What is VirtualRide?
VirtualRide plays Google Street View in your browser and moves it forward at the speed your smart trainer reports. Pedal harder and the road goes by faster. You can start from a famous climb, or type two places (your own street, a race course you want to scout) and ride the road between them, anywhere Street View covers.
The maker pitches it against filmed-video libraries and game worlds: no route packs, no virtual island, any covered road. Street View is a string of panoramic photos rather than continuous video, and the site says so, so expect the picture to step from one panorama to the next.
When the ride ends, it can go to Strava as a Virtual Ride activity, or you can download it as a FIT file.
It's a web app. The site points iPhone and iPad riders to a VirtualRide app, which we couldn't find in the App Store yet.
Key Features
Any A to B route
Type a start and a finish, or click them on the map, and VirtualRide builds the ride along roads with Street View coverage. The setup guide suggests moving a start or finish to a nearby covered road if the route hits a gap.
A catalog of famous roads
Quick starts include Alpe d'Huez, the Stelvio, Mont Ventoux, the Tourmalet and Sa Calobra, race routes such as Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders and Strade Bianche, and scenic roads by continent, from the Great Ocean Road to Lofoten.
Bluetooth FTMS and power trainers
It pairs with trainers that broadcast Bluetooth FTMS or Cycling Power, and Wahoo KICKR has its own connect button. The supported-trainers page lists Wahoo, Zwift Hub, Tacx, Elite, Saris, Wattbike and others as examples, not a closed list. It reads watts, cadence and speed.
Upload to Strava, or keep the FIT file
Connect Strava and finished rides upload as Virtual Ride activities, named after the route (the privacy policy's example is "Virtual Ride: Alpe d'Huez"). You can send each ride from the summary screen or turn on automatic upload. The same summary screen has a FIT download for Garmin Connect and other training apps.
A demo before you pay
The route pages open in a demo that runs without a trainer, so you can look at a road before you pair anything. The demo has a time limit, and once you're in the app it says demo rides use simulated power, so they don't go to Strava.
Who It's For
- Riders who want real roads indoors without paying per route or per climb
- Anyone scouting a course, a sportive or a local loop, before riding it for real
- People with a Bluetooth trainer who find game worlds less interesting than actual places, and still want the ride on Strava
What It Doesn't Do
It doesn't set your trainer's resistance. The supported-trainers page says it sends no ERG, simulation or gradient resistance, so you set that on the trainer or in its own app; a climb won't feel steeper on its own.
It only writes to Strava. The privacy policy says it doesn't read your Strava activities or your profile, and it keeps only your athlete id and the ids of the rides you upload.
No ANT+. The site says iPhone and iPad connect over Bluetooth only, and closed bikes like a typical Peloton bike won't pair.
Which browser do I need?
One with Web Bluetooth access, which the terms make a requirement. The site says trainer support depends on your device, browser, trainer model and firmware. Close Zwift, Wahoo's app and other cycling apps first, since only one app can hold the trainer at a time.
What does it send to Strava?
Only the rides you upload, or every ride if you turn on automatic upload. Per its privacy policy, each one goes as a FIT file with time, distance, speed, power, cadence, heart rate if your trainer recorded it, and the GPS track of the route you rode. VirtualRide asks Strava only for permission to upload activities (the activity:write scope). Disconnecting in the Ride lobby revokes its access and deletes the stored tokens; rides already uploaded stay on Strava.
How much does it cost?
$9 a month on the web, billed through Stripe, after a 7-day free trial; the site says it emails a reminder before the trial ends. In the iPhone app it's $9.99 a month, or Apple's local price. There are no extra fees for routes or climbs.
Can I get a refund?
Its refund policy says EU and UK customers who haven't used the ride app can email within 14 days of purchase for a full refund of the first charge. If you cancel, you keep access to the end of the period you paid for; unused days aren't prorated. App Store purchases follow Apple's refund rules.
What does it store about my rides?
No recording of the ride, by its privacy policy: power, cadence, speed, heart rate and the GPS track aren't kept on its servers. The ride log lives in memory on your device so you can download the FIT file, and if you upload it, it passes through VirtualRide's server to Strava without being saved. If you connect Strava, it stores your Strava athlete id, the access and refresh tokens, and for each upload a random ride id, the Strava upload and activity ids and the status, so the same ride isn't sent twice. It also keeps account and billing records: your email, a password hash, session and billing identifiers, and checkout events.
