Is ROUVY Your New Indoor Cycling Application?

Indoor cycling in the past five years has come a very long way. No longer are we hiding on wheel on trainers making enough noise to upset the neighbors while slowly shaking our house down while staring at a heart rate monitor.

When Zwift first hit our screens and smart turbo trainers hit the shops, it was a special time. Many cyclists couldn’t believe riding indoors could be so pleasant, and being able to explore a virtual race and ride alongside pros really made the experience something very special.

For many years Zwift has been the go to application for many riders, but we all knew that other companies would be coming along to try and offer something different or a better experience. Rouvy is an application that has been around for a while, and we believe it hasn’t really had the recognition that it deserves. In this article, we’re going to tell you all about it.

What is Rouvy?

Rouvy is an application where you can go cycling online but on real world courses. It’s an amazing alternative to Zwift, which does offer something very different, and we were quite surprised at just how good it was.

You can download the application through your local application marketplace or on a PC. We used an iPad when we were trailing it. The setup took minutes. Literally, I made an account and signed in, and before we knew it, we were on the road.

Unlike many other applications, it’s very well set up. The menu is very easy to navigate, and you can easily get straight into the action after quickly connecting your smart trainer and heart rate monitor.

What do I need to run Rouvy?

When it comes to Rouvy all you need is a device to run the application on and a turbo trainer.

You can use a top of the range smart turbo trainer that will self-adjust the resistance, or you can use a dumb trainer with a speed sensor.

For the best experience, we recommend a smart turbo trainer, as when you ride, the resistance changes make the workouts so much more interesting, and it really does make you feel more connected to the courses you are riding.

What does Rouvy look like?

Rouvy is a very clean and smooth game. Everything loads very quickly, and when you’re riding in the application, it’s silky smooth and a lot of fun.

The wattage and stats are in the corner and can be easily seen, and it even offers a climbing profile where you can see the incline you are at and what’s coming up.

For us, one of the biggest selling points is just how great everything looks. It is not like any other cycling applications we have used, and although you can’t just explore the world freely, the views and crispness does offer an element of which we have seen on many applications.

What are the Rouvy courses like?

When I first got on Rouvy, I was expecting it to be a picture show and feel like I was cycling through google maps, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The interactive courses are video-based, and your avatar rides through them.

It offers so much, and you can enjoy the scenery on a big screen. The courses are from places all over the world so you can take yourself anywhere from London to the USA and enjoy some very interactive training.

Some of the videos are a bit more basic and look more like someone who used GoPro footage which still offers a nice experience, but the AI is where you want to be, in my opinion. If this is a bit too much and you are looking for something more basic, you can also have a basic map view.

Can I ride with others?

Yeah, you sure can. It’s not like Zwift, where you have loads of organized group rides, Rouvy instead, you just go to the same place, and you will be able to see your friends there and ride with their avatars.

You have the ability to draft, and it’s fun to challenge friends without the computer pulling you all together, like in a Zwift group.

They offer a lot of great racing, which a smart trainer is typically required for, and have hosted some amazing events such as the Tour de Suisse in 2020 because of the Covid pandemic. There are various races you can all join in, and they even offer an option to create your own.

They have some great events you can enter, not just to challenge yourself but to see how you stack up against some strong riders.

Is it just free ride, or are there workouts?

Rouvy offers great free rides where the resistance changes automatically, and you can take on some major climbs in your own home. The training doesn’t stop there though. Rouvy states they have a huge amount of different workouts for you to do yourself, which offers a structure for your training.

You also get all your usual testing, and they organize it really well into sections such as endurance or intervals and even have a place where you can save your favorites. One thing that really impressed us is they have workouts put in by top brands and coaches such as Trainingpeaks and Hunter Allen.

What other features does Rouvy have?

One thing we really liked was Rouvy Coins. This is an in game currency that the more you ride, the more you can earn, which unlocks new levels and different gear for your avatar.

Another great feature is that you can change to a completely different map halfway through a ride.

How much is Rouvy?

Rouvy is 15 Euros a month but you can get up to 20% off if you buy a year at a time. They offer a 14-day free trial, and we highly recommend giving it a go as an alternative to Zwift.

Rouvy vs Zwift?

The first question we asked ourselves while researching Rouvy was how does Rouvy compare to Zwift. In our opinion, Rouvy looks much cleaner, it is much more user friendly, and it offers real life courses to ride on. It’s super quick to load and you can easily jump from one world to another with a huge amount of workouts to choose from.

Zwift is the biggest online cycling platform and a lot of indoor riders use it. Zwift is less realistic, it can be a bit harder to navigate, but it offers a much larger community. There’s more riders to race, more group rides to go on, and when you think of smart turbo trainers typically you think Zwift.

They are both excellent platforms to train on and we highly recommend them. Zwift is a much better known platform compared to Rouvy, but that doesn’t mean Rouvy isn’t as good or even better.

Pros

• Looks super Crisp
• Amazing Routes and Courses
• Lots of great workouts
• The application is smooth and fast

Cons

• It’s not got the community of applications like Zwift
• It isn’t the cheapest application at 15 Euros

Conclusion

Rouvy is a great alternative to Zwift. It’s fun to use and definitely offers a very crisp experience. We feel it has so much to offer and doesn’t get the recognition it deserves because other applications have a huge community and a lot of marketing to bring people in. We highly recommend you try it and know many people will make the switch.

Robbie Ferri

Robbie Ferri has spent years working in a bike shop, has worked with industry leading brands on product creation, has been a semi pro athlete, and is a fully qualified strength and conditioning coach. He has broken World Records, bikepacked all over the World and raced ultra distance at a top-level.