Synmag

I have decided to get an indoor trainer as I keep fluctuating by 20-30lbs each winter and spend the summer losing it. I ride alone strictly for fitness and I like the idea of a smart trainer and the distraction of watching a virtual world go by.

Reading through one of the software reviews I saw that at least one allows using Google maps to select your route. Wouldn't it make sense to just simply ride through Google Streetview? Either have a third party app provide the elevation change to feed the resistance or Google could do it themselves easy enough with their resources.

I'm not interested in races, group rides, monitoring power etc. etc..

It would be great to do this without a monthly subscription. Perhaps Racx's TTS would be best? I know people complain about paying for routes/videos but if u can buy a few for a finite cost that would be great.

I really wouldn't want to pay more than $10 for a subscription if that ends up being the only choice.

Any suggestions?

spelger

This does not seem practicable to me. i've looked at street view a few times and it is dog slow. maybe if all the images were downloaded prior to riding but that would really eat up a lot of space to make it smooth flowing. neat idea though.

surak

You can apparently do this with Golden Cheetah, but like its many other features, figuring out how to use it is a challenge. I've never done it myself.

Synmag

I see it listed on it's ride indoor feature list. I will definitely investigate. Thanks!

Barry2 

Take a look at FulGaz.
It is rides all over the world filmed in 4K. I ride them using my indoor bike.
At $109/year it is less than the $10/month you mention.
That is assuming you meant $10/month.

They offer a 30day trial in full 4K rez, and some low rez rides you can just "take a look at"

Barry

Synmag

Sounds good. Can it control a smart trainer and does it use it's speed to drive the video or is it just a passive view and your pedal along?

Barry2 

With a smart trainer, your power output controls the speed at which you move through the video.
Or
You can choose to move through the video at the speed it was filmed, regardless of your pedaling or not.

It also offers Structured Interval training using the movies as a backdrop. I’m working this way currently.

Barry

Synmag

These sounds pretty intuitive actually. Without a smart trainer one could up the effort to match uphill movement and ease off on descents or flat sections.

I have my eye on aTacx Galaxia for a good price second hand. May not need a smart device after all.

The interval training matches what I usually do outdoors.

I will take advantage of all the free trials. That should get me through the first winter almost.

Barry2 

Find yourself a used single sided power meter pedal, and a non-smart trainer is all you need.
Best if it does bluetooth and not just Ant+

Barry

mattcalifornia

It should be do-able. Our Nordictrack incline trainer has this feature. It's pretty cool because you can design a route on google maps and then go running anywhere you want. I've used it to jog through neighborhoods in cities I used to live in, etc. It's not video (obviously). It's just a sequence of still frames, but it syncs to the speed your running at, so it's pretty realistic. They also offer full video runs in beautiful locations, but it doesn't sync to your speed, and you can't control the route. Somebody should definitely do this for indoor biking. I actually sent an email to Peloton requesting the feature.

Synmag

Success! I'm a lucky owner of gently used Tacx Galaxia. I can't wait to set it up in a safe place and learn to ride it! Having said that, I doubt I will have the focus to maintain regular ride schedule in the winter to continue my 4-6 times a week 1-3 hour ride structure on it.

The more I look at smart trainers the more I come to the conclusion that a mid level direct drive unit will be the best solution for me. I really don't want to waste money on a fluid trainer that I could have put towards a direct trainer making it even more expensive along the way.

There are big discounts on older well regarded high end units and I also like the value the Elite Suito provides if it will be back in stock before it's replaced by another model.

In the meantime, on to learning the roller and I will look into getting a power meter for my bike to get started with online apps. The goal is to have something established before November.

Synmag

Absolutely. The way streetview let's me click through and move down the street, I'm sure it can be automated and linked to a bike. It would be sufficient to keep my mind off the fact that I'm riding a bike at the same time.

I have access to a stationary bike in our gym but I can't last more than 20-25 minutes on it before being bored out of my mind.

Synmag

It looks like the are others who only use a roller for winter training. I'm going to give it a shot before making any investments in other trainers. I managed to ride the roller for a while and I think I can get enough resistance to get a workout to at worst maintain my weight during the off season.

I looked at power meters and since I never used one and don't see the need for one I'm just going to get a speed sensor and maybe a cadence sensor so I can keep track of my distance and take advantage of the online software.

TrackSmart

You can create Google Streetview routes on Rouvy. Rouvy will simulate the real world terrain/elevation changes (assuming you have a trainer that can adjust the resistance to match). You can almost always find a 30 day trial for Rouvy if you look around. But you might get greater enjoyment by riding one of their virtual routes which have real video.

I've never had any inclination to actually try out the streetview-based routes when I could be riding a smoother-looking route with high resolution video. But that's just me.

I can see how it would be useful for previewing the terrain on a particular route you would like to try.

