BigRingVR - it's the best virtual ride ever.

Machoman121

Just rode Alp de Huez using BigringVR. I love it. The video can be downloaded instead of streamed which vastly improves it's reliability. The video is the best i've seen - very sharp and very well taken. The dashboard is extremely well designed. With large legible fonts that are easy to read. After the ride there's a stat of the ride and your ride is up with the others. I will pick a shorter ride next time and do a time trial. This will be a perfect time trial platform - there won't be wind, tyre pressure, weather etc. to factor in.

I just hope it won't be on subscription when it does go live. I just don't like subscription schemes.

aberdeenal

Once my 14 x day FulGaz trial is up I was going to use Big Ring VR as a comparison - did it upload the ride / stats to Strava?

Machoman121

i don't know about strava as i don't have a strava account. But i'm quite shocked at how little gets mentioned about bigringVR. I've ridden the other virtual software and while it's quite good, BigringVR looks even more refined. The video quality is extremely good too.

dabber

If you enable it, your BRVR ride will be automatically uploaded to Strava.

Another fan of BRVR here, great quality videos, good dashboard, excellent gradient transitions, the ability to select other riders to ride against.

Newly implemented is the ability to add a pacer to ride against and define what power the pacer will ride at.
Just implemented is analysis of power data of each ride - this has only just been made available and I haven't had a chance to look at it properly.

Lots of new rides keep being added. many are what one would call big climbs but more recently some flatter rides are appearing.
Good support etc.

aberdeenal

Cheers for that info ;-)

bendertherobot

The main issue is that BigRing VR is 'desktop' only. Fulgaz is tablet, so, if they're equal, getting a turbo in front of Fulgaz is easier. Mike is working on the Fulgaz stuff constantly. I've just joined the film crew so hope to donate some rides shortly.

PhilipPirrip

Haven't used it since last winter and sounds like updates have added some interesting new features.

Have now installed latest update and will have to start using it again soon. Good to see my old Tacx videos still work with it.

bianchimoon

bendertherobot wrote:

The main issue is that BigRing VR is 'desktop' only. Fulgaz is tablet, so, if they're equal, getting a turbo in front of Fulgaz is easier. Mike is working on the Fulgaz stuff constantly. I've just joined the film crew so hope to donate some rides shortly.

Had an email chat with Mike this morning, did the Tan Hill Toughie the other day but the elevation didn't match the video at all bit of a ball ache when you're going down steep decents at 6mph on the video because the data's not synced correctly, noticed this on a few rides, not sure if it can be put right but Mike seems keen to sort

bendertherobot

bianchimoon wrote:

bendertherobot wrote:

The main issue is that BigRing VR is 'desktop' only. Fulgaz is tablet, so, if they're equal, getting a turbo in front of Fulgaz is easier. Mike is working on the Fulgaz stuff constantly. I've just joined the film crew so hope to donate some rides shortly.

Had an email chat with Mike this morning, did the Tan Hill Toughie the other day but the elevation didn't match the video at all bit of a ball ache when you're going down steep decents at 6mph on the video because the data's not synced correctly, noticed this on a few rides, not sure if it can be put right but Mike seems keen to sort

Yes. You can see how these can arise. Need to have the GPS not on auto pause etc. I've noticed a few seconds of mis match on a few hills. And there are times when the GPS would drop in the real world (London Tri is unuseable).

I think that this could be a very good platform in the end as others start to donate their rides. Could become quite interesting!

58585

Is this similar to veloreality?
I found that to be a bit disappointing really, the videos were filmed via car or motorbike, so the realism wasn't there when you are speeding past bikes and only doing 150W...
How does it handle riding with others in a group? That was also a bit ill though out on VR - super quality video but the other riders were just coloured blobs. If the selling point is high quality video then it needs to be thought through. Steep virtual climbs and an indoor trainer is not a good match in my experience, it's just not comfortable or "realistic" bike locked in and pushing a big gear/low cadence. Indoor training is bad enough without putting yourself through it

If the routes are kept to big climbs only then is becomes pretty limited for serious training, probably not too many people going to be doing reps up Alpe dHuez in December and January! It's important to have flat routes so rides can be done at lower intensity, that was the biggest drawback I found with VR - the majority of training is at lower intensity so sitting on 8% grades just didn't work and each video needed to be bought separately, it got pretty boring riding the same ones over and over.

bianchimoon

58585 wrote:

Is this similar to veloreality?
I found that to be a bit disappointing really, the videos were filmed via car or motorbike, so the realism wasn't there when you are speeding past bikes and only doing 150W...
How does it handle riding with others in a group? That was also a bit ill though out on VR - super quality video but the other riders were just coloured blobs. If the selling point is high quality video then it needs to be thought through. Steep virtual climbs and an indoor trainer is not a good match in my experience, it's just not comfortable or "realistic" bike locked in and pushing a big gear/low cadence. Indoor training is bad enough without putting yourself through it

If the routes are kept to big climbs only then is becomes pretty limited for serious training, probably not too many people going to be doing reps up Alpe dHuez in December and January! It's important to have flat routes so rides can be done at lower intensity, that was the biggest drawback I found with VR - the majority of training is at lower intensity so sitting on 8% grades just didn't work and each video needed to be bought separately, it got pretty boring riding the same ones over and over.

