Rouvy Adds 360° View To Its Augmented Reality Cycling Routes

[@JBuchmann]

I really like Rouvy. One highly underrated feature is how it's extremely easy to see what's coming up gradient-wise. You get the colored rainbow bar going full width across the bottom of the UI. And on the top left of the screen you see in high detail what's immediately coming up. With Zwift and others I find it hard knowing exactly what the steepness is straight ahead.

[@Stevenafoe]

Zwift has the gradient graph visible as well as what steepness you currently have. So it’s not to hard to have an insight what is coming up. Irl garmin/wahoo is doing the same on you cycling computer. I haven’t tried rouvvy tho so can’t say if thats better or not. Might try in future.

[@JBuchmann]

@@Stevenafoe I tried the Zwift trial and found the gradient thing way too small. (I'm on a laptop) I can clearly see the current gradient value number, but the graphic visualization of what's ahead and how soon, and it's exact steepness, is really hard to see. I can never dial in the right gear in time. The difference between Rouvy and Zwift, with this feature is night and day, IMO.

[@Stevenafoe]

@@JBuchmann ok, no problem ;-). When i look at the screens from rouvvy as shown in this vid from smartbiketrainers i cannot tell the difference between rouvvy and zwift; both the gradient graph and a number indicating x% steepness. It’s the same, but rouvvy has it on the left, zwift on the right. Maybe rouvvy has more options/screens, i can’t say. I use a monitor for zwift, which ofcourse helps. I’ll give the 14 day trail a go as rouvvy looks bad-ass ;-)

[@RichThomas]

Amazing stuff. Have been a happy Rouvy user for a few years now. And they have taken something good and incrementally making it really great. The leaning of the avatars in prior release made it more realistic. And this feature of looking behind you makes it even more so. Can’t wait to try it out and see the Stelvio in all its glory. The Companion app is now even more necessary. Then - I guess the last thing will be the ability to communicate with other riders. Hope they improve their marketing though. Always seems to me like a best kept secret - with many Zwifters unaware that it exists. Thanks for the video

[@joecan]

After trying RGT and using Zwift for a year, I tried Rouvy for the last month and I'm sticking with that. I think if you stick to rouvy, you'll build a suite of courses you like and and you can continue to add all your previous efforts as virtual partners as well as anyone else's. The virtual partners are there for your whole ride and not just segments like in Zwift. I suppose one of the knocks against rouvy is some of the courses have no one on them while others might have 50+ real-time riders on them (RBC Grand fondo route is popular). Seeing other random people online has never been a big deal for me, but I still have a zwift sub for once a week group ride with the crew from the club. I guess I just find it more motivating to see all my previous efforts in real time as virtual partners. 360 is nice, just not sure if it is something I'm looking to use and the route selection is still pretty scant.

[@johanp8391]

I just compared Rouvy to Fulgaz. Rouvy won!

[@shidingan3118]

Wow I thought Rouvy would never add this feature because it means a lot of work to capture again all their best video in 360°. Great initiative from Rouvy. And thx for the review :)

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Right. A lot of work will go into this. Thanks for watching!

[@reidwagner1508]

I find several local rides. Rouvy has been the only VR program I’ve used in 3 yrs. During the pandemic, I was on it several times a week. Thanks for the video. That was very helpful

[@zaahierstanley955]

Thanx for the update. Does look good to see the real roads for sure

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Thanks for watching, Zaahier!

[@mattbarnett6156]

