Promotional feature in association with Rouvy
Don’t you sometimes just wish that you could get away from it all and find yourself immersed in a new country, a new climate and be cycling new routes far away from home? It’s not easy or cheap, however, to pack a bike up and fly to different corners of the world in search of new landscapes.
But there is another solution. Rouvy, the indoor training platform that uses real-life camera footage from routes, brings six continents into the homes of cyclists, allowing them to ride one hour in New Zealand and the next in America. Or if they fancy something even more exotic, one day in the Sossusvlei desert in Namibia, and the next in Vietnam. “There are so many great and scenic routes that I probably won’t ever get a chance to visit in my life without Rouvy,” enthuses user Erlend Kraus.
As Kraus knows, with Rouvy it’s possible to improve one’s condition and performance while simultaneously exploring the world. It’s a gateway to new adventures and new surroundings. “As someone who lives in a flat country, even 100-mile rides are only 600 or 700 metres of ascent,” he says. “I started off slowly on Rouvy, but I ended up riding mostly indoors for various reasons… and my climbing metres are already two-and-a-half times what they were last year.”
Most cyclists seek out the famous cols and passes of Italy, Spain and France – most of which are available to ride on Rouvy, including with in-built Strava segments – but it’s also possible to train for the hills on Norway’s breathtakingly stunning Fjord roads and in the Yangmingshan national park in Taiwan.
While climbing mountains and descending off them is one of the great joys of cycling, it’s not just hilly and undulating routes available to ride on Rouvy. Of the more than 1,500 courses, filmed by the Czech company themselves or external users, there are more gentle offerings, including on the paradisal Brazilian island of Florianópolis, and alongside the coast in Cape Town and California.
It really has never been any easier to ride in new destinations. “There are so many amazing routes,” says Kathy Moore. “The videos are great and it’s great to be able to virtually travel the world on my bike.”
What’s also great about Rouvy is that by cycling virtually in a location first, it allows the cyclist to get used to the area, so if and when they visit in real life, they already know what to expect, what the climb is like and how to tackle it. It’s made recce courses easier than ever before. Little wonder that even WorldTour cyclists, such as Lidl-Trek’s Mathias Vacek, use it for their training.
The stated ambition of the founders of Rouvy was to bring the outdoor experience indoors. They’ve managed that, and have also brought far-flung destinations closer to home. The next time someone asks where you’ve ridden this year, it’s now possible to reel off the United States, New Zealand, Japan, Romanie and Madeira in one. And that’s just in five training sessions.
Find out more about Rouvy here.
