Your Guide to FulGaz for Indoor Cycling in the “Real” World
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If you’re looking for a new virtual world to train in this winter, you may have stumbled on FulGaz. Arguably one of the first forays into virtual training environments, FulGaz has been around since 2014. The big thing that sets it apart from platforms like Zwift and RGT is the fact that the world you’re riding in is, in fact, the real world: It’s actual video footage. You have the option of cycling through different countries on classic climbs, tiny laneways, cobbled streets, and huge vistas.
Here, we’re digging into everything you need to know to give FulGaz a try.
FulGaz’s Origin Story
Back when most of us were still riding away watching Netflix DVDs (Netflix did indeed send out DVDs) in our basements, FulGaz founder and former pro cyclist Mike Clucas was looking for a new way to train.
In 2014, the app and web developer was just playing around in a hackathon when he paired footage of English country lanes with a realistic indoor riding experience. He was one of the first people in Australia to buy the original Wahoo KICKR when it came out back in 2012, and he wanted to connect that to his GoPro footage to recreate actually riding on those U.K. country roads. His app worked, and he realized he could do more than just ride in his own basement—he could share his ride experiences with a wider audience.
When FulGaz first launched, it only had 12 rides, but quickly, other users started to get in touch, wanting to share their riding footage in the FulGaz ride library.
FulGaz Is All About Reality
Unlike many other virtual cycling platforms, FulGaz focuses on ride realism. Their motto is “real roads, real results.” In fact, they’ve found that people often find the platform because they have a trip planned to a classic cycling destination and they want to train on those climbs virtually so they’re ready when they get there IRL.
The app isn’t just about pedaling along with timed video footage, it also controls the road gradient and G force data collected from GPS files from those recorded rides in order to give users the most realistic experience (as long as you’re using a supported smart bike or smart trainer). So as you’re climbing up the Tour de France classic Alpe d’Huez climb, it’s going to feel like you are.
The magic comes of FulGaz from the combination of the video and the ride quality. “We put a lot of time and effort into making sure the data is the most realistic it can be, and to ensure the videos look stunning,” explains FulGaz’s head of communications, Stu Moysey. “It’s not just the video quality that matters; the most sophisticated part of FulGaz is the technology that processes the ride GPS data. The trick is to remove errors, but keep all the detail. Most of it is automated—we look at the original rider speed compared to the supposed road gradient and even G force—to work out if a lump in the road is real or not. After all that, every ride is inspected by hand by our ‘ride engineers.’”
If you’ve been using Zwift or another virtual training app, this experience will be similar… but a bit different. It’s important that you unpair your trainer from any other apps (ahem, Zwift) before you try to pair it to Fulgaz, otherwise you may have some discovery issues in reaching the connection. And if you have been using Zwift, get ready for a bit of a culture shock. Not only are the videos all real-world versus Zwift Island, the gradients are all 100 percent of the actual climb’s elevation gradient. It can feel hard and take some getting used to!
How FulGaz works
It’s pretty easy to get started riding on FulGaz. You sign up (they offer a free 14-day trial), download the app to your computer, tablet, or phone, sign in and let the app walk you through connecting your smart trainer, power meter, and/or heart rate monitor via Bluetooth, and choose your ride. You can sort by distance, elevation gain, “toughness,” or estimated duration, or you can search for a location you’d like to ride. (Côte d’Azur, anyone?)
Then, start riding! If you’re on a smart trainer, it will automatically adjust to account for gradient changes, meaning the steeper the climb, the harder it will feel.
If you don’t have a smart trainer, you can still enjoy the scenery and your power will dictate how fast you move through it, but you won’t get the automatic adjustments and resistance. For those on standard trainers without a power meter, you’ll need a Wahoo or Garmin speed sensor on your bike that can connect to your phone in order to move through the rides.
FulGaz FAQs
How many rides are on FulGaz?
There are more than 8,000 hours of rides and 2,000 routes for people to choose from on FulGaz. You’ll find rides in 42 countries, including Antarctica, in addition to training programs and—key for triathletes—official IRONMAN routes. FulGaz has one of the most comprehensive collections of European climbs from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and the Vuelta Espana. New rides are coming online weekly as well, so you’ll never get bored.
Do you need super good internet for the streaming to work?
The high-def ride video quality sounds great in theory, but if you have sketchy internet, that can be a huge load on your system. But don’t worry! While you can ride in 4K high def, if your internet isn’t fantastic, you’re still able to stream. FulGaz uses variable bitrate streaming like Netflix, so the video quality goes up or down depending on your internet speed.
“If you have slower internet speeds, then it defaults to 720p but users can always download a high-resolution version ahead of time if they have slow internet and don’t want to compromise on video quality,” says Moysey.
Can I upload my own rides into FulGaz?
Here’s the nifty thing: Sure, you can pull up videos from Tour de France pros and feel what it’s like to do those iconic race climbs, but if you just had a kickass experience on the bike and filmed it, you can actually relive your own rides as well… and share them with others. Anyone can become a FulGaz contributor: You just need a GoPro 11 or 12, a bike computer, a speed sensor, and a bike.
“All our content is community-driven and community-led,” says Moysey. “People capture rides for a variety of reasons, but mostly they want to share their corner of the earth with others around the world or share their cycling holidays. Each week we get sent about 30 new rides to process and release new routes every Tuesday.” (Want to try it for yourself? Check out the guide to uploading rides here.)
Other than solo riding, what does FulGaz offer?
Unlike Zwift, you won’t be racing other riders on FulGaz, but you can still take part in challenges. The inaugural FulGaz Grand Tour is an homage to all three of the Grand Tours. Participants will ride 21 stages across six weeks with some great routes from Italy (Giro d’Italia), France (Tour de France) and Spain (Vuelta Espana). There will be a leaderboard keeping score, and plenty of prizes for riders taking part.
While FulGaz doesn’t have the open communities that Zwift does, its updates make a hub for cycling and triathlon clubs and coaches to work more closely with their athletes. Club leaders can set up virtual group rides, workouts, and events—all easy to find within the app.
Similarly, the Coaches program makes it easy for athletes to connect to their cycling or triathlon coach and integrates directly into TrainingPeaks.
Don’t have a coach? There are plenty of training programs and month-long challenges like their eight-week climbing program or the upcoming Grand Tour Training Camp that you can take part in to add some structure to your training.
Any tips or tricks for someone just getting started with Fulgaz?
“The best thing people can do is hop on and give it a go,” says Moysey. “You don’t need a credit card to get started, so just download the free 14-day trial, pair your trainer, and get riding.”
He recommends taking some time to get set up rather than racing through the settings. You can check out their full start guide to learn more about the process.
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