Hey everyone,
This FulGaz Friday is a little different.
One thing I’ve come to appreciate about these weekly updates, besides keeping you all informed, is that they’ve also become a bit of a journal. A way for me to reflect and document the journey of running FulGaz after its acquisition by ROUVY. Something I’ll probably enjoy looking back on one day.
So today’s update might read more like a journal entry. It’s been an intense quarter, to say the least. Since the acquisition, we’ve received a ton of passionate feedback, turned the ship around and focused on getting things to a sustainable and healthy place. I want to take a moment to reflect and take you behind the scenes.
#1 Business
Several weeks back, we committed to operating FulGaz as a standalone app for as long as it’s economically viable. Or in other words, as long as you keep using it. To make that possible, we defined a clear threshold which was to retain at least ~80% of the current subscriber base.
At the time of acquisition, FulGaz had 20,947 subscribers. We closed Q1, 2025 with a 6% drop landing at 19,813 subscribers. And make no mistake, that’s a healthy churn rate for this kind of business. A massive thanks to all of you who’ve stuck with us and a special shoutout to the ~70% of you on annual plans. Your commitment gives us predictability we need to plan ahead.
All things considered, Q1, 2025 was a success and we’re in a good position moving forward. Thank you for your trust and support!
#2 Product
We took over FulGaz during a tricky period from a product standpoint. Microsoft had deprecated Xamarin, the framework FulGaz was built on, in 2024. This forced us to migrate everything to their new one, MAUI. It may sound obscure, but it’s the foundation everything in the FulGaz app runs on.
We’ve now completed the migration across all platforms, with Windows being the final major one. While we had to fix a few issues on the fly, things have stabilised significantly and we’re back to “normal operations mode” there.
The only exception is Intel-based Macs (mostly devices sold before 2020). Due to Apple’s development requirements, we won’t be able to provide further updates for those devices via the App Store. We’ll push one final release next week, then begin monitoring usage. If enough subscribers are still on Intel Macs, we may explore offering .dmg files for manual installation. But realistically, that support will run its course eventually.
We also rolled out meaningful improvements to the ride map and gradient previews on members.fulgaz.com and resolved post-ride email issues.
With the framework migration mostly behind us, we can now focus on stability and refinement going forward. We’re already fixing bugs as they come in via the platform you’re reading this on, feedback.fulgaz.com. Its public voting system is live and helping shape product priorities. Bug reports, feature requests, roadmap, news (and soon, knowledge base), it’s all here now.
On the content side, we’ve launched a new model with monthly ride drops. Weekly Fulgazette emails (formerly Top Up Tuesday) from Klem continue to bring you content highlights, multi stage events, John Hallas’ Weekly Challenges and more.
#3 People
In all honesty, the FulGaz team deserves a huge amount of credit as this transition wouldn’t have been possible without their focus, effort and care for the community. At the same time, it’s been a joint effort with support from across ROUVY, especially on infrastructure, systems and migration work from IRONMAN.
First and foremost, a big thank you to FulGaz founder Mike Clucas for his support during the transition. Today, the core FulGaz team is:
Moray, who maintains and evolves FulGaz based on tech needs and community feedback,
Klem, who leads community engagement, support, and content communications,
Pete, who oversees new ride content and ensures we uphold FulGaz’s quality standards.
They’ve been the ones carrying the day-to-day, supported by ROUVY’s engineering team, which has helped keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes. I’ve been lucky to work alongside them throughout the process, overseeing the broader FulGaz direction and business operations.
Special shoutout to Bec, who has taken over the former FulGaz Femmes community and is now championing women in triathlon through her new role at AusTriathlon.
2025 Outlook
Looking ahead, here are the key priorities we’re focused on for Q2, 2025:
Further stability enhancements, infrastructure improvements and better issue monitoring (or in other words, making sure it just works),
Continued resolution of user reported bugs (and streamlining how we work with this site),
Garmin Integration for automated uploads,
8–12 new rides per month, along with mini tours and weekly challenges,
Improvements to pre-release testing and platform-specific QA workflows.
While retention is in a good place right now, especially considering the seasonality of indoor cycling, the next challenge will be to ensure new subscribers are coming in. We’ve got a few ideas in motion, but Q2, 2025 will also be about planning how best to tackle growth ahead of the 2025/2026 indoor season.
If you’ve got thoughts or ideas, drop them in the comments. I’d love to hear them.
That’s it for this week. Thanks again for your support, have a great weekend and, as always, stay fit and keep riding.
~Erik