All filmed from cycles, some of the user donated videos can vary in quality, and you need apple phone or iPad at the moment, but definitely worth a try and getting better all the time as new rides become available

daniel_b

bianchimoon wrote:

58585 wrote:

Is this similar to veloreality?
I found that to be a bit disappointing really, the videos were filmed via car or motorbike, so the realism wasn't there when you are speeding past bikes and only doing 150W...
How does it handle riding with others in a group? That was also a bit ill though out on VR - super quality video but the other riders were just coloured blobs. If the selling point is high quality video then it needs to be thought through. Steep virtual climbs and an indoor trainer is not a good match in my experience, it's just not comfortable or "realistic" bike locked in and pushing a big gear/low cadence. Indoor training is bad enough without putting yourself through it

If the routes are kept to big climbs only then is becomes pretty limited for serious training, probably not too many people going to be doing reps up Alpe dHuez in December and January! It's important to have flat routes so rides can be done at lower intensity, that was the biggest drawback I found with VR - the majority of training is at lower intensity so sitting on 8% grades just didn't work and each video needed to be bought separately, it got pretty boring riding the same ones over and over.

All filmed from cycles, some of the user donated videos can vary in quality, and you need apple phone or iPad at the moment, but definitely worth a try and getting better all the time as new rides become available

This being Fulgaz or BigRingVR, what the thread was started about?

The one ride I tried on BigRingVR, was filmed from a motorised vehicle, which was disappointing, as despite riding slowly up a climb, I forget which one now, I was overtaking groups of cyclists with ease, which was all a bit strange.

Which one are you talking about BM, when you say all filmed from cycles - I'm guessing Fulgaz, especially as you mention apple products/

fat daddy

Fulgaz is FAR better quality ... but BigRing is free .... I chose to pay

Use fulgaz more than Zwift now

bianchimoon

fat daddy wrote:

Fulgaz is FAR better quality ... but BigRing is free .... I chose to pay

Use fulgaz more than Zwift now

Following the thread, the question seemed to be asked of Benders post about Fulgaz, so yes, Fulgaz rides are all filmed from cycles and only available on the Mac Osx platform at the moment

bianchimoon

fat daddy wrote:

Fulgaz is FAR better quality ... but BigRing is free .... I chose to pay

Use fulgaz more than Zwift now

Do you have any issues re elevation not matching on Fulgaz FatDaddy? I think Bender commented on London Tri being unrideable, just wondered as Tan Hill was partially bad to the point I'd started the ride and was loathed to stop as the climb didn't come in till the last half of the ride.
Going Downhill at 6mph and uphill at 25mph at a couple of points was demoralising, , but can't be sure it's not something peculiar to my set up as I checked out others that had ridden it on strava and no one flagged it up as being an issue? Hopefully Mike at FulGaz will have an answer

Machoman121

i prefer it being filmed from a car rather than from a bicycle. I prefer to have the highest quality ie. a steady and sharp video. The cyclist's POV will be too shaky. I've seen some that goes side to side as the rider honk on the bike. I ride to also see the surrounding of the scenery ..so BigRingVR's video has lots of details and it's quite fun. Albeit with the longer rides i find you do need a distraction....i have a 2nd monitor displaying tv or something else to make the time go away faster.

But i'm curious how the gradient's are set....on bigringVR and on veloreality you can't judge the gradient from the video. Say on the Alp de Huez on a switchback - just as u make a turn and head upwards the pace eases and you only feel the resistance much later on the ascent - so something like that takes away the benefit of watching the road. I wonder if it's 100% reliant on the GPS's altitude readings or does someone hard code every gradient change according to the video.

daniel_b

Machoman121 wrote:

i prefer it being filmed from a car rather than from a bicycle. I prefer to have the highest quality ie. a steady and sharp video. The cyclist's POV will be too shaky. I've seen some that goes side to side as the rider honk on the bike.

