Imagery courtesy of FulGaz
An indoor training platform with a focus on real riding, FulGaz looks to be your ideal training partner when training for your next event, riding holiday, or indoor training session. Read on for more information on the platform, how it differs from its key rivals in the virtual training space, and how to get started.
- Related Reading: Indoor Trainer Buyer’s Guide
FulGaz 101
Founded in 2014, FulGaz is a virtual training platform best known for its user-generated real-world videos of cycling routes worldwide. Boasting a whopping library of routes, users can virtually tackle more than 1,500 routes from over 40 countries.
At its heart, FulGaz caters best to riders who are looking to emulate their bucket-list outdoor rides, locally or abroad, rather than stare at a virtual world or interval screen. Most rides are captured from the perspective of a rider on a bike and can be broadcast in 4K across a number of devices.
The rides on the platform are highly curated and feature a substantial selection of local content. Want to climb the Col du Galibier? No worries, want to cruise along the kew boulevard or do a beach road run with your mates, minus the traffic? Go right ahead!
Moving to connectivity and like most of its competitors, FulGaz will accept just about any sensor that you’re likely to use across the ANT+ and BLE protocols. This includes power meters, smart trainers, heart rate straps and so on. Behind the scenes, FulGaz has also done a bit of work with Wahoo and the KICKR CLIMB. Utilising an advanced version of the Wahoo API that sends data to and from the unit, FulGaz can send terrain data to the CLIMB a little bit before the trainer, resulting in a more realistic riding experience.
Switching to FulGaz
If you’ve dabbled with virtual training apps before and are looking for something a little different, the team at FulGaz make switching across to the platform a breeze. With a comprehensive knowledge base, the team at FulGaz provides users with everything they need to get started, including transition guides if you’re coming from other popular platforms such as Zwift or Rouvy.
One thing to note about FulGaz is that the riding experience tends to be more realistic than other virtual platforms. This is primarily due to the preset trainer difficulty and slope scaling settings. Other platforms typically only have one slider that affects trainer difficulty (how quickly your trainer reacts to the virtual changes in gradient) and slope scaling (how difficult the gradients feel). By default, these are set to 100%, i.e. as close as you can get to the real thing, whereas on other platforms, there is a degree of handholding to make the ride easier out of the box. This is typically done by halving the slope scaling to make the riding easier for casual users.
Quick Start Guide
Getting up and rolling with FulGaz is a simple affair, regardless of what device you’re running the platform on. Once you’ve downloaded the app, the system will prompt you to connect your devices, check the devices you want to use with the service, and proceed into the app. From here, you’ll want to head to your settings and fine-tune a few things to maximise your time with the platform:
1. Weight This is arguably the most important setting. Be sure to set your weight (preferably your "fully dressed in cycling kit" weight and bike weight correctly. FulGaz uses this information, alongside some powerful physics calculations, to work out your on-screen speed and keep the ride experience realistic.
2. Aerodynamic drag You can alter your aerodynamic drag to match your riding style and position. The default setting of 0.33 represents a modern road cyclist with a good position. If you find your FulGaz rides are faster or slower than your outdoor rides, this is the first place to make changes. A more upright position or mountain biker may be around 0.45, whereas a time trialist could get down to 0.25.
3. Slope scaling and limit After a few rides on FulGaz, if you find that your ride experience isn't quite what you'd like or that the hills are feeling too hard, you can adjust your Slope Scaling. More information on Slope Scaling and adjusting the "feel" of FulGaz can be found in this article.
Lastly, you’ll want to select your subscription level. By default, all new users get a 14-day trial of the platform, which allows you to utilise FulGaz in its entirety, no gatekeeping here! However, if you’d like a little more time before pulling the trigger on a paid subscription, simply use the code 30DAYBEX to extend your free trial out to 30 days.
Once you’ve fallen in love with the platform, subscription tiers come in two levels, an $18.99 Monthly recurring subscription with no lock-in contacts. Or purchase a $157.99 Annual subscription, and you can add an extra family member to your plan for FREE!
So if you’re looking to make your rides less virtual, more reality, download the app for free on your Android, Apple TV, iPad, iPhone or Windows 10 device and ride with us.
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Download the FulGaz app for free today and enter the promo code: 30DAYBEX for a FREE 30-day trial.
Looking for an indoor trainer to make use of the FulGaz platform? Check out our wide range of Smart Trainers at BikeExchange.
