(Honestly I could just try this tomorrow but) do I need to keep Garmin connected to Xert to have Magic Buckets working after the initial connection? I suppose the other question is can I have Xert default to using the Strava file when it detects a duplicate ride? (Honestly I just want the ride name from Strava!). Thanks in advance!
No, you do not need to bring your phone. Make sure it loads the targets and you are good to go. Note that once you press Start it will refetch the targets, but that will fail if you do not bring your phone. But in this case you will just get a red dot and continue with the existing targets.