IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder
Welcome to the insideRide guide to the IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder Augmented Route on Rouvy. Please read on to see details of the route, review of the video, and our own ride data.
When Ironman announced Rouvy as its' Virtual Training partner back at the beginning of April, we were excited about the possibilities for the AR / Augmented Route range. While there are some flat routes that we love like Kona and Lava Beds, the AR library is dominated by climbs, and the good flat rides are not especially long.
The 70.3 Boulder course was the first addition to the library - followed by the 5150 Boulder course, and a 20km Canyonville Sprint Course truncated especially for Ironman VR3 which we completed 17 - 19 April 2020.
The route starts and ends at Boulder Reservoir, making a clockwise circuit staying to the North of Boulder, under the shadow of the Rockies. The route heads north toward Lyons, and then Berts Corner, before turning South to head back toward Boulder, via the flanks of Longmont. There is a strange dogleg along Niwot Rd, a little prior to the close, presumably to bring the route up to distance.
As all AR videos, the video is excellently filmed, with high resolution, stable, picture available to stream at 1080p. It also suffers from the same pitfalls as other AR videos, where the speed of filming is faster than the speed being ridden - this results in moving objects within the video taking on a moonwalk animation.
The imagery though is stupendously good. Bright blue skies, with clouds for texture, expansive views over the Colorado countryside, with the Rockies forming the backdrop. Also adding to the experience is some funky local architecture, a couple of nice lakes around Hygiene, and Dodd Reservoir toward the end..
This course is almost flawless, give it a ride.
