Indoor training platform Rouvy has rolled out some interesting subscription updates and options. The changes will allow users to pause their subscription for up to 180 days a year. You can still ride up to 20km for free whilst your Rouvy subscription is paused and you can also buy a pass to ride on the app for between one and three days without unpausing it.
For the uninitiated, Rouvy claims to be the 'world's most realistic indoor cycling app' and allows users to cycle on real-world routes.
Many riders want to ride outdoors once the weather improves but prefer to head back to the turbo and indoor cycling over winter to maintain their fitness. That means that for several months a year, they’re paying a monthly fee for an app that they may not be using much, or at all.
Rouvy is now allowing its users to pause their subscription once per calendar year for up to 180 days. You can unpause your subscription again whenever you want, but then cannot repause it in the same calendar year.
If you’ve prepaid for the year, Rouvy will add extra days pro rata to your expiry date to prolong your subscription by the number of days it was paused. Rouvy is offering its new flexible pause option to all its users.
The option to ride 20km for free
If you’re based in the UK, pausing over the summer and expecting to only ride outdoors may be a bold move, particularly with this year’s weather to date. So while your subscription is paused, Rouvy will allow users to ride up to 20km in the app per month for free.
That’s going to be well under an hour’s riding for most users but beats staring at a brick wall for 45 minutes. If you want to ride for longer while your subscription is paused, you can now also purchase a daily pass. It’s priced at $2.99 for 24 hours, $3.99 for 48 hours or $4.99 for 72 hours – enough to see you through a wet spell.
Even if you end your subscription, Rouvy will allow you to ride up to 20km per month free of charge. Feature access is limited, so you’ll not be able to join races or group rides without an active subscription, but Rouvy reckons that the option to try new functionality may tempt lapsed riders back onto the platform.
Rouvy’s new subscription model could make the platform significantly cheaper than its competitors for cyclists who prefer to be outdoors when the weather and daylight are better. Zwift recently upped its subscription price by a third and now costs $17.99 / £17.99 a month. €14.99 a month is the cost of a single-user Rouvy subscription.
Pause your Rouvy subscription for six months over the summer and you’ll halve that, while an annual subscription costs the equivalent of $12.42 / €12.42 per month, with discounts available for renewals. There’s a cheaper option still though – MyWhoosh remains free to use.
