Lost a Ride — free ride recovery tool
Lost your ride? Get it back in a minute.
Garmin died, the app crashed, the file got corrupted. Upload the route you rode and how long it took. We build a ride file you can post to Strava, Garmin Connect or intervals.icu — so your training load, streak and weekly totals stay whole.
- Real route, paced to your actual time
- Modeled power and an honest TSS estimate
- Created as a Virtual Ride, so no Strava KOM or segment conflicts
Recover your ride
How ride recovery works
You know where you rode and roughly how long it took. That's enough to rebuild a believable ride and put your training week back together.
Add your route
Upload a GPX of the route you rode — a planned route from Komoot or RideWithGPS works fine. Indoors? Upload the .zwo workout or set the steady power you held (free account).
Tell us when and how long
Date, start time and moving time. We pace the route to match — harder on climbs, faster on descents, like a real ride.
Post it anywhere
Download the .FIT file for Garmin Connect or intervals.icu, or — with a free account — send it straight to Strava. Your load, streak and totals are whole again.
What's in your recovered ride
Enough to get your training load right. Nothing that pretends to be data we don't have.
- Your route, with timestamps
- Paced over the terrain to match the moving time you entered.
- A modeled power stream
- Built from the climbs, descents and your speed. With a free account, set the average power you know you held.
- Estimated training load
- TSS and kilojoules, so your fitness and fatigue charts don't drop a day.
- No heart rate — on purpose
- Fake heart rate would quietly skew Garmin's VO2max and training status, and your HR analysis in intervals.icu. Power is enough to get the load right.
Sunday Ride · Recovered ride
Virtual Ride · Oct 12, 2026 at 08:30
Distance
62.3 km
Time
2:14
Est. TSS
118
Heart rate
—
Modeled power
Description: “Recovered ride — rebuilt from route and moving time with TrainerDay. Power is modeled; no heart rate.”
Honest by design
This is for rides you actually did. A few rules keep it that way — and keep your friends' leaderboards fair.
Posted as a Virtual Ride
Strava keeps virtual rides off real-world segment leaderboards, so a recovered ride never takes a KOM or bumps anyone.
Always labeled “Recovered ride”
Rides sent to Strava from here always carry the label in the title and description — it can't be turned off. Anyone looking knows what it is.
One a day on the free tool
Enough for the ride you lost. Not a way to mass-produce rides for challenges.
Free, or tuned to you
The free tool uses a typical rider. With a free TrainerDay account the ride is built around you.
Free
No login
- 1 recovered ride per day
- Pacing and power from a typical rider
- Download the .FIT for Garmin Connect, Strava or intervals.icu
Free TrainerDay account
Still free
- Unlimited recoveries
- Your weight and FTP from your profile
- Set your average power — see the CdA it implies
- Indoor rides: upload the .zwo or set a steady power
- Send straight to Strava, or save to TrainerDay — labeled and as a Virtual Ride
First, check if the ride is really gone
The real file often still exists. It's worth two minutes before you rebuild it.
Garmin bike computer or watch
Plug it into a computer by USB and open the GARMIN/Activity folder. Unsynced rides sit there as .FIT files you can upload yourself.
Strava or another phone app
Look for a pending or unsaved activity before reinstalling or clearing app data — that usually deletes it for good.
Ride stopped halfway or file won't upload?
A truncated or corrupted file still holds real data. Upload what you have to Strava first — the real data is always better than a rebuilt ride.
Questions
Can I recover a ride my Garmin didn't save?
If the device has no file at all, yes: upload the route and your moving time and we build a ride file you can import into Garmin Connect (Activities → Import Data). If a partial file exists, upload that first.
Will it count for my Strava streak and weekly totals?
It's a normal activity with the right date, distance and time, so it shows up in your training log and totals. It's posted as a Virtual Ride, so it stays off real-world segment leaderboards.
Why is there no heart rate?
Tools like Garmin's VO2max and training status use heart rate to detect changes in your fitness. A made-up heart rate would only echo old data back at them. Modeled power is enough to get your training load right.
Can I remove the “Recovered ride” label?
Not when you send it to Strava from here — the title and description always say “Recovered ride”. It keeps the tool honest for clubs, challenges and anyone who looks at your ride. If you download the file, please keep the label in the title.
How is the power worked out?
With the same physics as our Route Speed Calculator: your route is split into climbs, flats and descents, paced a zone harder uphill and capped on fast descents, and the power is solved so the ride takes exactly your moving time. With a free account you can set the average power you know you rode; we adjust your aerodynamic drag (CdA) to match and show you the number.
How accurate is the TSS?
It's an estimate. Enter your FTP (or sign in and we use the one in your profile) and TSS comes from the modeled power. The free version uses a typical rider; set your weight and average power for a closer number.
Does it work for indoor rides?
Yes, with a free TrainerDay account. Choose Indoor and upload the .zwo workout you rode — from TrainerDay, Zwift or any workout builder — or just set the steady power you held as a % of your FTP. Distance comes from your power on a flat virtual road, like in our apps. Save it to TrainerDay and it also goes to Strava if that's connected. It works for an outdoor structured workout too; the ride just won't have a map.