Five ways to use ROUVY to make your indoor training season your best yet

If you’ve had a great summer of riding, improving your fitness and thinking about how to maintain it when the weather turns, ROUVY is a great indoor training option, adding even more realism to your turbo sessions.

Rather than a simulated environment or, even worse, a series of ramps on the screen, ROUVY uses real-world location footage and superimposes your avatar on it.

You will feel what it is like to ride in locations around the world, experience the gradient of the climb and what you see when you ride there. ROUVY offers group rides and races, and structured training plans in real-world environments as well.

The Lidl-Trek pro team uses the ROUVY for indoor training and also for race routes before riding as a reconnaissance before an event. Here are five ways you too can use the ROUVY suite to maintain your fitness and stay motivated during the winter.

Explore new places

ROUVY uses high-quality, real-world footage of rides in its application and superimposes avatars on it, creating an authentic, immersive cycling experience. It offers more than 1,500 routes covering more than 25,000km of roads around the world.

So, unlike some competing apps, you’re not limited to riding a small selection of virtual worlds, but you can feel what it’s like to climb Alpe d’Huez or ride along the coast of the beautiful Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.

“To help riders explore different countries around the world, we launch a new Spotlight every few weeks,” said Antonín Parma, director of product experience at ROUVY.

“Each release highlights new and existing routes, challenges, events and related blogs. Each is designed as an accessible hub where riders can find some of the best new content on ROUVY to help them stay active and motivated all year round.

Maybe you’ll choose to ride somewhere you’ll never get the chance to take your bike, but it’s also an opportunity to prepare for a trip that’s on your to-do list for next summer. Like the Lidl-Trek pros, you’ll better judge where you need to manage your efforts and where you can leave everything on the road when you ride the real thing.

ROUVY’s simulation incorporates real riding physics, including drafting, adding to the realism. You can ride against ROUVY ghost rider too.

“You can choose one or several ghost riders who will ride with you the whole time. Or you can ride without them. Ghost riders can also be used for the authentic drafting feature in ROUVY,” said Parma.

Follow the training plan

Staying in shape and maintaining your fitness in winter can be difficult. If you’re outside, chances are likely to be reduced by darkness and weather, while it’s easy to get stuck putting in miles of trash on the coach.

Follow one of ROUVY’s extensive library of training plans and you’ll avoid this, with a series of structured workouts designed by pros, including the six-week Lidl-Trek plan. It allows you to work on specific aspects of your fitness, such as your anaerobic capacity, VO2 Max and sprinting.

“If your goal is to increase your FTP, you can find a structured plan for four weeks with specific exercises consisting of a mix of tempo, criss-cross, endurance intervals, short sprints and pyramids that will help you increase your FTP,” said Parma.

ROUVY’s real-world simulation means that following a structured program will never get boring. While many training apps only offer countdown timers for your next hard effort, ROUVY will suggest real-world routes for you to ride as you train.

Start with virtual racing

Another way to keep fit while avoiding your sessions becoming routine is to enter races – or group rides if you’re not hungry.

ROUVY allows you to compete against other users around the world, again reducing the possibility of putting in junk miles, you have the goal of avoiding your competitors or keeping pace with other riders.

“This platform synchronizes with the smart trainer to adjust the resistance based on the profile of the route, accurately simulating the physical demands of the uphill and downhill sections. Riders can participate in races and group rides or train solo, while tracking their performance and competing with others in a dynamic and interactive environment,” clearly Parma.

You can create your own events in the app and invite other riders to join you, as well as join events you find online, while event leaderboards offer competitions. ROUVY allows you to interact with other users while you ride as well, offering comments and reactions. Complete the journey and you will earn coins, which you can use to change your ROUVY avatar.

Take the FTP test

If you want to keep track of your form and how you measure up against other riders, you need to know where you’re starting and retest yourself periodically.

ROUVY has a number of built-in tests that you can use to gauge your fitness level, including the FTP Ramp Test and Ramp Test Lite, and the classic 20-minute full-throttle FTP test. Follow one of the ROUVY exercises designed to test your FTP and the app will make all the necessary calculations to determine your FTP.

This will then be used automatically to set your power zone in other exercises you have selected in ROUVY and allow you to ensure that you are riding in the correct zone to meet your fitness goals. Knowing your FTP will also help you in future races, so you don’t burn out before you finish.

ROUVY will suggest recommended real-world routes to follow for your training, making the experience even more interesting.

Do not get attached to the turbo

While turbos are a great way to structure your training schedule and maintain your fitness, however you like your trainer, most riders will appreciate a break now and then. It may be because you have a winter training camp booked in a warm place or simply because you want to change your routine.

“Everyone can pause their ROUVY subscription for up to 180 days with the ability to pause at any time,” Parma said.

“What’s more, if bad weather or other conditions prevent you from riding outside, you can still ride 20km for free every month. Or just buy a day pass for up to 72 hours and ride ROUVY without any limitations.

A day pass costs only $2.99 ​​for 24 hours, $3.99 for 48 hours or $4.99 for 72 hours, giving you flexibility in how and when you use the application.

You can unpause your subscription and start riding again whenever you want, even then you can’t pause again in the same calendar year.

ROUVY will not charge you for the time you pause and, if you have purchased an annual subscription, will add additional days to your renewal date to make up for your time.

Join ROUVY today

A ROUVY subscription costs $14.99 (around £10.75) per month, or $149 (around £129) a year for UK solo riders, less than any other cycling training app. You can also buy a subscription for two users or a group of up to five riders, if you want to share, lowering the cost per user.

You can use ROUVY on a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Apple TV. It will connect smart trainers and smart bikes from Wahoo, Elite, Tacx Saris and more, as well as Kickr Climb and Elite Rizer gradient simulators.

There is a seven-day free trial period for new subscribers, so now is a good time to sign up and download the ROUVY app. Using promo code BIKERADAR1M, readers can get their first month free. This applies to new customers only, for a single monthly subscription. Click here for more details.