This is a guest post from Ben Snyder, founder of Ride Cave, a free indoor cycling platform built by Cave Works LLC.
Every cycling event has an engagement gap.
Registration opens. Riders are excited. They tell their friends, mark their calendars, and start thinking about race day.
Then, for weeks or even months, there’s very little interaction before the event begins. For races held in the fall or early winter, that gap often overlaps with the months when many riders are spending more time indoors than out.
That presents an opportunity.
What if every registrant could ride your course before race day, indoors, as many times as they wanted, at no cost?
A virtual version of your course gives participants a reason to reconnect with your event throughout their training. Instead of waiting until race morning to experience the route, they can become familiar with the climbs, elevation profile, and distance from the comfort of home.
How it works
Creating a virtual course on Ride Cave is simple.
- Upload a GPX file from your course, or use a GPX from a previous year’s event.
- Ride Cave generates a shareable link.
- Include that link anywhere you already communicate with participants, such as registration confirmations, pre-race emails, your website, or social media.
When riders load the course, the route drives the resistance of their smart trainer. Climbs feel like climbs, descents feel like descents, and the elevation profile and distance match the real course.
Ways to use a virtual course
A virtual course can become part of your participant engagement strategy throughout the season.
Consider including it in:
- Your registration confirmation email
- Monthly participant newsletters
- Social media posts leading up to the event
- A pre-race “Ride the Course” challenge
- Pre-event communications that help riders prepare for race day
Instead of simply reminding riders that race day is approaching, you are giving them something useful and relevant to experience.
An example from northern Michigan
We recently created a virtual version of the Iceman Cometh course (one of the largest single day mountain bike races in the US) here in northern Michigan.
The Ride Cave version includes the full 30 mile course with ~1200ft of climbing, allowing riders to preview the terrain before race day. During Michigan’s colder months, participants can continue preparing indoors while becoming familiar with the course they will eventually ride outdoors.
For many riders, arriving at the start line already knowing what the course feels like can make the experience more enjoyable and confidence inspiring, keeping them coming back the next year AND fewer dropouts before race day.
Benefits for your participants
Participants receive:
- A free way to preview the course before race day
- Indoor training that matches the actual route
- An opportunity to become more familiar with the terrain before the event
- Access through a web browser, or on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Windows
Ride Cave’s generous free tier allows riders to experience your course without requiring a paid subscription.
Benefits for race organizers
For organizers, a virtual course provides:
- A meaningful reason to stay connected with participants after registration
- Content that adds value to newsletters and social posts
- A unique feature that helps distinguish your event
- A simple addition that requires only a GPX file and a shared link
It is an easy way to extend the event experience beyond race day itself and keep your community engaged throughout the training season.
Getting started
If you already have a GPX file for your course, you can create a virtual version in just a few minutes.
Upload your route to Ride Cave, generate a shareable link, and include it in your existing participant communications. Your riders can begin exploring the course immediately and return to it whenever they train indoors.
Ride hard. Ride free.
Ben Snyder
Founder, Ride Cave