Cycling’s Augmented Reality App - How To Use Rouvy

Would prefer riding on augmented reality or something totally virtual? 🚴🎮

Joined rouvy in march as I'm struggling to ride outdoors due to recurring bppv (vertigo). I'm slowly getting stronger, love the routes and I don't have to worry if my balance is off. I didn't like zwift when I tried it, prefer the reality of rouvy.

I've been riding on Rouvy routes for more than 10 years now. In addition to riding routes created by them, there are many routes (not augmented routes) that are posted by users. I have several posted. So I can ride the same roads during the winter months as I would ride during the summer months. Over the years, Rouvy has continued to improve. Though I hadn't taken advantage of their challenges and workouts (that was harder to do with the Cycleops wheel on smart trainer), after purchasing a Wahoo Kikr I have. It is nice to climb without worrying about the wheel slipping. I highly recommend Rouvy for its real life video.

Left Zwift for Rouvy last week. Really enjoying the visuals and working my way around the routes.
I have noticed that I have to change gear a lot more on a free ride in Rouvy….i assume that’s to do with Zwifts route design vs real world accuracy

I switched from Zwift to Rouvy earlier this year. And for me I don't miss Zwift and it is cheaper. In real life I prefer to road bicycle alone and so all the other live riders on Zwift I do not miss. Also Rouvy allows ghost riders (bots) with programmable Watts/kg so have visual pacer if desired. I never raced in Zwift.

I like climbing and got tired of Zwift Climb Portal's graphics.

I transferred all of my Zwift training programs (e.g. the Gorby, 4x10minute zone 4 intervals) and can create own training programs (e.g. 60- minute zone 2, 90-minute zone 2) .

Rouvy has no noises so I listen to music or listen to podcasts.

Question @gcn : Is it possible to combine a structured training of a training plan provided by @trainerroad together with the augmented reality of @rouvy ?

I've tried a few apps and I really like the Augmented Reality of Rouvy so have an annual subscription and exploring real roads in countries around the world is fantastic. Running it on my iPad but this winter I'm hoping to figure out how to run it on big screen TV along with the companion app (tech neophyte here).

Have using Touvy for 3 years really like using , especially for the winter months ,

Are there multiple viewpoint options? Or are you always just behind the avatar on the road.

I’ve just done couple of hours on ROUVY, finishing with full gas up alp d’huez.

It’s not very realistic, because the female avatar kept up with me on the climb and didn’t moan once. 😂

I find this platform great for me, an opportunity to ride ‘real’ roads that I’ll never have chance to ride in reality. Not for everyone but ROUVY will hit the spot for a lot of cyclists 👍🏻🤩

I’m looking into this as my partner is building me a bike room in the garden. I like the look of this rather than Zwift but I’ve heard good things about the Garmin app too. Not all trainers can cope with 20% inclines, is that an issue? Interested in any opinions out there.

Have used ROUVY for a year now and as a motionist, I wouldn’t go back to any other platform. I road the Alpe D’Huez a lot of times before I went there in real life and it was fantastic prep for the ride😅😅😅

I've found Rouvy really good. Because it uses a recorded video backdrop, it gives far smoother, high quality images (without buffering issues) on an old PC I have set up for dedicated use.
And the Freestyle work outs are good - you can choose you route and power independently and just tap out Z2 base miles in the warm while visually going up the Stelvio or the Alpe for entertainment.

My only regret about Rouvy is that I don't ride it enough. Love it.

I'm at level 80 on Rouvy, I really do like it! There seems to be more and more people on it lately.

I've been on Rouvy for several years now. I like it a LOT better than the Nintendo-ish, game oriented platforms like Zwift, etc. I ride to train and I like that my training plan imports over from TrainingPeaks and my daily workouts are right there. Pick a route and go! I also prefer riding the "real" roads with the real scenery instead of the video game looks of some of the other platforms. Maybe I'm weird, but I like looking at the different buildings in the different countries and reading the street signs. LOL!! Anyway, to each their own, but I prefer Rouvy.

Any plans for rouvey to support the zwift one cog in the future?

Rouvy all the way. I did a free trial on Zwift after having ridden Rouvy for some time. Zwift was like trying to ride a bike to Super Mario Brothers; including fake sounding audio. No thanks.

Would love to use Rouvy, but it is unacceptably slow in response times (AppleTV) and the Companion app refuses to connect. Sigh!

Rouvy motivates me much more because of the tracks I know from real life. 🙏🏼😃

I’ve been happy with the Garmin Tacx app since it is real world riding. Although a number of their most recent video were shot from a car.

I purchased a Tacx Neo2 along with my new Bike last year. Moved my old bike to the trainer. Struggled with the Garmin Tacx app and really don't like using it. I looked at Zwift but really don't like the game play part of the app. Rouvy popped up somewhere and Really Like the options and overall look/feel of the platform. Would be nice if they could add Road Feel in the app like the Garmin Tacx app has. Now If I could just get enough credits to purchase my Trek Emonda' in the game.. LOL

I've tried Rouvy & Zwift, but FulGaz is more my style - solo JRA.

we need this with virtual shifter like zwift click

Problem I have with rouvy is the bike speed doesn't seem to match the speed shown .like if you are doing200 watts and going 40kmph..the bike looks pretty slow for 40kmph

Rouvy is fantastic.

