If you forget to end it, I think it’s saved somewhere so it isn’t lost, but I can’t tell you where or how to get it back on the 1030.
I do like the weather feature in Rubitrack - it’s one thing Ascent never was able to automate before he stopped developing it. It was neat to see it pulled weather for my old rides too - though not neat enough to re-enter all my equipment data. I have data back to 2004 - though no location data till mid-2006. I used to use an eMap, which was difficult enough to connect to a Mac, plus a Sports Instrument bike computer with heart rate and gather all the info that way. As antiquated as that was, it was a huge improvement from my first heart rate watch which only held a few readings, so I’d have to program it before each ride or class so it didn’t run out of memory!
I took a look at Turtle Sport’s screen shots, and they have a view that looks like Ascent, so maybe I’ll give that a try. Or maybe I’ll keep working with Ascent - though it bugs me that I have to upload to the cloud to get the data into it.
Is there a way to see the TCX file directly from the 1030? I was only able to find the FIT files.
No. They switched from TCX a long time ago. The only way is what you’re doing, send the FIT somewhere that can convert to TCX. rubiTrack can do that if you don’t want to use GC, and its exported GPX has the HR extension if you’d rather use GPX.
I should probably dig up Garmin forums to see if my nitpicky questions are already out there.
Since you’re in the world of FIT now, one other place you should know about is fitfiletools.com. They have some nice online tools that come in handy on occasion. Since FIT is a binary blob, you can’t just use a text editor to fix things like you can with GPX/TCX.
I went from the eMap and a Forerunner 301 to the 705, which a friend gave me when he upgraded. I’ve been thinking about a newer one for awhile, but they are so expensive it really takes me forever to make the plunge. If it wasn’t for gift cards, I’d still be using the 705 - and I probably will still use it on a couple of my lower-milage bikes to save me the hassle of buying/swapping mounts. I’m also internally struggling with the fact that my mid-range vision has changed in the last couple of years so the bigger screen is really a plus.
I feel like this is going to take me awhile to figure out what I like to see at a glance as I’m riding. A lot of my woods rides are following history, so that’s a whole other map to set up.
The way I’ve done stopping, since the 301 days, was not to have auto-pause turned on, and let Ascent strip out my stopped times. That way I can see at a glance how long I’ve been out, but Ascent will give me the actual moving time and average. I don’t like having traffic lights factored into my average speed.
So if I stop to get water or something, the GPS stays running even though it’s not clocking any miles. So far on the 1030 I’ve always hit the button to stop the track, but I am forgetting to hit save because I’m not used to seeing it there. I guess at the least, it will prevent me from adding on to the same track accidentally like I’ve done on the 705 if I forget to reset.
I downloaded Turtle Sport - turns out the list was the only thing I liked so I’m not going any further with that.
Thanks for the tip on fitfiletools, I’ll check that out. I’ll probably continue to play with Rubitracks and Ascent and see where that goes.
Diane
So if I stop to get water or something, the GPS stays running even though it’s not clocking any miles. So far on the 1030 I’ve always hit the button to stop the track, but I am forgetting to hit save because I’m not used to seeing it there. I guess at the least, it will prevent me from adding on to the same track accidentally like I’ve done on the 705 if I forget to reset.
Most everything I use in sites/software will automatically separate moving time from total time, so I don’t bother pausing at all. I have auto pause turned on anyway, so the 1000 does that for me automatically, while I just let my Epix run when I’m skiing.
I downloaded Turtle Sport - turns out the list was the only thing I liked so I’m not going any further with that.
I downloaded the latest and played with it this morning and discovered it’s metric only. It wouldn’t bother me much, but YMMV (or maybe YKMV). (Actually, any unit that has to be bundled into thousands to be used is just the wrong unit for that purpose. Miles make more sense, just like Fahrenheit makes more sense than Celsius in the temperate zone.)
Honestly, I was hoping that with wifi and BT capability, I’d be able to seamlessly transfer my workout file right to my Mac, so I could import it into whatever I wanted!
