Hey CTR,
Personally, I would say that was doing it the hard way. The MiG-29 is about as good an adversary as you can find...definitely a good match for even the F-16.
Honestly, for starters, you should really fight 1v0. It's not sexy, but it will make you a better pilot. You should know if you can pull a level turn at various altitudes. If not, how much nose low will you need to stay at corner speed? Can you hold max G and corner speed on the deck? If you accelerate (like in the big mouthed Vipers), what kind of climb rate can you achieve? What is the min altitude that you can pull a split S? Can you park your nose up in the air and fly at min speed as if you were in a Flat Scissors? With your nose parked up, what will the rudder do for you? Just go out and bend the jet around and understand how she flies.
These are all important questions and ever more important if you are flying something that doesn't have the AOA and G limiters of a modern jet. The less performance or the less technology you have, the more you need to feel the airplane. Even in a "magic jet" you can squander your resources, if you aren't smart about it.
After you can fly your airplane, then you should consider beating up on someone else's. As noted above, a Fitter or Fishbed might allow you some "performance excess" to practice. A Fulcrum on the other hand, has about the same amount of performance as you. Depending on how accurately it is modeled, you should need to fight well to beat it. Remember as well that the AI aircraft is flown by an AI pilot, so there is a big question about how well he is programmed to fly and if he is allowed to cheat.
Lastly, don't be afraid to change it up. Try going vertical. Try fighting one circle. Have a plan for different adversaries and know both what your airplane is best at and also what you are best at.
Inevitably, you will fight better the more you fight. While modern BFM training is relatively structured, traditionally a nugget got good at BFM by getting the crap gunned out of him by the skipper.
So, learn something from the fights that don't go your way...and be thankful you weren't in the Battle of Britain and going into combat with ten hours of flight time.
Deacon