Acute Training Load issue/bug

Are you using multiple devices? If you use an Edge and don't let it sync before you start you will get incorrect data calculated and uploaded after the ride. 

Hope that's on the road map to be fixed. Hard to imagine that normal use of Garmin devices in their controlled ecosystem can cause things like this. Do you know of a fix? 

That is how it works with multiple devices. All calculations are done on the devices. Nothing is done in Garmin Connect. If you don't let the devices work with the same data you will get incorrect results.

So, start the Edge when you put your gear on so it can download the data and do its calculations and then upload them to Garmin Connect. Then everything will work.

I usually look at the load value in the Edge during sync. When you see it is updated you can start your ride.

Can't say I like how these devices can completely fail at their job under normal use. Any chance you can point me in the direction of documentation that outlines other normal situations i need to avoid to if i expect these things to work reliably? I guess in the meantime I'll adhere to your workaround and be much more cautious and make sure it reboot and sync all devices all the time before every thing i do. I do have to say that most tech ecosystems get more smooth when you get more of their devices together I.E. Apple, Microsoft, Google etc.  Eah anyway, thanks for taking time to help, i appreciate the effort.

The issue here is caused by that the Edge devices are not turned on at all times like the watches. So, they can only start to download and calculate data when they are turned on.

If you use 3rd party services like Zwift there are some more things to think about. Read about it here: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=VxKazDQ2mkAmDoQbJriEBA

Beside what e7andy suggested, the following article, and especially the image below can help you understanding how the devices communicate with each other:

What is Unified Training Status? | Garmin Customer Support