I’ve contacted support, twice, which is not getting to the root issue.
Both myself and two friends using TR with outdoor workouts on Wahoo have had repeated random instances in the past couple of months where it just doesn’t sync - and then other days it does despite changing nothing in our setup. (one was a recent new user I introduced to TR for exactly this function - and after changing his first workout in the calendar to a more appropriate one, we couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t re-sync and he almost gave up on it - spent 45 mins with support and it eventually worked but no idea why)
I cannot figure out a conclusive fix when this happens - about 1 out of 5 rides it just fails.
Things I’ve tried include removing/re-adding the workout, disassociate, then re-associate wahoo/TR, doing this both in the wahoo app and also disconnecting on the TR website before reconnecting, changing Wi-fi network, verifying no updates available on BOLT or app, etc. I can’t pin down anything that resolves it. Usually next day or two, it just works again.
When TR fails, other syncs such as Strava/RWGPS continue to work so I know it’s connected.
Yesterday’s final suggestion from support was “try deleting and re-installing the entire element app on my phone” - at this point, 20 mins into hoping they could see why it wasn’t syncing while the problem was there, kitted up and on a tight schedule to ride, I just had to pull the plug and go without it. But then today, slid over a workout planned for later in the week, set it to outside, and it synced right away. So I’m glad I didn’t waste time deleting/reinstalling/reauthorizing everything in the app - but am kind of tired of trying these random suggestions that aren’t getting at root cause and generally don’t work.
Hoping someone else has been through this same frustration and maybe found a consistent fix?
It was ironic as I then listened to a TR podcast about both how awesome outdoor workouts are (I agree, when it works - and assuming that the workout that AT serves up actually has an outdoor version - and the intervals actually match - which is still a frequent miss 2 years after this release…) - followed by how important it is to have all your gear prepared to minimize unproductive rushing and stress. The #1 thing that is thwarting that nirvana for me lately is TR sync failures
I’ve had the same issue. It usually resolves if I keep hitting “select workout plan” in the Wahoo app. Sometimes it takes three or four tries. Very annoying!
Interesting - I’ve not actually tried this much - I’ve checked there once or twice, but whenever it’s not working, it’s not been there, and when it works, I see them on the head unit and just pick it from the list there.
But I will give your suggestion a shot to repeatedly open that in the wahoo app and see if that helps unstick anything…
Deleting, reinstalling, etc is just BS for “we don’t know, but we need to suggest something”
There was a glitch somewhere last week when my outdoor ride didn’t show up. Lucky for me I haven’t had the issue too much. When it doesn’t show up, I just shrug my shoulders and go ride. Not worth the hassle of figuring out why things don’t sync.
Yea, I agree… and I’ve been doing enough of that trying to find a trigger that resolves this with no luck so far, so I’m reluctant to continue throwing such “solutions” at this without some evidence.
I guess maybe next step will be to see if they can make it work reliably on Hammerhead and perhaps consider that… my 1st gen Bolt works great for everything else, but I’ve gotten enough use out of it over 4 years to consider a new head unit at this point if there is a better option. Hammerhead seems to be getting solid reviews, but still no TR support.
Outdoor workouts are the feature that keeps me subscribed year round - but it’s SO frustrating that they can’t make them work reliably, they continue to serve suggestions via AT that have no outdoor equivalents, and TR still can’t seem to write a script to just cross-check that indoor/outdoor match, and just fix the ones that don’t. It makes me slightly skeptical when I hear claims about machine learning if these basics can’t get done after multiple years
Their Android sync has a known transient bug that Wahoo is working on.
Our support agents are in a tough spot because the bug is on the Wahoo side and we don’t have visibility into what it is or how to fix it. I think they suggested reinstalling the app because that does work for a lot of bugs.
I agree that this is frustrating for you and for us. They have fixed bugs pretty quickly in the past and I don’t see why they wouldn’t be here. I do suggest reporting it to their support and maybe they have a workaround/fix for it.
