If you have dreamed of tackling the best gravel events in the U.S. but have been unlucky in the entry lotteries, you’ll soon be ride all of them, at your leisure and without ever having to leave your home.
Six of Life Time's iconic gravel events will soon come to the Rouvy virtual riding platform, enabling riders to enjoy those rugged, vast landscapes from anywhere in the world.
The Sea Otter Classic, Unbound, Big Sugar Gravel, Leadville 100, Crusher in the Tushar and the Rad Dirt Fest will all feature on the platform.
It comes as part of a two-year sponsorship deal between Rouvy and Life Time as the Czech riding platform aims to bring more gravel riders to the virtual world.
Those who were successful in securing entries to Life Time events in real life will be given digital activation codes as part of the sponsorship, enabling them to prepare for the races by experiencing them on Rouvy first.
The Rouvy riding experience is based on augmented reality, which uses video footage coupled with digital riders and heads-up display, helping to give prospective entrants a reasonable idea of what the course looks like.
The wider Rouvy community will be able to ride the events too, as they are added throughout the season.
Rouvy also allows riders to make courses by adding their own video and is hoping the deal will lead to more gravel options coming to the platform. It will be launching a new AI route creator tool in the coming months, it says, that will aid with this and enable virtual riders from around the world the experience the US gravel scene.
“We’re continuously looking for new ways to provide engaging indoor riding adventures for our users," says Petr Samek, co-founder and CEO of ROUVY. "Whilst the outdoor gravel scene has exploded in the past years, this hasn’t been well supported by the indoor cycling space, until now.
"With this exciting new sponsorship, we’re looking to encapsulate the joy and excitement of Life Time’s incredible, genre-defining events within our realistic high quality video virtual routes, allowing everyone the chance to experience what it’s like to ride some of the world’s most loved gravel races.”
This year's Life Time Grand Prix kicks off on Friday, April 10, with the Sea Otter Classic gravel race. The six-event series runs through October, culminating in the Big Sugar Gravel on October 18.
