Apple Watch: Outdoor Cycle Workout issue

I have this problem. I've only done 3 workouts on my bike with my watch. First one in September 2016, up and down the road for 20 mins didn't record route and distance. The following day I did 10k and it did record it. Today I've done another short one and no data.

I've done all the stuff in this thread and still no luck.

Anyone found a solution?

I had the same problem, make sure your Bluetooth is on while your Apple Watch is on your wrist. Mine bluetooth off while I was riding my bicycle and wouldn't calculate "MPH/Feet." After turning on Bluetooth, it became intact. Hope this helps :)

I know this is a really old post, but I've been having the same issue and found this in a Google search.

My issue, it turns out, was my phone. The wifi/GPS antenna was acting up and the watch couldn't connect to it. It didn't need to be replaced, just cleaned. A quick and cheap fix and a phone repairer and now it is fine.

Several things here:

1. You need to have the phone with you on your first few rides. The watch doesn't have GPS, so it needs the phone to measure distance, and calculate pace, speed etc.

2. During those first few rides, the watch will learn your pace and cadence; thereafter, if you don't take the phone, it'' estimate distance etc based on what it's learned. However, that will only be an estimate, and obviously your speed and cadence might vary from day to day, with the wether, or on different terrain.

3. You get the best results using the Workouts app on the watch - if you end and save a workout, you get to keep the results in the Health app on the phone as well as the Activity app on the phone(the phone doesn't have to be with you in the workout for this sync to happen

4. The Activity app on the watch only captures a limited, estimated amount of data

Hopefully some of this gets you moving in the right direction -

You must have unwittingly hit the relevant button. Maybe you can "unsolve" it?

The OPEN No Goal setting isn't the issue - I always use that at present, while I'm working out how to get the best of the watch.

I used the watch yesterday to ride to and from work. My method is:

Workouts app on watch, Open, no goal

At end of ride, force touch the Workouts app, choose End, scroll down the output and Save

At the same time, I have Runkeeper on the phone. The two apps match quite well.

This sounds like the same method you're using, so it should work (isn't "should work" one of the most annoying phrases?)

You could try resetting the watch and restarting the phone, the re-pairing. No guarantee, but that has unglitched a few things for some people

I was having the same issue, but have since found an easy fix. I went to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services and turned on "Motion Calibration & Distance". I don't recall this option being available when iOS8 was first introduced. I guess it was introduced in a recent iOS update. I hope this works for you.

I have the exact same issue. Outdoor running, no problem, it gives both speed and distance. But Outdoor Cycling just gives flat lines (no values at all) for Speed or Distance.

I can see when I start the activity that it says "0 meter" and then it switches to just show "--- meter" and "---" for speed as well.

The strange thing is that it works for Outdoor Running... And I have all the other Privacy settings for Location Services as they are recommended. So the switch for " Motion Calibration & Distance is on" is turned on (I've tried turning it off and on again and also all Location Services).

I've tried restarting both iPhone and Watch without sucess.

Very strange. Seems there is something wrong or fishy with the Outdoor Cycle activity...

Very strange. It all of a sudden started working... It is like there is some initial "Calibration" that is needed and the calibration does not come from or cannot be done in the Outdoor Cycling mode....??

Regardless, yesterday it stopped showing "---" for speed and distance and logged my bike run as over 17km (my watch shows it as a bit over 15km). Today the same bike run logged as 15,8km on the watch.

So I am happy for now. But frustrated that it did not "just works" out of the box.

I doubt that there is any calibration needed for "Outdoor Cycling" as it is just pulling the GPS data from your iPhone to give you speed and distance.

There is no way to use the AW to calculate speed/distance without the iPhone, so thus wouldn't see a need for calibrating.

FWIW, mine has always calculated speed/distance and is exactly the same as that being recorded on another app running (iSmoothrun) on my iPhone at the time as it should be since it is utilizing the same GPS chip.

I think calibration is only for running both outdoor and indoor to get a average stride length for you to calc distance and pace utilizing number of steps taken ... stride length x steps = distance.

I agree. I Doubt it to. I just cannot find any reason for it to work sometimes and sometimes not just for Outdoor Cycling.

As you mention there is some sort of calibration data stored in the Watch:

Calibrating your Apple Watch for improved Workout and Activity accuracy - Apple Support

"Calibration data is stored locally on Apple Watch, and isn't backed up to your iPhone. "

However it should and seems to be related to walking and running and not to biking.

Regardless of reason, the Apple Watch did not log speed or distance previously for Outdoor Cycle where as now it does....