Synmag

I will check it out. I was thinking about it as a free option but I agree with you that is they have a better option like hi-res video, I would prefer that too. With a roller I'm going to be the one controlling the power.

jadocs

That would be terrible...you would be better off playing a youtube video. YouTube has training videos from a first person perspective riding.

As mentioned before....look at FulGaz if you want real video.

alpharalpha

That's a a great idea; to be able to ride while seeing streetview would be awesome. But paying a monthly service for it not so much. This is new idea to me so don't have much to add right now, but I use a pc--htpc in living room where I will be cycling--do you use windows, or are looking for android/ios etc? Maybe can find program that will do it. Anyone know of one for pc? In meantime I will do a bit of searching, see what I can find.

Synmag

I have two older windows 7 laptops one of which I just upgraded to win 10 as Dell has come up with various required upgraded drivers. Some programs need windows 10. I actually have been watching ridealong youtube videos which do the trick of sufficiently engaging me in the ride to lose track of time and last ~2hours. I have totally given up on buying a smart trainer as I don't care about power metrics I'm just interested in distance and heart rate data. I find it perfectly natural to match my effort level to what's on screen i.e. speed up/slow down for up/down hills simply by shifting. I am able to get to my max heart rate on my roller.


Since I upgraded to Windows 10 I wanted to try full gaz but I believe it requires a trainer in addition to Win10. I am now exploring Rouvy which looks like it allows only speed/cadence sensors but it requires BT 4 so I'm looking at getting a USB dongle for either BT or ant+. I'm not sure why but it doesn't recognize my H10 hrm even through I can connect it to my laptop where it shows as connected in Win10. I think it needs BT 4 for the low power.


Golden Cheetah has google maps listed someone mentioned it but now that I installed it, it also requires a smart trainer and I can't see how google maps is used.


If you have a trainer you will have more options. I might spring for a BT 4 dongle just to try Rouvy and other apps that allow only speed/cadence sensors.

oujeep1

I use both zwift and rouvy, much prefer rouvy. The street view rides that are already available are very realistic, those that are not street level are not as good, you are looking down on the road and see your little avatar moving but its not like you are really there. Have had some issues with the camera stopping, and skipping ahead, you can fix that by downloading the video before you ride but that takes some time. Not as many choices of rides as zwift but much more realistic.

bmcer

I've been using Zwift for several months now. Just started dabbling in Rouvy. After nothing more than the usual connections to my trainer & HR monitor, it brought up a ride that's supposedly right here in my neighborhood as it's first offering. Now that surprised me Of course I HAD to try it, and I couldn't believe my eyes. These are roads I've ridden, and they were recognizable..Amazing!! It goes through a lot of wine country, but once you pass the summit, there are identifiable fields of the Rogue Valley's other cash crop

Oh BTW, it's the"West River"-something route.

jaxgtr

I went with Rouvy specifically because I don't race and just wanted something to allow me to ride some hills and an occasional mountain as I live is very flat Florida. I got my subscription for $10 a month. It's been really nice and my wife also uses it.

oujeep1

Updating from my previous post, I have now also tried FulGaz, I am currently on their free trial. The video is higher quality than Rouvy, but it is taken from a bicycle, most of Rouvy is taken from a car, some of the FulGaz videos if there is a lot of side to side camera motion or tilting of the camera it can be distracting. Also I cannot make it work with streaming, maybe thats an issue with my wifi, I'm not sure, so I am downloading the rides several at a time every day and when I want to ride them they are ready, am also downloading rouvy because although it sometimes works well with streaming it does sometimes stick so better to download.
So far on FulGaz I have ridden west maui, complete with "the Wall" for those familiar with west maui, and yesterday Going to the sun road- learned a very important lesson - if you are cycling along and come around a corner and two cars are stopped, you should stop too, the person filming this ride did not, and got an up close and personal view of a bear!

lazurm

I used to ride with the original Rouvy program using Street View from uploaded GPX files but, with the new RouvyAR (the AR is for "Augmented Reality) that feature is no longer supported.
Here's what I received from Rouvy Support:

"Unfortunately, the street view is not available in the ROUVY app at the moment. We are sorry about it.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation."

"Have a nice day."

"Best regards,"
"ROUVY Team"

tobias74

You might want to check out "drumuri.bike" (I am not allowed to post URLs)
On drumuri.bike you can connect your smart trainer and ride virtually using streetview.

Disclaimer: I am the author of drumuri.bike and it is currently still in its development stage :-)

Howto: Just click on two points on the map and it will display a route. Then click on "Start Workout"

happytrochoid

I made an account just for the purpose of replying =) This is exactly what I am searching for at the moment - an app where I can create a custom street view route to follow along on my spin bike. I've trialed Fulgaz and Rouvy so far and I'm happy with both of them, but it would be so awesome if I could virtually travel through old neighborhoods and where I used to live throughout the years. I will bookmark your page and see how it works for me. Cheers!!