I am curious for those that have done both…
How do you find how realistic (effort and speed wise) riding lets say the lake placid ironman course vs the real on road riding of the course?
Curious, do you find it equivalent? riding real course easier/may have a faster avg MPH? or real riding the course harder?
just curious how my current effort/time/speed will compare to the real thing…
thanks
for me rouvy felt a bit harder. its easier on zwift, because you have stupid drafting and other things on there.
thanks, I am kind of hoping that will be the case. I do feel rouvy is a great workout…
I’ve done Mont Ventoux on Rouvy and in real life - I would say that its very realistic in terms of time. If I recall correctly I did about 1:50 for the full 21km in real life and about 1:35 for the shortened version on Rouvy. Similar power numbers around 230NP
I’ve done Mont Ventoux on Rouvy and in real life - I would say that its very realistic in terms of time. If I recall correctly I did about 1:50 for the full 21km in real life and about 1:35 for the shortened version on Rouvy. Similar power numbers around 230NP
I’ve been on Rouvy for four years and almost always find outdoors to be much easier. The reason is because the flywheel does not simulate downhill as well as the real thing. On a steep descent you will accelerate in the real world without doing anything while on Rouvy you must pedal at least slowly or you will eventually stop. So on a course with no NET gain, you will be slower on Rouvy. I have climbed Mt Ventoux on Rouvy but not in real life, but I’m not surprised that it closely approximates outdoors because it is nothing but up, up, and up and the downhill flywheel problem doesn’t manifest on that route.
I think Rouvy is harder also. As mentioned, you are always pedaling.
I think the grades feel harder in Rouvy than out on the road.
Personally, I like the realistic video of Rouvy over the cartoon of Zwift.
I have not tried a Rouvy workout yet, but it looks similar to Tacx in that your looking at a graph instead of riding through an environment.
Interesting to hear that you think outdoors is easier.
I have been on Rouvy and found the “old” traditional Rouvy to be very accurate to outside
The new AR- I am 10-15 min faster with same output over a 70.3 course. I know wind, etc but the course
I compared I have raced 8 times and all pretty close in time. Checked my numbers as well to make sure weight,
realism are all set and all checks as far as my peanut brain shows
I do enjoy the options of so many courses on Rouvy compared to Zwift. And with a Gopro I have recreated alot of my own local routes
Faster on those too.
Whenever I’ve had the chance to ride the same route outdoors that I’ve done on Rouvy, then I’m faster outdoors. That’s proven true 100% of the time for me over the past four years, but I’ve only had a handful of opportunities for direct comparison.
However, there was a time last fall when they did some modification to the program and I was setting course records on Rouvy left and right. They had definitely made it easier. But a few months after that, it went away, and I was back to normal. Anyway, that’s my perception of them tinkering with the program.
I find Rouvy to be harder than real life courses. For example, Ironman 70.3 Boulder is much harder on Rouvy than what iit is in real life. I can do the real course in about 21 MPH and the absolute best I can do on Rouvy is about 19MPH (I have achieved 20MPH but I’m killing myself to do it). Ironman 70.3 St. George is the same situation when you ride it on Rouvy. For some reason Rouvy’s algorithm doesn’t model very well the effect of momentum. They actually added drafting but the effect is minimal when compared to Zwift.
All that being said I absolutely love it. I like the realism of the courses and I feel ready to race after riding on Rouvy. If gaming features and group rides are really important to you then Zwift is where you want to go. But for me Rouvy is exactly what I want for the indoor riding experience.
I find Rouvy to be harder than real life courses. For example, Ironman 70.3 Boulder is much harder on Rouvy than what iit is in real life. I can do the real course in about 21 MPH and the absolute best I can do on Rouvy is about 19MPH (I have achieved 20MPH but I’m killing myself to do it). Ironman 70.3 St. George is the same situation when you ride it on Rouvy. For some reason Rouvy’s algorithm doesn’t model very well the effect of momentum. They actually added drafting but the effect is minimal when compared to Zwift.
