World Bicycle Day | Pedal to Empower | RGT Cycling

The Nine Hammers Tavern - General Chat
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Fellow 'Landrians:

Since starting with SUFF, one of the most impactful videos for me was the little 5min cooldown clip from World Bicycle Relief, who provide bicycles and mechanical training to empower women and girls in remote areas of Kenya and throughout central Africa. MOST inspiring (and infuriating), and now one of my favorite charities to support.

To commemorate World Bicycle Day (3 June), WBR is hosting/sponsoring Pedal to Empower, a global awareness and virtual “event”.

One of the events is a virtual ride on the RGT Cycling platform from 4-6 June (which I know nothing about, but am intrigued by - and they offer a 14-day free trial, so no excuse!).

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Sidebar: anyone have any experience with RGT? I’d never heard of the app before. Looks like Zwift, but less “game-y”. I’m really curious about their “upload GPS routes” and virtual world generation - as I watch the rain pour down outside this AM. :cry:

Anyone know if GvA has a .gpx file covering Sufferlandria? We could do group rides from the Tavern!

:thinking:

Happy riding, nation!

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Thanks for the heads up on the wbr empower ride :+1: I remember watching the clip for the first time… ordered my wbr kit straight after jumping out of the shower :grin:
As for rgt… I tried to like it 2 times now (in 2019 and recently) but it is just not for me. Everybody is raving about the graphics, but on my mediocre laptop or Apple TV it is just meh.
Reliability: 1 out of 4 rides I had issues on a total of 20 rides or so (could be on my end, but suf and zwift never, not a single problem in 3 years). I liked the draft a lot more then on zwift though. Its just… there is no one to draft off :stuck_out_tongue:
Worth checking it out for sure. Cap Formentor is the nicest route imo

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It won’t help with this particular ride, but if you’re looking for real-world video, you can also check out Fulgaz and Rouvy. I didn’t have luck with Fulgaz–it didn’t seem to play nicely with my trainer–but Rouvy’s been great for those rainy days when the training plan calls for an endurance ride. I won’t be doing the RGT ride, but I’ll be donating and riding in support next weekend. Outside, though, with a little luck.

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Hey @CPT_A , it’s been a while but I’ve ridden on RGT a fair amount actually. My local cycling association even held some races last year that were fun AF. I’m not a fan of the graphics generally but the app does have some pretty cool features, especially for racing or group riding. There is a draft effect that changes the closer and further you get away from the rider in front of you and you can see that in the GUI on screen. The effect is increased with a larger group just like irl. Something else RGT does that Zwift doesn’t (can’t speak for Fulgaz, or Rouvy) is that when you descend you can’t take a switchback at 75 kmh! It slows you’re avatar down, whether you like it or not. In Zwift you can fly down those hills. Like Zwift, you can change your camera view so you are staring right ahead of yourself, or you can have it positioned directly behind you. I think there is also a varying view that switches between several views (it might be called race view).

You need both an app for your phone or mobile device (that acts as the controller of sorts and connects to all your devices) and a screen to view it on (PC Mac AppleTV).

I’ve had varying success with RGT. In one of the races I had a number of dropouts where it just wasnt picking up my power so I ended up not moving at all on screen despite putting out all I had. That was frustrating. In another race, it was less glitchy for me but others had some complaints. To be fair, this was last year so they may have made some stability improvements.

I’ve also ridden their version of the Stelvio (which was “fun”.

As for the magic roads, I think you need to be a premium subscriber to have them create these for you. I had a free trial of the premium for a little while at the start of the pandemic and had them create a version of my local club’s Sunday road ride ( I live in the prairies so our Sunday rides are pancake flat and rather dull scenery wise). They essentially take a GPX, or TCX (or whatever) file you’ve got and create a route giving it their own graphics, so it won’t end up looking like your actual ride but it will “feel” like it with gradient changes and turns that match the irl route.

Have fun!

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I supported WBR for my KOS and I’m extremely proud that 5 girls got bikes from that effort. I’ll definitely look into this, thanks for the head’s up.

I used RGT a lot during last year to organise a whole series of bike rides when RGT offered free pandemic access. A bunch of cycling mates from around the world uploaded their local loop GPX’s and we all got the ride them. It’s a generic “scene” for the custom uploads, not like their existing public ride routes which have graphics of where you ride. I adore riding their Canary Wharf or their other Crit loop, very good for sprint intervals work. You can run a SUF no vid with intervals (think Bat) while riding one of their flat courses and it’s ace fun!

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@Glen.Coutts @DameLisa Thanks both for the insights! Was able to queue up the free trial for both RGT and Rouvy for my should-have-been-outdoors-but-it’s-been-raining-for-five-days weekend training rides, recovery ride Saturday and surge and holds on the menu for Sunday. I frankly enjoyed both of them quite a bit, and the hours went quick.

Used RGT for the recovery ride, and uploaded my home training loop .gpx to the “magic roads”. I think my one-off impressions would mirror your comments, @Glen.Coutts: the graphics were pretty generic, but I also found some of the features really impressive. As I know the loop well, I could readily tell where I was on the circuit, and it was hysterical turning the final corner and seeing a giant finish-line balloon right in front of my house! I would also note that the town name signs were a cool touch, and accurate. Also - as you mentioned - was really impressed with the drafting feature and visual. I spent an inordinate amount of time seeing how well I could wheel-suck on the bot racers on my route.

Speaking of, I failed to note, on initial setup, that the ride forced 11 more-or-less competitive bots onto my training ride. What with the drafting mode and my [ahem] slightly competitive spirit, my recovery ride got a little heated. And yes, I MAY have drafted into a sprint over the final 300m to my house (sorry, Eduardo-bot, but you should’ve seen me coming!)

Tried Rouvy for my Sunday long ride, but went with the Ironman Canada 40km just to have a route to work in, vs. uploading my own loop. Flat with a bump in the middle, worked out really well for the interval sessions, except that #2 of 3 found me cresting a 7.5% incline and blasting downhill, so just went along for the ride and completed the interval once I hit the bottom. I have to say, Rouvy’s VR mode was REALLY impressive, once I figured out how to change camera view so I didn’t have to look at my corny avatar. The live roads were much more “Sufferlandrian-esque” (there’s a word), and I found more to my taste than RGT’s “Zwift-ness” game feel.

Both apps installed and loaded easily, and both connected with all of my sensors (Wahoo Snap, HRM, cadence) via Bluetooth - frankly easier and with less hassle than SUFF. I didn’t experience any drops or haywire readings from either platform - at least on these single outings. I often have to toggle the BT on my MBP on-and-off a couple times to complete pairing with everything correctly in SUFF. Not ideal, ESPECIALLY given the SUFF/Wahoo partnership… :thinking:

Have to say, the one thing that stood out technically in the apps was RGT’s two-device setup (iPhone and MBP in my case). I was prepared to be annoyed, but in the end I really liked the setup, which allowed me to have my iphone on the bike to manage settings and make changes.

I would actually love to see Sufferfest adopt a similar setup. I would like to have my phone close to hand, say to change between ERG and levels, or to +/- power settings on the fly, rather than gingerly try to reach for my laptop keys out front of my handlebars while cranking. (are you listening Minions?)

TL;DR - tried both RGT and Rouvy. Thought both were good, but for me Rouvy was great. My RGT trial will get me through the WBR ride, but then will likely subscrive to Rouvy as a backup/complement to SUFF.

Man, two app subscriptions now. Wife is going to kill me. :grimacing:

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Best ride debrief ever! :grin:

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ImmenseFearlessCockatiel-size_restricted

:grimacing:

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:point_up_2:

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