Point taken, and I guess in a car you can not drive at the speed someone would be cycling at, but i just found the speed disparity quite offputting - suppose if there was no other traffic it would not be an issue.
Perhaps they could film from a scooter of some kind, as they would then go at the kind of speed you would expect from a bike, but not overly hold other traffic up - they could even ride amongst a group of cyclists for example, but have no need to honk out of the saddle as they would have an engine!

dabber

Daniel B wrote:

Machoman121 wrote:

i prefer it being filmed from a car rather than from a bicycle. I prefer to have the highest quality ie. a steady and sharp video. The cyclist's POV will be too shaky. I've seen some that goes side to side as the rider honk on the bike.

Point taken, and I guess in a car you can not drive at the speed someone would be cycling at, but i just found the speed disparity quite offputting - suppose if there was no other traffic it would not be an issue.
Perhaps they could film from a scooter of some kind, as they would then go at the kind of speed you would expect from a bike, but not overly hold other traffic up - they could even ride amongst a group of cyclists for example, but have no need to honk out of the saddle as they would have an engine!

I understand the point about filming at car speed is sometimes not totally realistic but my experience of riding with BRVR is that in reality on most of the rides you hardly encounter any other cyclists at all. I've done quite a lot of BRVR routes and most are pretty much devoid of any traffic at all. An occasional car but very few cyclists.

I've not used Fulgaz as it's IOS based only and although I've got an iphone the need for a specific Wahoo sensor plus a bit of messing around to link to a big screen doesn't suit me.
Actually a question... if I had the required Wahoo ANT+ Key plugged into my iphone SE how would I plug in a HDMI connection to a big screen?

daniel_b

Fair play Dabber - I only tried one ride, and that was one of the famous climbs, so was probably unlucky, as I had at least half a dozen cyclists right near the beginning!

I will have to give it another go, especially keen to try a flattish ride - might do so this weekend actually.

I have, and will never have any apple devices (Fruit aside) and know Fulgaz have no plans\budget to revelop for anything else, so am highly unlikely to be able to ever try it.

bianchimoon

Dabber wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

Machoman121 wrote:

i prefer it being filmed from a car rather than from a bicycle. I prefer to have the highest quality ie. a steady and sharp video. The cyclist's POV will be too shaky. I've seen some that goes side to side as the rider honk on the bike.

Point taken, and I guess in a car you can not drive at the speed someone would be cycling at, but i just found the speed disparity quite offputting - suppose if there was no other traffic it would not be an issue.
Perhaps they could film from a scooter of some kind, as they would then go at the kind of speed you would expect from a bike, but not overly hold other traffic up - they could even ride amongst a group of cyclists for example, but have no need to honk out of the saddle as they would have an engine!

I understand the point about filming at car speed is sometimes not totally realistic but my experience of riding with BRVR is that in reality on most of the rides you hardly encounter any other cyclists at all. I've done quite a lot of BRVR routes and most are pretty much devoid of any traffic at all. An occasional car but very few cyclists.

I've not used Fulgaz as it's IOS based only and although I've got an iphone the need for a specific Wahoo sensor plus a bit of messing around to link to a big screen doesn't suit me.
Actually a question... if I had the required Wahoo ANT+ Key plugged into my iphone SE how would I plug in a HDMI connection to a big screen?

I take it you don't use a smart trainer with bluetooth to the iPhone?
My set up uses an iPad connecting via Bluetooth, then the iPad is plugged directly into the back of iMac 27" screen through the charging cable to view on both iPad and large screen

dabber

bianchimoon wrote:

Dabber wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

Machoman121 wrote:

i prefer it being filmed from a car rather than from a bicycle. I prefer to have the highest quality ie. a steady and sharp video. The cyclist's POV will be too shaky. I've seen some that goes side to side as the rider honk on the bike.

Point taken, and I guess in a car you can not drive at the speed someone would be cycling at, but i just found the speed disparity quite offputting - suppose if there was no other traffic it would not be an issue.
Perhaps they could film from a scooter of some kind, as they would then go at the kind of speed you would expect from a bike, but not overly hold other traffic up - they could even ride amongst a group of cyclists for example, but have no need to honk out of the saddle as they would have an engine!

I understand the point about filming at car speed is sometimes not totally realistic but my experience of riding with BRVR is that in reality on most of the rides you hardly encounter any other cyclists at all. I've done quite a lot of BRVR routes and most are pretty much devoid of any traffic at all. An occasional car but very few cyclists.

I've not used Fulgaz as it's IOS based only and although I've got an iphone the need for a specific Wahoo sensor plus a bit of messing around to link to a big screen doesn't suit me.
Actually a question... if I had the required Wahoo ANT+ Key plugged into my iphone SE how would I plug in a HDMI connection to a big screen?

I take it you don't use a smart trainer with bluetooth to the iPhone?
My set up uses an iPad connecting via Bluetooth, then the iPad is plugged directly into the back of iMac 27" screen through the charging cable to view on both iPad and large screen

No, I use smart trainer connect to Windows 10 laptop via Ant+ sensor and a HDMI cable from laptop to big screen. I don't use any Apple devices other than my iphone. It works perfectly.

dabber

Daniel B... I can't remember now but I think Alpe d'Huez had more riders on it as you would expect.