All that being said I absolutely love it. I like the realism of the courses and I feel ready to race after riding on Rouvy. If gaming features and group rides are really important to you then Zwift is where you want to go. But for me Rouvy is exactly what I want for the indoor riding experience.
I just went all in on the indoor riding set up because I have been shut out of the social aspects of swimming tired of pandemic solo training on run and bike. I got a Kickr bike and just signed up for Rouvy actually based on some of what a few of you have said here and elsewhere (did not sign up for Zwift yet).
A few questions for you guys:
How do I start partway through a course (for example, if I want to hammer the last 30km of IM Lake Placid or the top half of Galibier or Alpe d’Huez)Can I pause my ride. I could not find a way but I was riding on a tiny Google Pixel5 android phone. So Basically I revved up to full speed on a hill and got off my kickr bike and went and got a bottle and came back and bike was still coasting as the hill was long enough :-)Can I set a pacer to ride with me. Let’s say I want to average 200W for my ride, can I insert a virtual partner who will just peg his entire ride at that number? Or maybe even a virtual rider with some intelligence who maybe holders 230W going uphill and backs off to 150W on some descents (or even goes down to zero when it gets steep enough).
Also I assume there is the ability to go into courses, edit out sections that you don’t want to ride and publish them back for others to ride on?
Seriously Dev? You haven’t been using Zwift during this entire pandemic?!
If you haven’t I would try that first. Before Rouvy. I’ve used both, Rouvy is cool and all but the reality is that having other riders on courses makes a big difference. You’d never guess that would be important, and in fact you’d think it would be anti-important as it would ‘mess up your planned workout’, but trust me - even if you’re doing a z2 training ride, when you recognize that a user has been around you for the last 30+ minutes, you will NOT want to be dropped. And then you can thumbs up them so you know you appreciate their effort. Races are crushers…
If you dropped the cash on a Kickr bike, you should have no problem having memberships with both for awhile.
Seriously Dev? You haven’t been using Zwift during this entire pandemic?!
If you haven’t I would try that first. Before Rouvy. I’ve used both, Rouvy is cool and all but the reality is that having other riders on courses makes a big difference. You’d never guess that would be important, and in fact you’d think it would be anti-important as it would ‘mess up your planned workout’, but trust me - even if you’re doing a z2 training ride, when you recognize that a user has been around you for the last 30+ minutes, you will NOT want to be dropped. And then you can thumbs up them so you know you appreciate their effort. Races are crushers…
If you dropped the cash on a Kickr bike, you should have no problem having memberships with both for awhile.
Well I was XC skiing and swimming with my swim club that gave me the social connection and last year when we could work out with others, I would meet with a friend distanced for ride+run duathlons so he roped me into joining him online (and given that its not ski season and pools are locked up and I can’t exercise outdoors with others, well, now was the time).
OK I will probably get Zwift too (yes, the subscriptions are no problem, literally because I am not buy gas and I am not spending on restaurants, in fact, the Kickr bike was covered 100% and more from all the gas and eating out I did not spend on…I literally only burnt 6 tanks in 14 months)!
I figured out how to pause a ride (I guess only in training mode not TT mode) but if anyone can explain if there is a way of adding a fixed pacer training partner. It looks like you can just insert a bunch of other riders who previously rode the course as virtual partners in Rouvy.
I am curious for those that have done both…
How do you find how realistic (effort and speed wise) riding lets say the lake placid ironman course vs the real on road riding of the course?
Curious, do you find it equivalent? riding real course easier/may have a faster avg MPH? or real riding the course harder?
just curious how my current effort/time/speed will compare to the real thing…
thanks
I was curious from this thread, so I downloaded Rouvy and had a ride.
I tried IM Frankfurt, as I live near there.
In real life, the first climb in Bergen Enkheim climbs about 65m over 1.2km ( up to a right hand turn off the main road) - with an average grade of 5.5%.
On Rouvy, I rode up at 3w/kg and 31kph! There is just no way. That is laughably inaccurate.
