As the leaves come down across the Northern Hemisphere and the late-autumn gloom descends with them, I’m probably far from the only cyclist whose thoughts turn to plans for warmer days and to ticking off one or two climbs on their bucket list. Top of mine was the Alto de Letras, the 81-kilometre giant of an ascent in central Colombia that features close to 4,000 meters of vertical gain, rising from lush tropical rainforest to an alpine landscape. 

I say was because, even though I’ve yet to be fortunate enough to set foot in Colombia, I have now ridden a section of the Letras pass, thanks to ROUVY. My previous experience of online cycling apps was limited to virtual worlds, which I was happy to venture into when the weather was grim, but were essentially all about numbers. They weren’t immersive, not for a cyclist like me whose love of the bike stems, above all, from a desire to see things – new locations and countries, stunning scenery, storied climbs. ROUVY, though, not only took me to somewhere that I wanted to visit, but offers me the chance to wander far and wide across the globe, gaining a strong flavor of the riding experience in many other countries.

Riding The Alto de Letras With ROUVY

While there are tens of thousands of routes on ROUVY, the Alto de Letras is one of 1,500 augmented reality (AR) rides available. These have been shot either by ROUVY themselves or their external partners, the latest batch including a series of rider across Iceland that takes in gravel roads, with a ride through Madagascar soon to follow. The Colombian portfolio (which are previewed in this video) currently extends to seven routes, including Letras. 

I should point out immediately that this route doesn’t cover the full 81km, which takes most riders a full day to complete. However, the 19.7km slice that features on the app provided a quite magical insight into this iconic climb and includes the fearsome Delgaditas section that’s renowned as the toughest part of the pass, where the gradient frequently edges into double figures.

I started with three other cyclists – Will, Peter and Emma according to the list of riders on one side of my screen – and, from the off, I was wowed by the quality of the images. As our little quartet wound our way through the initial bends on the Letras, the landscape around us was lush and deep green, while huge, jungle-covered peaks loomed above, cloud hiding the summits. One of the beauties of ROUVY is that on some of its routes you can adjust your POV through 360° using the Omnimode filter in the search dashboard in the same way as, for instance, Google Streetview. Another is that you can switch from the 3D visual view of a climb to a 2D map-like version that plots your progress like your regular bike computer.  

It was the small details that really hooked me in, though, and made me forget the growing burn in my thighs as I battled to stay with my new companions. At a couple of points, we had to ease around landslides that had covered part of the road, at another we reached a roadside stall selling aguapanela con queso, a drink that my Colombian friend Alejandro tells me is made from sugar cane paste and water and is served steaming hot with local cheese on the side. ‘A nice treat when you’re at an altitude of 3,600 meters,’ he tells me. I also hope that the guy stranded at the roadside with a broken-down motorcycle managed to get some assistance. 

Once I’d got used to the very rare experience of climbing through rainforest, I started to pay more attention to the on-screen stats and graphics. A full profile of the climb ran across the bottom, yellow parts indicating the easier sections, reds the steeper gradients, which was extremely useful for pacing and knowing when you might want to make an effort. As well as the gradient, my  speed, cadence, watts/kilo and power zone, I could see the watts/kilo of my riding companions and other riders on the climb, as well as how far away they were from me. One of the features I liked most of all was drafting. In fact, I became a bit obsessed with this, reaching a ride-high of 93 watts saved as I sat in behind Will, Peter and Emma on one fast section of descent. 

Once I’d reached the summit – apologies to my companions for the final acceleration to claim the KoM points after they’d led me over the last couple of k’s to the top – there were  further stats to feast on. These included my average power, which was 218 watts, considerably more than I’d usually put out, which I put down to the distraction of the wonderful views and the obvious motivation I got from riding with others. 

Once I’d stopped, sadly without a steaming mug of aguapanela con queso close to hand, I instantly started to check out where to ride next. ROUVY has AR rides in 50 countries, challenges for users who want to boost their training, as well as numerous daily events where you can join others riding through Colombia and other places. Thanks to links with the Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike teams, you can dose up on training plans set by their coaching staff for their star riders, including Jonas Vingegaard, Wout van Aert, Mads Pedersen and Jonathan Milan. 

I was half-tempted by Milan’s sprint training intervals, but suspect I need something a touch more sedate for now, most likely the GWA (Great World Adventure) rides across Iceland, another place I’ve always wanted to cycle but haven’t managed to make it to yet, or the Pacific Coast Highway, which I tackled more than 30 years ago and have always wanted to go back to. I also fancy a return to Letras, where I can chase (or drop!) my own avatar.

One final thing I should mention about ROUVY is pricing. While the cost of individual membership is broadly similar to other apps, substantial savings can be made if you join as a part of a couple or group, the latter allowing up to five accounts and coming in at less than six euros per month per person for a yearly subscription. Flobikes subscribers can also take advantage of a promo code available to new subscribers to ROUVY, which is valid for a single monthly subscription. Use the code FLOBIKES1M to take advantage of this.

• promo code: FLOBIKES1M
• Offer - the first month for free (in addition to 7-day free trial)
• valid for a single monthly subscription 
• only new subscribers are eligible to use the promo code