Ok…so I’m coming up on my 1 mo anniversary with TR and I’m going to ask for my money back. The problem is completed workouts just won’t move to the TR website without a lot of extra effort. When I complete a ride & roll up to my front door…I hit the sync button on my headunit, go in the house, change out of my bibs, get some nutrition, sit down in front of the computer, and see my ride on Strava. That’s my expectation.
After completing a TR workout I have to yank out the ANT+ cable immediately, move the laptop to a low noise portion of the house, then keep checking on the laptop internet connection for the next two hours. During that two hours the internet connection drops…I close the TR program, reconnect, start the TR program…after awhile internet drops…and so on. While this process is going on there is zero internet bandwidth on the laptop. Not even enough to check email. So it’s basically dedicated to wrestling with the TR program. Normally, there are no connectivity issues with this laptop (it streams 1080p video all the time) but when the TR program is up it takes 8 minutes to load a Dilbert comic strip.
I’ve switched router channels.
I’ve disabled bluetooth.
I shut down all browsers on the laptop.
Even so it seems like most workouts don’t go through. Then 24 to 48 hours later they might show up. I’ve got weeks old workouts that never made it. I completed a workout Sunday…still not on the TR website.
So, forum, as a last ditch effort to salvage this business relationship, anybody got any other ideas? If I can, I’ll give them a shot!
I would email support with the specifics of your PC setup but it does sound like a weird connectivity issue. You could try tethering your phone to use for the internet connection one time to see if that fixes the issue.
TR rides should be on Strava within a few minutes if not quicker.
My bike headunit syncs through the same WiFi my laptop uses.
Do you mean just an ethernet connection from the laptop directly to my router? I like that idea…bounced it off TR support but they didn’t seem to put it at the top of the list so it fell off the board. Maybe I need to revisit! Ha! You know, I’m not even sure that laptop has an ethernet port…I’ll have to check.
My laptop only has connectivity issues when the TR app is running. I can stream live video, play interactive games, etc without interruption. I regularly use it to support customers remotely, host conference calls, etc. So, for sure, there is no connectivity issue with the laptop streaming up low bandwidth stuff like a fit file.
I think this is a reasonable suggestion, but I would have to throw some more money at the problem to do that. If TR had told me up front, ‘Look, we don’t support your setup.’ then, ok, I know the cost. I’m ok with that.
But right now I’ve got a setup that doesn’t work. If I drop some bucks and change the setup…I don’t know that I have 100% confidence THAT’S gonna work either! Ha! TR said they supported the last one…
Soooo…if I have to spend more money, maybe it’s a better idea to spend it with another service provider instead? I love the idea of TR & would prefer that idea if it would just flippin’ work. But, good gosh, I’ve been corresponding with them for a month and things are worse today than the first week I started.
But I do like that ethernet cable idea! I’m gonna give that a try.
Oh yeah! I’ve been corresponding with TR support on what seems like a daily basis for about a month now. I tried to reserve a question on a public forum as the last option. Didn’t want to create negative advertisement for TR.
I can’t say I’ve experienced any issue with either my Garmin Watch or Wahoo Elemnt Bolt syncing to TR. The Garmin Syncs through Garmin Connect, but the Bolt is via Strava.
If youre uploading all files to Strava, why not just link the accounts? If I do an outdoor ride, it autouploads to Strava via wifi and when I log onto TR its already there…
I think he’s saying that when he does a workout using the TrainerRoad (desktop) application, it has a hard time uploading that workout’s data to the TrainerRoad servers.
nico_synergy, I think that’s a legit suggestion. It DOES work. After my first few workouts did not push to the TR website I started recording them on my headunit as well. In other words, I’m on my bike, which is on the trainer, and I have the TR program running/recording but I have my headunit on & recording as well.
So…workout finishes…I push sync on the headunit…w/in 5 minutes I see the workout on Strava. Within 10 minutes strava pushes it out to TR…and there the workout is. So that all works. HeadUnit–>Strava–>TR. No problem.
But I want it to go the OTHER way! Ha! I want the TR program to push to the TR website, which pushes to Strava. TR program → TR → Strava. Because, #1 I like the snazzy clean feel of TR and #2 that’s kinda the service I’m paying for.