Here are the pros in 2018 (1:30:14):
https://youtu.be/BWtKjbzKMEk?t=5414
The same applied for bridges and other climbs, before I gave up.
I was pretty disappointed, glad there is a trial, so good on them for that.
That’s interesting because my rides are pretty spot on for the routes I frequent, but maybe that particular course does not have an accurate elevation profile. Also, do you have your weight set correctly? That is the single biggest thing in the app that drives effort and speed uphill (as I’m sure you know).
Rich
For the virtual partner option does anyone know a way to quickly scroll down to someone in your watts per kilo range on that day. Depending on the courses I tried so far, I want to do them anywhere from 3.5W per kilo down do 2W per kilo range . The problem is there are 100’s or even a few thousand riders depending on course who have ridden faster than I would so I have keep scrolling forever to insert a virtual partner in my effort range. Anyway I can get there quickly without endless scrolling?
That’s interesting because my rides are pretty spot on for the routes I frequent, but maybe that particular course does not have an accurate elevation profile. Also, do you have your weight set correctly? That is the single biggest thing in the app that drives effort and speed uphill (as I’m sure you know).
Rich
Hi,
Yes, weight set correctly.
It was indeed the gradients, as you said - I went back to check and they are way off, which was why I was riding twice the speed of the pros up the hill 
It’s quite disappointing being the main selling point!
Thanks for answering.
That’s interesting because my rides are pretty spot on for the routes I frequent, but maybe that particular course does not have an accurate elevation profile. Also, do you have your weight set correctly? That is the single biggest thing in the app that drives effort and speed uphill (as I’m sure you know).
Rich
Hi,
Yes, weight set correctly.
It was indeed the gradients, as you said - I went back to check and they are way off, which was why I was riding twice the speed of the pros up the hill
It’s quite disappointing being the main selling point!
Thanks for answering.
is it just that course? cause some user uploaded files/vids not officially checked. hate when they crash
General reply to this thread. I have used Rouvy now for 14 days and done around 500km on courses all over the world some of which I have ridden on but it is hard to tell for sure. At the end of the day a workout is a workout.
But I tested on a TT loop that I have ridden probably 700 times over 35 years. I have data on that course with power meter and without on 35 years of bikes from double diamond steel tube to newer Tri bikes and o have ridden the course in aero gear and from weight ranges between 62 kilos and 65 kilos (I have never ridden it fatter or thinner than that…pretty consistent).
This is a 42km course 600m of vertical up and down. My best real world time was 1:09 when my FTP was close to 270 and I weighed 62/63. My slower times are 1:22-1:25 generally at the 65kilo scale when FTP was more like 230-240W.
yesterday I rode that course on a 95 percent TT mode. My ride time was 1:19 and time with breaks was 1:22. I would guess my FTP is barely 230W right now and I am 65 kilos
What I found is that it is giving me a slightly higher speed uphill and initially on downhills it gives me a faster speed too but then when I get over 50kph in real life I can shoot up to 60-70kph with a superior tuck. Rouvy is not giving my credit for that and even on flats I think my outdoor aero is better on flats than it gives me credit for online.
I am 5’6" so not sure how it factors in aero drag but it must be proportional to height and it stays consistent whether sitting or standing thus my rouvy climbing the speed may be higher than real world since I can ride with a crappy aero position with no penalty
Here is the ride from that Gatineau Park Loop that I was speaking of:
https://my.rouvy.com/devashish.paul/training-diary/detail/11098548
Also the other factor that comes into play is outdoor vs indoor cooling. I think if you are riding much above 3W per kilo for an extended period, then outdoor becomes easier due to cooling. Indoors once you are doing lots of 4 and 5W per kilo segments and surges it may be harder to evacuate heat from your room, especially for bigger riders. I don’t create much heat on a 2-3 hrs effort, but once I do 20-40 min effort the entire room gets hotter than the next room so this would affect outdoor vs indoor speed.