Cyclocross eRoutes and the New eRoute Builder

Cyclocross is here. Pick Cyclocross on the eRoutes page and you get a taped lap in the 3D world: barriers you hop by holding the cadence on the sign, stairs, timber flyovers, sand, mud when it rains, and hand-ups you sprint for at the tape.

It comes with a new eRoute builder, so you can make a course of your own almost anywhere on Earth, and a few things that make every eRoute better. All of it is free for everyone, on every platform Ride Cave runs on.

Hop the barriers on cadence

Barriers are the heart of cross, so we wanted them to ask something of you. A sign well before each set shows the cadence that clears them, a 15 rpm band somewhere from 65 to 105 rpm, and a meter post at the first plank shows whether you are on it. Hold that cadence as you reach the planks and you hop them clean. Miss it and you stall. Miss it carrying speed and you go over the bars.

Each set gets its call above your rider: CLEAN, STALLED or WIPEOUT. No cadence sensor? Your hops count as clean, so riding on power alone never costs you.

Stairs, flyovers, sand and mud

Stairs gather a steep pitch into a few hard steps that you ride, and in Sim mode your trainer feels the climb. Timber flyovers carry the lap up a ramp and back down, often over its own path.

Short stretches and pits of sand slow everyone down, and in Sim mode your trainer gets heavier through them. Mud comes with the weather: when rain or snow moves over the course, its mud sections turn to mud, and they dry out again after. The same lap can ride differently from one day to the next.

Sprint for the hand-up

Every cross fan knows the hand-up. A couple of times a lap one floats beside the tape: a waffle, a cowbell, frites, a doughnut or a bottle, and once in a while a golden waffle. A sign gives you warning. Average 120% of your FTP over the last 5 seconds as you reach it and it is yours. Keep a sprint in reserve.

XP for clean riding

Course skills now earn XP. A clean set of barriers earns 1, a hand-up 1 and a golden waffle 3. Mountain bike jumps landed on target on Trail eRoutes count too. Course XP tops out at 20 a day, so the reward is for riding well, not for riding the same short lap all night.

Courses inspired by cyclocross towns

We built 17 courses to start. Each is an original lap laid on open ground near a town cyclocross fans know, following the real terrain around it, and named for the town, like CX Koksijde (inspired). In Belgium: Baal, Gavere, Heusden-Zolder, Koksijde, Loenhout and Zonhoven. In the Netherlands: Hoogerheide and Hulst. Flamanville in France, Benidorm in Spain and Tabor in Czechia. And in the United States: Fayetteville, Gloucester, Iowa City, Louisville, Rochester and Waterloo.

To be clear: these are our own laps, not the official race courses, and they are not affiliated with any race or event. Each course has its own look, from the colour of the tape to barriers of boards or logs and stairs of concrete, sleepers or stone, and the flag of its country flies by the start. Find them on the eRoutes page: pick Cyclocross, on the map or the list.

The new eRoute builder

Tap New eRoute on the eRoutes page and there are three ways in. Import a GPX, TCX or FIT file, and the builder finds the junk a GPS trace picks up, like circling at a light, a wrong turn and back, or the ride to and from the start. It lists each fix, and you can undo any of them. Draw on the map, and the route joins your pins along roads and paths or in straight lines. Or tap a spot and get a loop from there, on roads or off-road.

Off-road is the one we are proudest of. Tap a park, a field or a wood, and the builder lays a lap on open ground, clear of roads, water and buildings. Leave the lap on Auto or ask for 1 to 5 km. Then, on the World tab, pick the Type of eRoute: Road, Gravel, Trail or Cyclocross. Pick Cyclocross and the barriers, stairs, sand, mud and flyovers are laid along your route, and you can fly it in 3D before you save.

New on every eRoute

The track's lap clock now stands just past the start line of every eRoute. On a loop it counts down the laps to go each time you pass it, and the bell lights on your last lap.

You can fly through any eRoute before you ride it: open one, tap the options button, then Preview eRoute. Drag along the elevation profile to jump anywhere, fly at up to 150 km/h, and on a cyclocross course jump straight to the stairs, barriers, sand and mud.

And corners now cost you something, the way they do outside. In Sim mode your trainer adds a little resistance as you power back up to speed out of a corner you braked for.

Get started

Open Ride Cave, go to eRoutes, pick Cyclocross and choose a town. Or tap New eRoute and make a lap in your own local park. Read more on the Cyclocross page, and tell us how your first lap goes.