Once an activity solely for winter, indoor cycling is fast becoming an year round activity thanks to impressive virtual reality worlds that you can now inhabit from the comfort of your own home.
Gone are the days of had written sessions and only the rhythmic humm of a loud roller and your ever quickening heart rate for company, virtual reality cycling platforms such as Wahoo RGT can now transport you all over the globe, and even further with virtual worlds, allow you to meet up with friends for a ride and even train and race complete strangers while still remaining in your own dedicated pain cave.
You will need to ensure that you also have the right hardware to be able to interact fully on any virtual cycling system, but our guide all about the best smart turbo trainers (opens in new tab) can help you work out what’s right for you.
What is Wahoo RGT?
Wahoo RGT was, until relatively recently just Road Grand Tours or RGT for short. It is now part of the Wahoo family, and has to be accessed via a subscription through the Wahoo X platform.
In terms of virtual cycling, it was without a doubt developed by experienced gamers who ride bikes.
Riding Mont Ventoux on Road Grand Tours
It’s effectively an indoor world simulator that enables you to link your turbo trainer with your computer (PC and Mac), Apple TV, iSO and Android and ride in a virtual environment with supported training hardware.
Users from around the world are able to connect, ride, race and train together in a virtual reality world, which can be either an existing well known cycling destination, or Magic Road, which you can create by uploading your own GPX file.
As well as meeting and competing against others, you can also choose from a list of specific training sessions, such as Endurance, VO2 max and Threshold. There’s even the option for virtual coaching with structured training plans, developed by TrainingPeaks coaches Tim Cusick and Taylor Thomas, that can help you achieve your fitness goal, be it a 100 mile sportive, or a crit and CX HIIT Plan.
Is Wahoo RGT Free?
Yes and no. The free option allows you to access features such as real roads, open riding mode, join events and upload your work out to TraininPeaks.
The Premium, £12.99/ $14.99 a month and opens up the entire suite of features such as structured workouts (both downloads and uploads), Magic Road, create an event and customise your on-line avatar.
If your unsure about committing, there’s a 14 day free trail to try before you buy.