The countdown to Challenge Roth is on! And with only a few weeks left until race day, it’s time to tick off those final bike sessions so you can step up to the start line feeling strong and confident.
Whether you’re looking for an indoor route to get your last long ride or two done, efficiently, on a route that will simulate the course profile you’ll be facing on race day. Or recommendations for the best workouts to sharpen up your race fitness and get ready for Solar Hill. We’ve done the scrolling for you to bring you our picks of the best ROUVY routes and workouts to help you in your final preparations for racing Challenge Roth.
ROUVY routes to simulate the Challenge Roth bike course
One of the plus points our indoor cycling guinea pigs raised in ROUVY’s favour when we tasked them with comparing Rouvy vs Zwift was the ability to ride real life routes on the platform. And with several Challenge Family routes (including Roth) available to ride on ROUVY. Plus other famous routes from around the world. If you find yourself needing to do your last long ride or two indoors – be it for efficiency, or just due to terrible weather. There’s no shortage of options to help you find your climbing legs and visualise race day.
Challenge Roth route
The obvious choice here is of course, the Challenge Roth route itself. You can either go for the full 180km version, or tick off a single loop for a shorter ride. If you’ve not raced in Roth before, the bike course can have a habit of taking first timers by surprise. It’s hillier than you might think, given the blisteringly fast bike splits we’ve seen coming out of Roth in recent years!
Riding the course on ROUVY is a great way to get familiar with all the twists, turns and climbs. So you can put together a realistic pacing strategy for race day that won’t leave you desperately searching for your run legs once you get into T2.
Challenge Kaiserwinkl-Walchsee route
If you want to save the scenery and the magic of the Roth course for race day, then the Challenge Kaiserwinkl-Walchsee route is a fitting alternative. 42km long with 600 metres of elevation, this is a great route for getting used to pacing rolling climbs.
Colorado River Utah USA route
For something completely different to take your mind off the pre-race nerves, check out the Colorado River route. This 30km route has little in the way of climbing, so it’s a great way to focus purely on dialling into your aero position. Get down on your TT bars and focus on your pedalling technique, engaging your glutes and keeping your head position low.
This will stand you in good stead for making the most of the fast sections on course at Challenge Roth. The striking red rock landscapes you’ll ride through on screen are also a great bit of escapism!
ROUVY workouts for triathletes getting race day ready
The pre-built workouts on ROUVY are a great way to target specific intensities and training zones to add the ‘cherry on top’ to your endurance training, ready for the undulating course at Challenge Roth. If you’re working with a coach already, there’s the option to programme in custom workouts or sync with Training Peaks. But if you’re flying solo and you’re not sure what workouts to do – here’s our top picks.
Top ROUVY workouts to get ready for the Roth rollers
STAIRS & SWEETS
Duration: 52 minutes
Training stress score: 48
Route: Tour de Suisse 2023 Stage 8 – Sankt Gallen
First up is the Stairs & Sweets workout. This is 52 minutes long, with a 48 TSS score – meaning it’s challenging enough to boost your fitness, without putting too much fatigue into your legs for your longer rides. This workout features a ramp up, followed by 2 x 8 minutes at 90% of your Functional Threshold Power. It’s a great workout for getting your legs ready for the longer climb you’ll tackle twice at Greding on the Challenge Roth bike course. This workout will help you to develop your capacity to hold a steady climbing pace and recover between efforts, without burning too many matches.
HILLY ENDURANCE
Duration: 90 mins
Training stress score: 77
Route: Nuannuan to Dali – Taiwan
For a midweek endurance ride, the Hilly Endurance workout (hard version) is a good option to get used to mixing in some moderate intensity work – simulating the pace/power output you might want to target at Challenge Roth.
You start at the lower end of Zone 2 (i.e. your easy endurance pace) for the warm up. Then you’ve got 4 x 15 minutes at 75% of your FTP which is likely to be close to your race pace.
THRESHOLD STACKS
Duration: 57 mins
Training stress score: 45
Route: Tour de Suisse 2023 Stage 5 – Fiesch
Threshold training is a great way to boost your fitness and bump up your overall pace. The Threshold Stacks workout features 5 short repeats at 95% of your FTP, with 6 minutes recovery in between. This switching between pushing the pace and steady riding is a great way to prepare for the spiky efforts of the climbs, and recovering fast in between.
Best ROUVY workouts to tune up for race day
As you draw closer to race day, you’ll need to start reducing your overall training volume. But it’s a good idea to keep a bit of intensity in the mix – without overdoing it – to keep the body feeling fresh and fired up.
Here’s our pick of the workouts to incorporate in the last 2-2.5 weeks before race day.
FTP TEST/RAMP TEST
Duration: 30-40 mins
A ramp test or a 20 minute FTP test measures your 1 hour maximum power output. Essentially this is an indicator of your current cycling fitness, and it gives you a yard stick to set your target power/effort for race day. It’s a good idea to measure this 2.5-3 weeks out from the race, to get a measure of the cycling fitness you’ll be carrying into race day. That way, you can ensure you don’t try and go too hard – or leave too much out on the course.
ROUVY has both the ramp test and the 20 minute FTP test. Both have their merits. The ramp test is a less intensive effort, but some athletes find the 20 minute all out effort a more accurate measure.
RAMP UP INTENSITY
Duration: 55 mins
Training stress score: 54
Route: Plätzwiese Dürrensteinhütte – Italy
Maintaining some intensity in your training is important as you bring the overall volume down to keep some sharpness in the legs. The Ramp Up Intensity workout features a steady zone 3 block before going through some shorter Zone 4 efforts, with a 30 second hard sprint. It’s enough intensity to keep that sluggish taper feeling at bay, but not so hardcore that it’ll put too much fatigue into your legs.
ACTIVE RECOVERY
Duration: 31 mins
Training stress score: 14
Route: Madonna del Ghisallo – Il Lombardy – Italy
A day or so before the race it’s a good idea to freshen up your legs after any travel with an easy spin. If your travel plans and accommodation mean doing this on the indoor trainer is your easiest option, the Active Recovery workout on ROUVY is a great choice. There are a few active recovery workout options on ROUVY. But the 31 minute workout with higher cadence reps is ideal for getting the blood flowing and easing off any tightness after travel.
Looking for more tips to get ready for Challenge Roth? Check out the 5 things you need to know about the bike course, or read more about the benefits of using indoor cycling to dial into some specific training to get race day ready.