Seems like no matter how far technology advances, it’s still missing that last step…
Diane
You can do that, but it doesn’t get you much. Set up https://tapiriik.com to sync between your Garmin Connect account and your Dropbox and you can get copies of your FIT files on your Mac automatically, but not into any of the software you use. rubiTrack is pretty easy, hit command-Y and it syncs whatever you’ve set it up to do. I have mine set to sync whatever is new in /Volumes/GARMIN/Garmin/Activities (since I use different Garmin devices for different activities and always plug them into my MacPro shortly after I get home) and with Withings via Internet for my weight from my scale. Golden Cheetah syncs automatically with Strava (and a few other places, but not GC), but I still have to tell it to get my weight from Withings. Nothing is quite automatic with the desktop apps. My flow on the Web is device -> Garmin Connect -> Strava and SportTracks (that’s automatic), and separately on my Mac device -> rubiTrack and Golden Cheetah and Garmin Training Center (all need to be told to sync for something or other). (And for my PowerPod, PowerPod -> Isaac, Velocomp’s Mac app.) I keep all of the databases for the Mac software in my Dropbox and use aliases if I need to (sometimes there’s a preference on where to look) to put the file(s) in the place where the software looks for them, so I can see the same information on my MacBook Pro that I do on my MacPro. No matter what you do there’s still some manual stuff you need to do (naming activities, designating equipment, adding photos to the sites/software that take them if you have any, etc.) everywhere.
Hi everyone. I joined TidBITS specifically to ask the following question. I hope I am following all protocols for posting in this forum.
I saw Diane’s post from April 2018 on finding a replacement for the Ascent fitness tracking app. I, too, have years of records from Ascent that I would very much like to import into something I can read. Ideally, this would be Garmin Connect, as that is what I use day-to-day, but I am flexible. Has anyone found a way to convert Ascent records?
Thank you all in advance!
Charles
I’ve never found a way. I still have my Ascent data base, and I just looked at it and remembered correctly that it’s a binary blob, so you’ll need to know how the data is laid out internally to have any hope of reading it. Maybe it can be reverse engineered given time, but I’ve never had the inclination or the need; I’ve been using Garmin Connect since before it was Garmin Connect and before I started using Ascent. Realistically I think you’re just going to have to say goodbye to that data.
These days I use Golden Cheetah and RubiTrack on my Macs and Garmin Connect (automatic uploads from my devices), Strava and Sportstrack (automatic uploads from Garmin Connect) on the web. I still have Ascent on my 2010 MacPro, and it still functions, but the last time I used it was October 2017. If you still have a copy of Ascent and a machine to run it on, you can export the data (possibly only one by one) as GPX or TCX files, but that’s the only way I know how to get the data out.
I’m still on Ascent, with 2 machines on Sierra. My main machine will be updated to HS whenever I get a minute and I may lose it then (but will still have an iMac… and an older MacBook I can use).
From what I remember, Rubitrack was the app that imported everything the best from Ascent, but it didn’t import any equipment data. I think it defaulted to whatever my main piece of equipment was and set all my workouts to that. Since I have a NUMBER of bikes and I like to keep track of their milage, that really made me give up.
I have manually uploaded tracks to Garmin Connect from my 705, so that the miles could count for challenges (which are private to me).
I don’t know if GC will do a bulk import, and except for a CSV file, there doesn’t look to be a way to do a bulk export in Ascent. Even when selecting multiple tracks, you can only export one at a time, although you can copy and paste many.
I find GC online to be pretty clunky and I’m not one to like that kind of data floating around out there anyway.
I don’t know if you’ve gone through any of the syncing? For me it’s
Ride bike with Garmin 1030 on bike, phone with Garmin Connect app in my pocket
End ride, save track
Watch phone to see if the track shows up (lately it’s had a 90% failure rate)
if phone syncs, then the data is in the cloud
Go to Garmin Connect online
Click to enter into the track detail screen
Download TCX
Import TCX into Ascent
(if phone doesn’t sync, do any or all of these steps in any order: force quit GC on phone, reopen. Turn off/on wifi and bt. Restart Garmin device. Restart phone. Step away for a few hours and try all again)
I’d be thrilled if I could do away with the cloud portion. And more thrilled if I could get rid of the app on the phone. It doesn’t even have a yearly reporting feature, it does a year from your current month - not even date! I will say I enjoy the challenges they started posting a couple of years ago (miles per month etc) but other than that I don’t use any of the public or connected features.
Diane
I’ve used the perl Garmin::FIT module to do some things with FIT files. It includes a fit2gpx script which does what it says, but I’ve rarely used it. You could try converting the activity fit file on your 1030 in the Activities folder directly to GPX and see if it works properly. FIT is a pretty flexible binary format and Garmin::FIT seems to not be maintained very often, so it may not work in the end. If it does, you can skip the Garmin Connect part of the process altogether. perl has come with macOS for a long time, so it should simply be a matter of installing Garmin::FIT in a place where perl can see it.
Thanks for these very helpful responses. I will give it a try with RubiTrack. If that doesn’t work, well, I don’t actually need to relive runs of the past, but I’m hoping I can get some data from Ascent.
Thanks again, everyone. I really appreciate your time!