Head for the hills… without leaving home. Whether you’ve qualified for the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice and you’re looking to get your legs ready for that notoriously tough bike course. Or you’ve got another event in your race calendar that looks set to be an uphill battle.
Training for a hilly course means you’ve got to get out and find some elevation to tackle. But that can be easier said than done if you’re not fortunate enough to have mountain passes and rolling climbs right on your doorstep. And while indoor training won’t help you to improve your descending skills. It can be an incredibly useful tool to build the strength, power and pacing skills required to take on the up hill sections of a hilly triathlon bike course.
We take a look at the best ROUVY routes for triathletes training for a hilly bike course. Work your way through these, and you’ll be climbing with confidence in no time!
ROUVY routes with long climbs to work on your pacing
Being able to climb well isn’t just about pure power. Pacing to perfection on the up hills is also key, particularly in the context of a triathlon where you’ll need to be able to run strong off the bike. These longer climbs on ROUVY are a great way to practice managing your effort. Aim to hold consistent power throughout the climb and finish strong, feeling like you’ve still got something left in the tank – come race day that’ll mean you can tackle the hilly bike course and still have good run legs waiting for you in T2.
Col du Telegraph – Galibier, France
First stop, France. The Col du Telegraph route on ROUVY gives you the opportunity to ride a bucket list climb – often cited as one of the toughest climbs in France. You’ll make your way up to the summit of Galibier, via Valloire, with the immersive video giving you a taste of the incredible panoramic views of the Ecrins range and Mont Blanc you’d experience if you were riding the climb in real life.
With an average grade of 6%, kicking up to 16% at times, this is a climb where starting off ‘easy’ will pay dividends. What feels easy at the 1km mark will feel pretty spicy by the time you’re 20km in!
Ride Col du Telegraph on ROUVY
Sella Ronda – Italy
Head to the Dolomites and take on four stunning climbs with ROUVY’s Sella Ronda loop. Winding your way up the Compolongo, Pordoi, Sella and Gardena climbs, this route is a great way to practice recovering quickly between efforts while maintaining a steady pace. The average grade of 3% makes this route fairly manageable, but you’ll have a few kickers – with a max gradient of 14%.
Prato to Passo Selvio – Italy
Sticking with Italy, experience one of Italy’s most famous passes riding up to Passo Selvio from Prato. A ‘Hors Categorie’ climb (meaning beyond categorisation), get ready for a tough but rewarding ride that will give your climbing legs a serious power up. With 48 hairpins and incredible scenery on the augmented reality video, this ride is the ultimate escapism.
Ride Prato to Passo Selvio on ROUVY
Grossglockner – Fusch to Edelweissspitze, Austria
Unique, beautiful – and brutal. Just what you’d expect from this iconic climb in Austria! Save on the flight fare and ride it from home with the Grossglockner route on ROUVY. The last 14km averages at a 9.7% gradient, with a finish on the cobbles. Making this one of the very best routes to ride when you need to practice pacing yourself well on the climbs. Overcook this one at the start, and you’re going to be in for a serious suffer-fest.
Ride Grossglockner route on ROUVY
Build your strength with these mid-length climbing routes
Boost your strength with the mid-length climbs. Long enough to test your endurance, but short enough that you can push yourself and start increasing your capacity to push higher power over a longer period of time. From the orange hues of Zion National park to the hair pins of Alpe d’Huez – these are our top picks of the hilly routes for when you’ve got 2hrs or less to burn.
Sa Calobra, Mallorca
A must-do climb on every cyclist and triathlete’s bucket list, Sa Calobra is a training camp favourite. And whether you’re planning a Mallorca tri camp and want to recce the climb. Or just daydreaming about doing it in real life for now. Experiencing it on ROUVY is the next best thing.
On average this will take most riders around 1hr to 1hr 15 minutes to complete, meaning you can either spin up easy or turn up the heat and work at or near your threshold effort.
