Rouvy has released an update that introduces an advanced version of its virtual bots – ROUVY Ghosts. Riders of all fitness levels, searching for added motivation, can use this optional feature on the virtual cycling platform to have the company of an equally performing team of riders around their own avatar.
The latest app development comes with improved functionality of the Unlimited Virtual Partners feature. This enables simulation of a race or group ride of any scale, all based on available public data.
Rouvy uses overlaid 3D avatars and objects, atop of real-life geo-synced video footage. Initially, Ghosts were presented with the first release of Rouvy back in 2018. The feature was then put on hold. Rouvy has since rolled out the upgraded bots – with ghost riders now part of all Rouvy rides, time-trials and workouts.
Rouvy adds that… ‘the ghosts are generic but friendly, with names like Tom or Emily, or similar. The Ghost riders accompany the rider’s avatar and motivate for better performance. Oriented and adapted to one’s pace, bots are the Jungian shadows of one’s training individuality in some sense.
‘Some of them stay behind, some in front (to motivate one to overtake) and some behave as your shadow. It’s possible to set the number of bots between 0-10. So, one will never have to ride alone until he or she wants to be the only king or queen of the road.’
The latest app release also enables the selection of best matching virtual partners. The ‘sparring partner selection process’ now provides filters by power to weight ratio (w/kg), time or username.
Unlimited virtual partners are based on one’s own real data in Rouvyor other riders’ data that have already ridden a particular route in the past. (They can be combined with the personal bots). This way, it is possible to race against the visualization of an individual’s own multiple historic results whilst preparing for a specific race or event.
To appear on the leaderboard for the selection as a virtual partner, the ride has to be done in the ‘time trial’ or ‘race’ mode. The number of virtual partners is not limited, so it is up to an athlete to decide how many participants will feature in a given training session.
Vilem Samarek, Chief Product Officer at Rouvy said “Riding with others is more fun, so we wanted to bring this functionality to make sure you never have to ride alone, no matter the route or workout you choose.”
An update of the Rouvy app is needed to be able to utilise the new features. Version 2.6.0 (or higher) is required.
