Converting a via to a shaping point

[danham]

I am finalizing routes for a long ride to West Virginia next month and am curious about behavior of vias that I subsequently mark as shaping points.

The pre-planned routes from New England Riders are excellent, but they have some scenic overlook detours/stops that I would like to eliminate. In some cases the easiest thing to do is delete them and make sure there aren't any shaping points left that guide you to/from the overlooks when they are located a short distance off the main route. And for some of the vias, which are right on the route, telling them not to announce obviously has no effect on the route. Will simply marking a via as "do not alert" turn it into a shaping point? And if do skip the former via for any reason (detour, etc.), will marking it as a shaping point avoid the problem of the XT thinking I have skipped a via and calling for U-turns?

I will be riding with someone using a zumo 660, which doesn't know from shaping points, so this is an important question for us.

-dan

[Rofor]

You're right - just turn to 'no alert'...

[Peobody]

The XT will try to route you to them but will not u-turn you to a missed one once you are past it but on the route. IOW, you don't need to skip them nor "visit" them provided you return to the route. One thing I don't know is what happens when you go off-route and first skip a shaping point and then a via point, and then rejoin the route. I know that you will have to skip the via point but I don't know what happens to that shaping point.

I'm sure you already know this but having the track on the map significantly alleviates the concern over a recalc. Should one occur, any route change will be noticeable allowing you to follow the track until it is convenient to stop and reload the route.

BTW, I'm heading north through WV starting tomorrow. IIRC, Elkin, WV is on your route. I'll be riding through Elkin on Sunday and then spending the night there the following Friday.

[danham]

Thank you, sir. Yes, Elkins (and Lewisburg) are our two HQs from which we will do day rides. The NER routes have lots of scenic overlook vias. Because we have ridden portions of these routes in the past, I'm editing out some of the stops and turning the vias into shaping points, so it's good to know that technique will do what I want.

-dan