Ride Sa Calobra route on ROUVY
Puerto de Hazallanas, Sierra Nevada
Stage 9 of the 2024 La Vuelta, Puerto de Hazallanas is a 13km climb in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of Spain. You’ll start with a nice warm up in the foothills, passing the Canales reservoir. Before your way up a series of switchbacks and tough gradients, maxing out at 16%. For most riders, this route will take between 1hr 15mins to 1hr 30 mins to complete, making it a great choice for a sub-threshold sweet spot effort.
Ride the La Vuelta 2024 Puerto de Hazallanas route on ROUVY
Zion National Park, USA
Let the stunning orange-hued scenery of Zion National Park distract you from the effort as you make your way through just under 550m of climbing. The Zion National Park route on ROUVY is a nice, steady climb. The gradient averages out at 3%, with the steepest section at an 8% grade. That means you can focus on pushing out a solid power effort from start to finish, without any major kickers to throw off your rhythm. A great route for finding your inner metronome and building your capacity to ride at a higher power for an hour or so.
Ride the Zion National Park route on ROUVY
Alpe d’Huez, France
Of course, no round up of the best hilly routes on ROUVY would be complete without including the legendary Alpe d’Huez. And given that there’s an Alpe d’Huez triathlon that is sure to be on most triathlete’s bucket list – this is a route that’s definitely worth checking out.
Take on the famous 21 hair pins and experience one of the most famous mountain passes going. With an estimated ride time of between 1hr 45 mins to 2hrs, you’ll want to maintain a steady effort.
Short sharp climbing routes on ROUVY to boost your power
Turbo charging your top end power is a great way to increase your sprint speed, improve your capacity to blast up shorter climbs on a rolling course, and enhance your resilience to surging efforts such as when you have to over take other riders in a non-draft triathlon.
But if regular interval sessions aren’t your thing, you can get a similar effect by taking on some short, sharp climbing routes on ROUVY. You’ll get similar training effect, with the added satisfaction of getting to beat your PR up the climbs. Here’s our pick of the best routes to try:
Red Bull Hill Chasers – Banska Stiavnica, Slovakia
Hill repeats are a great way to raise your FTP, improve your aerobic capacity and train your body to get more efficient at clearing lactate. All of which will help you to ride faster, for longer. But doing hill reps on a bike out in the real world can be tricky. Finding the right hill with a good gradient and not too much traffic without having to travel miles from home can be a near impossible task. Which is where indoor training is a great alternative. The Banska Stiavnica route on ROUVY is the perfect option for those short, sharp blasts. Hard up, recover down – rinse, repeat. You can even challenge yourself further by trying to go a little bit quicker on each repeat.
Ride Banska Stiavnica hill climb route on ROUVY
Yamaguchi Tsunoshima Island Side Course, Japan
13.38km, 133m, 1% 20-30 mins
Taking you on a ride around the perimeter of Japan’s Tsunoshima Island, the Yamaguchi route on ROUVY is a short, rolling route with two punchy climbs with a max gradient of 8%. It’s an ideal route to practice powering up shorter climbs and quickly recovering to hold a solid pace once back on the flat.
Ride Yamaguchi Tsunoshima Island on ROUVY
Cap de Formentor, Mallorca
Another training camp favourite to practice on ROUVY, Cap de Formentor – topped with the iconic lighthouse – is the ultimate ‘goldilocks’ climb. Short enough that you can blast up it as a hard 30 minute effort, but long enough that you’re still going to build some endurance in the process.
If you’ve got plans to head to Mallorca in real life, practicing the Cap de Formentor climb on ROUVY is a good way to make sure you’ll beat your riding buddies to the café at the top!
Ride up Cap de Formentor on ROUVY
Hochtanbergpass, Austria
Our final pick of the FTP-building shorter climbs on ROUVY has to be the Hochtanbergpass route. Situated in the Allgäu Alps in Austria, riding a section of the pass on ROUVY gives you all the snowy alpine views – without needing dozens of layers of winter cycling kit.
The climb will take around 30 minutes, with a max gradient of 10% meaning it’s challenging but achievable.
Looking for more route inspiration? Check out our round up of the best real life triathlon race courses to ride on ROUVY.
