Rouvy Trainer Rides
Has anyone used Rouvy training rides? I've heard people talk about this platform and how is has Ironman courses listed on there. I currently use Zwift but was just looking for feedback on this program.
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I've been poking around their website. It looks pretty cool. Some comments on various posts seem to indicate the instructions are a bit weak. Might be a nice change from Zwift. It's pretty heap entertainment - first month free then $10/month. I've just signed up to test it out. I'll report back shortly!
Tom
Never used Rouvy, but do have some thoughts on riding specific courses on a trainer. Back around 2007-10, when CompuTrainer was the only game in town, they produced a series of videos which could sync to the CT, of various IM courses. I bought (for $75 each!) Coeur d'Alene, Arizona, and Kona.
What they'd done was drive a car around the course race morning before the bike leg, so the roads were closed. They had a google-style camera on the car, which was going about 20 mph. The video would go slower or faster depending on the speed you were generating on the CT. The CT itself was programmed with the course elevation, so it got harder and easier as the terrain changed. Kind of a kludge compared to what's available now on Rouvy, I'd bet, but the same idea nonetheless.
Others may have better experiences, but I found those videos utterly worthless for race preparation. IMO, pedaling is pedaling, and having "seen" the course ahead of time had zero value once I actually got out there pre-race day. I don't think there is anything so surprising on any Ironman course that having "seen" it in training will give provide any advantage on race day. IMO, going up or down a hill with the wind blowing IRL is entirely different from these attempts at VR. As they say, JFT.
Thanks @Al Truscott for your feedback. I was just thinking along the lines of riding these IM courses that I never get to ride on and just experience them that way.
Agreed with @Al Truscott I wouldn't get this to ride the course and estimate your finish time.
I too bought those expensive videos! ErgVideo is still around, now on a $10/month subscription plan.
BestBikeSplit.com was popular for a short time also, as it tried to help you predict your finish time famous courses based upon riding indoors. It got bought out and seems to have faded away.
I've looked at Rouvy for a change of pace. I use TrainerRoad for interval work and stare at data for the duration. I use Zwift for just riding around, racing avatars for fun. Rouvy appears to combine real live pictures/video with avatars, trying to make it al little more realistic. I think it would be fun to ride up Alpe d'Huez. Would I use my Rouvy times to estimate my expected time up the hill in real life? Not at all.
I've been on Rouvy for almost 3 years now. In fact, I was on before they even changed the name to Rouvy! I think it is a phenomenal platform and I've watched improvement after improvement. It's not nearly as social as Zwift so you have to know what kind of athlete you are and if it will help you. Basically, Rouvy is two separate platforms:
1) Rouvy Workouts - there must be thousands of erg controlled workouts that you can sort on by duration, difficulty, whatever. Generally, when I want to do a workout, I pull it up on my phone and let it drive the trainer while I watch a movie. Or if you don't want erg mode, set the workout to "Free Ride" and it just captures what you do. So if I want to follow one of my old Spinervals DVDs, I'll watch that on TV and capture it in Free Ride. All completed workouts are logged in the 'Activities' section of your Dashboard.
2) Rouvy Rides - wow, this is why I joined. Literally, countless rides with real streaming video. I use my laptop for this as it shows more. Video quality is all over the map depending on who filmed it. These are premium rides filmed in such high def you can see a caterpillar on a tree leaf as you ride by. In fact, I had to increase my internet speed to keep these from locking up. In the past year, they added "Augmented" rides which have virtual riders similar to Zwift but imposed on REAL video. Anyone can upload their Garmin and Go-Pro video on any ride they do. Some Joe Amateurs have loaded professional grade stuff and others are crap. If the ride was uploaded without video then you'll get a satellite terrain view with your avatar moving along the route. You can look up routes by name, in map view, by distance, by average grade, max grade, etc.
Online races. Anyone can set them up. Pick whatever route you want and make a race, or join an existing one -- hundred per day. Because there are so many routes you don't have hundreds of riders like you see on Zwift. Today, I raced a 39 mile route in Germany with just 2 other riders ... we hammered. A race with more than 20 people is pretty big given that there are so many options. I'm registered to race the Boulder 70.3 on Sunday morning with 8 other riders all from one other country (I can't decipher the flag next to their user names).
Challenges. Rouvy has two or three challenges every month. Basically, they just set out a task, typically 4 or 5 hilly routes with a set period to complete them (you must be in Race mode, not training mode). Do it and you get a digital badge and often eligible for a random prize drawing (like a trainer).
Levels. The Rouvy Career Year runs 1 Oct to 30 Sep in which if you complete given tasks you move to the next level, with the tasks getting harder at each level. I am currently a "Professional" and two more rides from moving to "National Champion". Above that are World Class and Legend. I doubt I'll make it to the top before the reset comes.
LMK if you have any questions.