The strangest part was my workout was already in the BOLT a day or two ago, scheduled for today, but drive out to where I’m going to ride, start up the BOLT and it’s not there. Seriously annoyed at this point!
I opened the ELEMENT app and it wasn’t there either - but like you said, I kept refreshing the select workout plan and all of the sudden it was there. I still had some issues getting it over but I think enabling my phone as a wi-fi hotspot and “connecting” to that with the element app on my phone was enough to then let the workout transfer.
OK - I will do so - to be frank, this also now has me putting a BOLT v2 color upgrade on hold and maybe jumping to Hammerhead because I don’t really know where the problem is and I’ll let them know that as well. When it works, it’s my absolute favorite TR feature and I just got another local cyclist to join TR just to use this after I was telling him about how cool it is. Locals have commented on some of my “outdoor ERG mode rides”
Nonetheless, I really wish a couple points could be addressed to fully complete the most basic stuff in outdoor workouts -
I understand outdoor equivalents still don’t exist for many workouts. Could TR prevent AT from replacing workouts w/no outdoor equivalent until complete? It just creates more work and risk of a bad sync when we have to change it before the ride. Alternatively - I’m also wondering - if we already have a workout set to outdoor - will that block AT from replacing it with an indoor workout? If so, that is kind of an interim fix - subject to point #3 below…
Ideally, TR would have a script (or summer intern?) audit the workout library to make sure the outdoor versions match - when they don’t match, I have no idea what AT will conclude if for example you do longer/harder intervals on the outdoor workout but it associates it to an indoor workout that is different - we know it’s not actually analyzing what we did outside, so I guess it would be somewhat “off” in its conclusions relating workout / PL to survey response, etc.
Consider showing some sort of workout graphic even when it’s been set to outdoor - then I would just make everything in my plan outdoor and reduce the risk of last minute modifications. The main reason I don’t do it up front is that the graphs are very helpful to get a sense of what the workouts are. Sometimes I’ll shuffle them within a week depending on available time, fatigue, etc. So I leave them indoor until ready to go outside and ride - but then the sync and no outdoor equivalent issues can pop up…
I listen to the podcast and I hear the outdoor feature being promoted heavily - as it should be - it is such a great tool to push yourself with structure and I loathe indoor riding! It’s why I’ve subscribed year round for years. But that seems to be all the more reason to polish these relatively simple rough edges to minimize end user friction, esp. with new people. My friend who is a new user went into the same workout sync rathole on his BOLT and could have just thrown the towel in if he encountered enough other things like no outdoor equivalent, etc. I encouraged him to contact support, he got through it, and is loving it so far - but some people just won’t put that effort in.
Anyway, glad I got it working today - hit a whole mess of power PRs and a few KOMs on the TT bike - thoroughly enjoying the product when it works!
We’ve got multiple support agents creating outside workouts every day. I know they are ramping this up in the summer and are also hiring 16 more agents.
Replacing an outdoor workout with an indoor workout is a bug. I’ll report that now.
The hard part is that we don’t create outside workouts 1:1. We have to make slight changes so that they work. If we could just write a script to check then we could write one to generate all of them. But I do think we can use some other features to spot check them.
Yes, we totally need a workout graphic. I hate that it doesn’t show that. I’m adding these things to my agenda with our COO. Thank you for the feedback!
I am still having this issue. The weather is getting better here and I would love to continue to use TR outdoor.
It seems that the app do not save the preference that the ride will be made outdoor. Also option is not visible on the Android app.
I tried multiple times yesterday, disconnect/reconnect TR on Wahoo Element app, did 10 sync on the element app, on the wahoo itself too, but no success.
Sorry to hear you’re having some trouble with this.
Are you making sure that you hit the “Save” button when switching your workouts to Outside? It sounds silly, but I’ve worked with some athletes who simply didn’t remember to hit the save button (they were closing out of that menu instead of clicking on “Save”):
