After my first experience with FulGaz I didn’t have much excitement for doing it again. Still, trying to support USAC and let them know people still want to race, I forced myself to try another race in the USAC Invitational. The only one with “Race” in the title is the “Laguna Seca Circuit Race” so I gave it a go.
My first try with the FulGaz system was to do the loop near the Miller School in VA. I knew this course from an age-graded race years ago. It was nice that the chipseal was only virtual and that the UPS truck and the numerous pick-up trucks weren’t actually as close as they appear on screen, but just seeing what an individual rider sees while making the loop isn’t enough to trick me into putting in race-like efforts. I saw after my ride that my power and HR numbers were like a workout, not like a race.
On Wednesday morning (what is becoming our regular, virtual race day) I set up the trainer in the pre-dawn and magically transported out to California. The site was the Laguna Seca racetrack during some past version of the Sea Otter Classic. I’ve ridden a few races on dedicated racetracks now, and I’ll have to admit, they are my favorite. Each lap consists of a big climb (and descent) and a tiny, but noticable, bump before a sprint to the line. The video for the ride was ten laps or 22 miles. The person who originally made the recording is a Cat 1 rider I think it’s this guy which is probably something I should have paid attention to when I saw that the video was going to run for 57 minutes.
After I got on the bike and connected the various sensors, we were off! I wasn’t expecting that. If I continue to race on FulGaz I’m going to need to find a way actually to warm up. Laps one and two were not competitive. However, they immediately showed me the difference between riding on FulGaz and Zwift. On Zwift, when you’re not competitive, you get left behind; and the little button appears on the screen asking if you want to leave the race. On FulGaz, the video just changes speed. When you are riding as fast as the original rider, the speed will be 100% of their speed. When you are riding slower, everything will appear in slow motion.
Having things in slow motion is somewhat surreal, but not enough to kick my brain into race mode. It’s comical that the bird flying across the screen is at half speed or that the spectators are waving ever so slowly. The riders around you are pedaling and the fact that they are doing 50 rpm instead of 100 isn’t so odd.
The onscreen number to tell you that you’re going too slowly isn’t big enough or red enough to make a difference.
I don’t think the video was during an actual race, but perhaps on the course after the race or maybe a training warm up the day before. Everyone had a number pinned to them and a motorcycle would zoom around sometimes but there were a few times that the other riders would pull up and have a drink that would not have made sense during an actual race. Also, when our rider attacked, he was always successful.
This ride had other riders though. That made the video much more engaging. There is even a place where we almost get ridden into a ditch when trying to keep with the paceline. By lap four or so, I could keep the video speed at 75% or better on most of the course. I even made up time on the downhills if I pedaled.
The major climb had a pause in the middle, and that is where we would attack. Suddenly the video would sway wildly as the rider got up to pedal. I decided also to get up and pedal when he did in order to add some effort but also to minimize the sea sickness from watching the swaying of the screen. Usually, we could hold off the other riders over the hill and then up to and sometimes over the small bump.
Then they would swarm around and we were again in the little pack. Sometimes another rider would attack at the small bump and we followed, or sometimes we also attacked after the small bump and sprinted to the line.
Though the original video was 57 minutes, it took me about 86 minutes to complete the course. Not great, but also not last (and there are quite a few DNFs). Still, for racing I think I might go back to just Zwift, but for riding a great ride in the time of Covid, there is a place for FulGaz.