Btw, earlier this year I rode the Tourmalet west side (up from Luz saint Sauveur) and Luz Ardiden for real.
I've now ridden both of these on BRVR and the experience is totally consistent with the real thing... the feel, gradients etc... I kept thinking " I know where this is,"...
great video but, of course, nothing beats the real thing.

daniel_b

Dabber wrote:

Daniel B... I can't remember now but I think Alpe d'Huez had more riders on it as you would expect.

Btw, earlier this year I rode the Tourmalet west side (up from Luz saint Sauveur) and Luz Ardiden for real.
I've now ridden both of these on BRVR and the experience is totally consistent with the real thing... the feel, gradients etc... I kept thinking " I know where this is,"...
great video but, of course, nothing beats the real thing.

Ah ok, that would indeed make a huge amount of sense.

I'll try one of the less 'glamourous' routes, and then I expect the speed difference will not jar my sensibilities as much :-)

Praise indeed if it evoked those kind of memories, sounds good.

bendertherobot

Re filming with a car, I guess, it depends on the equipment. A lot of the Fulgaz rides are, it appears, done on something like the Hero 5 session or greater, which means image stabilization turned on, therefore superb. The only one which has been slightly bouncy was a gravel ride. There are simply no issues with bike videos on Fulgaz.

bianchimoon

bendertherobot wrote:

Re filming with a car, I guess, it depends on the equipment. A lot of the Fulgaz rides are, it appears, done on something like the Hero 5 session or greater, which means image stabilization turned on, therefore superb. The only one which has been slightly bouncy was a gravel ride. There are simply no issues with bike videos on Fulgaz.

Totally agree, only issue i've had where the videos/rides are done very early morning or late evening and the sun / shadows ruins them

47p2

Dabber wrote:

Actually a question... if I had the required Wahoo ANT+ Key plugged into my iphone SE how would I plug in a HDMI connection to a big screen?

You need a Lightning to HDMI adapter, if you do go down this route buy a genuine Apple adapter as cheap cpoies don't work well




My preference is FulGaz, for me it just feels more realistic than others. BRVR are now starting to upload some easier routes which is great, nothing worse than grinding up the Alps at 55rpm for 90 minutes

dabber

47p2 wrote:

Dabber wrote:

Actually a question... if I had the required Wahoo ANT+ Key plugged into my iphone SE how would I plug in a HDMI connection to a big screen?

You need a Lightning to HDMI adapter, if you do go down this route buy a genuine Apple adapter as cheap cpoies don't work well




My preference is FulGaz, for me it just feels more realistic than others. BRVR are now starting to upload some easier routes which is great, nothing worse than grinding up the Alps at 55rpm for 90 minutes

Thanks... so does the Wahoo dongle also plug into this adapter alongside the HDMI cable?
Btw, from what I can see it looks ridiculously expensive and has very bad reliability/performance reviews.

napoleond

This best virtual ride ever looks exactly like Rouvy aka cycleops virtual training.

47p2

Dabber wrote:

Thanks... so does the Wahoo dongle also plug into this adapter alongside the HDMI cable?
Btw, from what I can see it looks ridiculously expensive and has very bad reliability/performance reviews.

No, you use bluetooth when using your iPhone. Yes expensive but I've had mine a couple of years now and it works perfectly every time. They are fragile and you need to take care with them, never unplug by tugging at the wire, always hold the connector as close to the end as possible and remove smoothly without side to side wiggling. I have mine stuck onto the wall and use a CableJive lightning extension cable which allows for a bit more leeway when connecting/disconnecting.

cougie

On the BRVR app are there other riders to chase or draft off ? That probably the biggest thing for me in Zwift. Or is it just riding with the video synced to your speed ?

dabber

cougie wrote:

On the BRVR app are there other riders to chase or draft off ? That probably the biggest thing for me in Zwift. Or is it just riding with the video synced to your speed ?

Firstly, you can't draft.

You can ride against other riders who have completed the ride. You can select up to 5 riders to compete against.
When you do this you can decide which riders to select based on their average power for that particular ride and their w/kg.

The riders are shown in two ways... as coloured buttons on the profile map and also on a table at the top left of the screen which shows time ahead/behind and their varying power and w/kg al in relation to you.
So if you're putting out say 3.5w/kg and the rider you are chasing is putting out 3.2w/kg it gives you encouragement that you should be catching them.
In addition you can select to ride against a pacer which is shown in the same way as above. When you select the pacer you can define the average power they will put out for the ride...

As this is HD video you can't see animated riders (cartoon characters) on screen.
HTH