I have never used the TR desktop app, so that’s where I run out of advice unfortunately… The TR iOS app seems to upload workouts perfectly, and outdoor rides are synced great via Strava.
On the note of your rides sync’ing to Strava though, is it really 5 minutes/10 minutes? For me, we’re talking no more than 15 seconds for both…
As far as spending more money, I probably didn’t explain well.
I’m suggesting that you install the TrainerRoad app onto a mobile device (one that is either connected via wifi or pure cellular data), run a workout on there, and see how it syncs to the TR website.
They have the TR app available on Apple and Android. It can run on just about any device, so you don’t need a top end unit to run it.
No additional cost involved, assuming you already have a phone or tablet that you can use.
I dunno the minimum time. But now you’ve got my competitive geek blood up. If you can do it in 15 seconds I’m sure I could do it in 12. But anyhow 5 or 10 minutes would be GREAT for me! Heck even an hour would be fine as long as I didn’t have to keep standing there and watching the internet connection so I could restart the TrainerRoad program when it dropped.
And actually, even THAT would be OK if the TR program didn’t hog all the bandwidth on the computer so I couldn’t check email/do work in the background while I’m babysitting the goofy TR program.
I mean, I’m willing to make a LOT of compromises at this point. Ha! I really want to make this work but it really just won’t work. So I’m conflicted.
Even using the desktop app, I get the strava notification of new ride added on my mobile normally before I’ve left the vacinity of the trainer. The only times it hasn’t synced has been connection problems with the laptop, not with TrainerRoad. That’s with a netbook that barely meets the minimum spec (it only meets the RAM with “boost”).
I have very poor WiFi in my training area and my rides upload such that by the time I’m done climbing off the bike they’ve sync’d from my computer to TrainerRoad and all the way to Strava (maybe 15-30 seconds elapsed time). There isn’t a ton of data that they have to upload - so I’m not sure what is causing all of your problems.
I like @mcneese.chad 's idea of trying a direct ethernet cable. I also think it’s possible that if you are at the lower limits of CPU or memory it might bog down the computer such that things become non-responsive to the point of not being able to navigate well on the internet
Have you tried recording on another laptop or phone as suggested elsewhere in this thread?
Really odd, as if your laptops WiFi is affected by the ANT+ adapter. They both run on 2.4GHz, so perhaps your laptop has a flaky WiFi radio that gets confused when the ANT+ adapter is plugged in (and for a period of time after you unplug ANT+).
ethernet cable is a viable workaround. So that was a great idea. Wonder what the problem with WiFi is? I would say it’s a 802.blahblahblah driver problem, but why only with TR? Anyhow, it’s no problem for me to plug the laptop into my router. The router is right on the way to changing out of my bibs, anyhow.
I can’t use my phone for TrainerRoad. It would work, I’m sure, I just can’t for non-technical reasons. But, hey, whaddaya want? It’s free!
Thanks for you help!! I’ve been working with TR for three weeks on this issue at least.
I understand that just because it works flawlessly for me, doesn’t mean it is working for you. I use the TR desktop app and have never had an issue in over 300 rides. When I finish my ride it’s there on the computer I was using, the web and my phone straight away. Not once has it not been there. So, there’s something going on with your setup. Is your laptop not connected to your Wifi while you’re riding?
Because the only time you use ANT+ radio is when using TR. And its not a driver problem, its radio interference. That is my hypothesis. FWIW I’m an engineer that has worked with electronics my entire career, and have seen many strange things and root causes nobody guessed at. Given that experience, I’ll also say my hypothesis could be totally wrong.
Yep. I work with super smart engineers who have seen every problem…all the time.
Whether your in a plane, at home, driving a car, on a ship, you’re probably within 8 feet of a project I’ve helped with. Actually, given how we’re communicating, I’ll say three.
I want the TR program to push to the TR website, which pushes to Strava. TR program → TR → Strava. Because, 
I dunno the minimum time. But now you’ve got my competitive geek blood up. If you can do it in 15 seconds I’m sure I could do it in 12. But anyhow 5 or 10 minutes would be GREAT for me! Heck even an hour would be fine as long as I didn’t have to keep standing there and watching the internet connection so I could restart the TrainerRoad program when it dropped.