Long time Rouvy used here and absolutely love it. We also use Zwift for Structured Workouts only, and don't race in it. If you used Zwift like we do/did over the years, you simply get bored with it. We always take a few rides around new worlds in Zwift, such as the new Urukazi expansion, but we've ridden that now 10-12 times and it'd be like pulling nails to get any great buzz over doing those again in the near future. Rouvy, on the other hand, gets our heart racing just thinking of it. To the folks here who say the roads are empty, I have a suggestion. As mentioned by others you can add *all* of your own previous efforts (or just your PB) as Virtual Partners, and even if you haven't done the ride before, you can estimate what you'd like to do or think you can do at a stretch, and add a rider with very close to that time, or average w/kg etc. So there's that. You can further augment your "chase" partner here with the following tip: ==> You can also add as many Virtual Partners as you like, and absolutely FILL the ride with other riders, all doing the real pacing of their real efforts (not linear average speed), such as speeding up, slowing down, negative splitting or going out too fast then blowing up and limping home. It's fun to see, actually. You can review the videos on the Rouvy website before riding them, and see stats and profiles of climbs etc. By doing this, I have a library of about 30 rides (mostly famous climbs) all pre-downloaded to my training PC. I can tell you, there's NOTHING like racing your own PB in Rouvy up a huge climb. It's tactics, knowledge of your opponent, pacing, and all of the race craft you can think of! When you know the opponent so well, it genuinely becomes a great game and will absolutely test you to your limit. You absolutely HATE your previous self!! :) Remember, that very PB you're trying to chase right now is a PB set in exactly the same manner! It gets exponentially harder to get a new PB unless you get BETTER. As mentioned below, the gradient "cheeses" are absolutely brilliant, and after you've stayed laser focused on this feature for a while you'll wonder how you could get by without them. They make the ride "Realistic" in the sense that you can "look up the road" in a sense and plan your efforts and micro-resting, or high cadence lactate dumps etc, without harming your overall effort or momentum. The AR Riders that Rouvy have banked their whole business on are absolutely the key here. We've ridden just about every Video and Virtual platform out there, including a great many of the Tacx RLV and Velo Reality catalogues (both very good) - the difference being that the AR Riders used in Rouvy are utterly THE game changer. You really must ride this to understand how incredibly different it is over all other real-life video platforms. Of course there's structured workouts over video as well and a whole host of other things Rouvy can do, and they're always ramping this suite up with new features (such as OmniMode), and rarely hitting a wrong note. It's also never glitched on my useing downloaded videos, and the UI is terrific and informative. I could go on and on about it, and have more tips and tricks etc, but I'll leave it for now. Please ask any questions below. and NO, not affiliated in any way, but as mentioned, that Annual $12 USD per month subscription is for multiple users, and this is a fact I think a lot of folks don't realise.

[@TheHighborn]

can you recommend a bike / statation / whatever that one would need to start "playing"? i've been interested in this for some time but have 0 idea where to start

[@MikeCaffyn1]

This is just SO much more interesting than Zwift. Hats off to the Rouvy team.

[@alexander_the_great_1975]

I see a use for those VR glasses in the future. It will be cool

[@BIIIKES]

Need to mention that your monthly (or yearly) price included 3 independent profiles, not just 1 like on Zwift. Have been with ROUVY for a year and I love it.

[@sigma9102]

You can kiss that goodbye as of 2/22/2023. Family sharing is not longer available, which sucks! 👎

[@GoustiFruit]

@@sigma9102 I never used that feature as I'm the only one to ride in the family. But maybe they should provide to "progressive" plan, the first user pays the normal price (100%), the second pays at a reduce rate (75%), and the third another reduced percentage (60%).

[@johnblake535]

Cycling Rouvy in a boring dull white boxey room. I long for it to become 3 dimensional so every wall can have a view. Do away with the tv and get a full room projection. Now that would be the ultimate!

[@michwoz]

This looks great.

[@BigMeanyVids]

Looks nice. At some point I’ll probably pause zwift for a month or two and switch to Rouvy for a bit.

[@zaahierstanley955]

Actually a nice app and nice rising on real roads compared to zwift. Only thing is the number of participants are low so it does not help. I like the option where they have these riders going with you on the rides when you are solo . Nice app for sure

[@nyc-007]

Rouvy is excellent except for one serious flaw which I will get to. It gives a good selection of rides, a lot of nice videos, and for the local routes that I have actually ridden out on the road the elevation changes are respectable. The flaw is that many videos freeze when you reach the one hour mark. You can still continue the ride, and you can switch modes to follow your route on the map, but on the video you'll be stuck at the point where the video stopped. What is even more frustrating is that if there are other riders on the route, you'll see them pass you while "your" video if frozen! Even with that, I'm sticking with Rouvy.

[@GoustiFruit]

I had that problem, twice, last Winter. But since then, not any more. Maybe because I'm now downloading the route beforehand ? That may avoid some Internet glitch ?

[@ozsy01]

Using of 3D VR glasses is possible?

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Not that I’m aware of.

[@Alex-kr7zr]

They need to build sweat proof VR headsets first.

[@sool10]

Will you do Elite Suito-T review?

[@thys7061]

Bonsoir, pour moi rouvy c'est de la bombe, ils ont plus qu'à faire comme sur rgt, dans les virages pour que cela soit plus réaliste, être obligé de ralentir, sinon baisser la puissance et la vitesse et ensuite être obligé de faire une relance, et ensuite paramétrer la possibilité d'activer le roadfill pour bénéficier de ces effets avec les tacx neo 2t, cordialement

[@DavidGunter]

What is the purpose of the Omni view if this doesn’t work for any VR headset?