It looks great if you don't mind riding on your own. I prefer Zwift, because I can continue peddling if I want to after the route is completed. Also, I like the downhills.That makes it more fun.

SUGGESTION: GCN should do a video of HOW to use a smart trainer WITHOUT a monthly/yearly software subscription fee! I don't need/want/use any of the "bells and whistles" of Zwift... I just want a simple program that I can use to run my Kickr. Don't need any fancy graphics, or graphics at all...

Long time user. I tried Rouvy and Zwift in 2018 but stuck with Rouvy. The versatility of different climbs and hilly routes is awesome. And they provide a lot of challenges which motivate me to do frequent training. And because I am a long time user I get a discount now, what is nice too.
I trained for Alpe d'HuZes (Dutch charity event climbing Alpe d'Huez 6 times) fully indoor.

I've been using Rouvy for a couple of months now and absolutely LOVE it. The opportunity to ride in real places all around the world satisfies my wanderlust for $15/mo.

I’m more of a FulGaz man myself, do a review of that next please.

Enjoy Rouvy now for over a year and love it during the winter months. Nothing beats the real deal. The AR is very realistic and indeed with a duo account for 20€ it is a good deal compared to Tacx where you cycle on a video without AR. P.S Conor, see that you just started on that platform as you are still only level 2.

Its been a game changer for me. I was anti indoor training for yeas, but OMG I've got fitter and stronger than ever using this app ,i love it.I tried Zwift ,but could not get on with it as it was sooooo fake .I love the real world look of Rouvy.

Rouvy just had a big racing event with 2,000 riders. For those that are motivated by the number of live riders, many routes on Rouvy would look empty. That's expected because they offer 1000s of AR routes. But there will always be some routes or events that would make you feel like you're riding in rush hour traffic.

Been using Rouvy >3 years now, far better than Zwift for realism, and by that I mean speed. Most Zwifters will struggle to attain those sort of speeds IRL 😂
Rouvy is better value for money as well.
I find it really good to recon routes / climbs that you may be doing in the future.
Racing is getting more popular too.

I prefer Rouvy. A common complaint about Rouvy is the lack of other riders compared to Zwift. These people clearly don't ride a real bike outside 😂.

I left Zwift for Rouvy long time ago and I am a very happy rider. Looking back, Zwift was a nervous, hectic fair.

Riding Rouvy for the last two years..Did 9000kms on it..Still experiencing software crashes while loading and riding..If you are not patient enough Rouvy will make you go mad..When it works it really is immersive when it's not it drives you nuts..Developers seem to do nothing to fix persistent and fundamental software problems while focusing on polishing the interface and the eyecandy..

Tried it after lasy year's promotion from GCN (With the stelvio/grossglockner/vantoux challange). Was a lot of fun. But my biggest problem was Rouvy's predatory unsubbing process. Had to click like 6 or 7 different buttons, some of them kind of hidden, to finally get them to let me unsub. Left a really bad taste with me.

Also wish they'd update their Avatar models and animations. They look so janky and bad.

I really enjoy riding on Rouvy. I like the workouts, but the best is to ride eg. Mt Ventoux, where I've been several times in real, too. Community aspects like on Zwift are probably not as good here, but I don't need them for riding.

Was I the only one who started singing Kaiser Chiefs: "Rouvy, Rouvy, Rouvy, Rouvy, Ahaa ahaa aaaaa" the moment Connor first said Rouvy? Probably...

Although I love rouvy and it records energy (KJ) spent in the app, they don't export it accurately to Strava, Garmin etc as it's recorded as Joules in the fit file so it only records 1KJ at most. Even on their website they hail KJ as the gold standard, with all these influencers and organisations jumping on the Rouvy bandwagon can you put pressure on Rouvy to fix this, as this is the measure a large number of us use for progress.

I love Rouvy. If they add support to VIrtual Shifting would be great :)

I like the real routes, but the most important thing for me is the natural feel of riding. Many of the Zwift competitors feel very static, I miss the natural dynamics of riding a bike. The feeling of speed is purely artificial, so you always feel slow and sluggish, which isn't fun or motivating. In these simulations, the programmers have to find the perfect balance between 1:1 simulation and fun, which is the key to a successful cycling app. And I almost forgot one very important point: there have to be lots of real people riding and racing with you - a simulated world with stupid bots is a terrible experience.

Rouvy is pretty amazing, especially if you have done a lot of those climbes yourself. Training feels like reliving your holidays in wintertime.The fun factor makes it easier to get on the bike and training more fun and easy.

When Connor said he was going to ride one of his favorite real world routes I thought for sure he was going to choose rural Kansas

I guess I’m in the minority here. I’ve built quite a community on Zwift and I’m not interested in giving that up

Very happy with Rouvy, like the feel of just going for a ride somewhere interesting and great for doing large climbs. I think as they get more and more locations it will only improve more by the large range of places to ride.