[@buntysimmons2565]

Can you switch from KM to Miles, thank you

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

You should be able to somewhere in the settings menu

[@conan_der_barbar]

can't wait for a light VR headset at some time in the future. I just tried rouvy and enjoy it more than the very childish and old-timey looking Zwift, even though it's "empty"

[@johnblake535]

Nice idea but can you imagine the sweat dripping into it?

[@patflat1512]

I'm also happy Rouvy user but there's an issue that I can't manage (and started to think about change the software). Garmin Connect does not "count" an Rouvy activity (made with Tacx hardware) for garmin badges (as not recorded with garmin hardware). I'm not sure but mayby it's possible to record Rouvy training with Garmin Edge and then send it directly to Garmin Connect? Is it possible? Thanks in advance :)

[@tjisanalewis4293]

I see you use Favero Assioma DUO pedals - how do you configure it for Rouvy? Single pedal (L) and combined data or just the single pedal data stream?

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Both pedals. You only need to pair the left and the data should include both pedals. Generally when pairing, you should only be presented with one option unless you have it configured differently in the Favaro app.

[@tjisanalewis4293]

@@SmartBikeTrainers Gotcha. I figured I should set the pedals to Unified channel (L) but the readings were a way off. I have set as Dual channel (L/R) and paired the L for power meter and cadence - the numbers look better. Thanks for confirming.

[@conan_der_barbar]

they should hire some Machine Learning developers for a direction-of-sunlight estimation, since improved lighting would definitely increase immersion

[@blazacrew]

Cool feature to enhanced boring indoor experience

[@miguelcintron6595]

Can i use VR-Google with Rouvy ?

[@Maniac618]

Exactly this would allow for VR surely.

[@dhanyrafael]

In the next years, yes, that is the final goal of this 360 videos. :) Just be patient a little bit.

[@ralphporter3183]

Petr, This is great but as a long term user I really wish you'd get some of the fundamentals right before adding more decoration. As a simple example we still have no proper results categorization by age and gender, people have been asking for this for years now.

[@GoustiFruit]

They synchronize your data on Strava, so you can see your results in the category you want.

[@mattg27]

Have you ever, and if not, can you do a video on how to use ROUVY with VR? I have an oculus and a apart bike and have been googling and KZbining all day. Maybe I’m bad at those things. Maybe it’s not possible. But, I can find basically nothing on the subject.

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

Sadly I don’t have a VR device to see how it works if it works at all as this feature wasn’t meant to support VR devices.

[@eamarozzn]

Probably this update is an intermediate step towards supporting VR headsets

[@dhanyrafael]

@@eamarozzn Exactly my friend. That's the final goal: VR headset indoor cycling. :)

[@JFomo]

Apple TV review please

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

The new Apple TV? Or Rouvy on APPLE TV?

[@JFomo]

@@SmartBikeTrainers The new one that just came out today.

[@lazurm]

I'd MUCH rather have the ability to ride in 3D surround accessed by what appears to be ordinary eyeglasses that enable the user to merely move their head for the wide view seen through the eyeglasses and for me to use a digitally created, eyeglass mounted rear mirror to see behind, like wearing an eyeglass mounted mirror in real life only it's digital. Barring the above, I'd like to have the ability to run Rouvy on a 49+ inch curved monitor that has a very much wider than current and therefore enhanced view such that I can see to my right and left with, again, the use of a digitally created, eyeglass mounted rear view method.

[@Maniac618]

Come on Rouvy, VR support for the 360 asap please.

[@dhanyrafael]

In the next few years, VR support is coming. That is why they are filming again in 360. :)

[@da8675]

@@dhanyrafael "few years"? I hope they're a little faster than that.

[@dhanyrafael]

@@da8675 Let's hope so. 😍❤️

[@galenkehler]

This isnt realistic, I never look behind me when I'm riding IRL :)

[@SmartBikeTrainers]

😂

[@4466ssss4]

Because everyone is in front of you? :p

[@bighammer3464]

360 is not a dimension

[@wernerp3943]

Sowas braucht doch niemand; sollen lieber zusehen, das Rouvy stabil läuft. Sonst laufen die Kunden weg.

[@pejddomu]

omnimode is crap Add the B key to look back, the F key to look forward, etc. Now I have to grab the mouse and look for the icon on the screen.

[@wout123100]

seems more like you are crap, there are shortkeys. jeees.