So this year is my first year with Trainer Road, and I’ve been enjoying it a lot. This January, I bought a 2022 TCR and a 4iiii power meter for it; finally moving to a bike that fits me. I wish I had taken a screen shot of my first FTP test with it, but I remember it being below 240W, which I found disheartening at first, as my Kinetic trainer said I was closer to 260, but I accepted that a new power meter meant throwing out previous numbers and starting over. IIRC, my FTP was 232 as of 2/1/24.
Got doored a couple weeks ago, so I threw out the last of my race schedule and started my off season early. Queue a couple of random “chasing the thrill of cycling”, unstructured rides, especially since the last two races were going to be as part of a self-celebration on my birthday weekend. I always calibrate my power meter, thanks to Garmin’s friendly/annoying reminder as soon as I turn on my head unit on.
Casually threw up a 362W average for 20 minutes on a ride today, thinking I was doing an impromptu 8 min power test for my own shits and giggles. Garmin and Strava both report the same thing, but that makes sense. Now, I haven’t done an all out effort in a couple of months, and I’ve been focusing hard on building a larger base as I’m new to cycling, but that 362W average equates to 344W FTP following the 95% formula. Super pumped. I was aiming to break 300W this year, and had set a long term goal of 4W/kg, and well, I weigh between 178 and 175 lbs, so that’s 4.2-4.3W/kg. Now I just have one question:
Do I count my new “FTP” that formulas/Garmin says I hit today, or do I just ignore it? Just doing some free riding and some train now for about a month until I hit my next season.
Well done but be aware that power is easier to deliver outdoors due to air cooling, inertia, power up a hill etc. and that 20mins max might not have had the blowout period to make the formula apt. Id go with 90% of outdoors for training indoors.
4W/kg is pretty unheard of for relatively new cyclists, as far as I am aware, hence my bit of apprehension in believing the numbers, but I did calibrate right before the ride, so one would hope it’s somewhat near accurate.
I think this is the first I’ve heard power is easier to deliver outdoors than indoors, thanks for that. Most of the 20 minute segment was uphill, but doesn’t being able to generate more power due to going up a hill mean that you just generated more power? I don’t exactly understand why I would want to lower my target watts just because it’s not up a hill. Why wouldn’t I just want to promote spinning faster to hit the higher targets, since they are a more realistic sample than on a trainer, what you’ve stated to already be an inferior method of power production? Would that not just make it so I’m not hitting the actual target numbers?
Power is easier to consistently deliver up a hill. I certainly can comfortably go over threshold up a hill. Keep in the back of your mind though that you can do it and just use a lower number for training
The majority of it was a route a take pretty consistently, except I replaced one bit with a more consistent incline, rather than my exact usual path with a steep climb followed by a long bit of flat. Speed is faster than usual, but I’ve also never taken the route as an all out effort before, so that could be part of it.
Okay, so lets say you put out 200W normally in a 20 minute test inside, but you just did 300W for 20 minutes outside. Why wouldn’t you focus on fixing your cooling issues/other issues to make it so you can train at the higher FTP? It seems to me, and I’m coming from this from a college lacrosse background, but if you are capable of doing the larger number in more ideal conditions, then you should train with your most recent top numbers, and attempt to fix the conditions; rather than train at a number you can easily produce in better conditions. To me, that would be like saying I can bench 50kg without using my core at all, but I can do 100kg if I engage my core. The progressive overload is higher if you go off the 100kg core engaged max, because you aren’t looking for the limitations of the supporting structure, but of the large target muscles. Why is cycling different? Especially since the end goal is to ride outside, or in the workout example, lift as much as possible.
How much faster, 1-2km/h or 5-10km/h? You can create your own segment in Strava from start to finish and compare yourself with others that followed the same route
Was this done on a road bike on tarmac?
Did you have a block headwind?
Seems weird to me how a NP of 290W and 241W avg resulted in just 15.6mph with this little climbing.
So if your FTP has jumped over 100W this year I’d say you would know about it. That’s a massive increase. If you ride with any other people they would certainly have noticed - e.g. If you were similar fitness to them at the start of the year you’d now be accidentally putting them in the hurt locker without even trying that hard. Or your race results would be transformed. Or even if you ride solo and don’t race then your average speed on your standard routes and loops would have gone up loads. Even if you’ve not been doing maximal efforts then the top of your Zone 2 now is higher than your FTP was.
Have you noticed any of those things? If not and this came as a surprise to you then I’d guess it’s a power meter reading issue. But simplest way to check is go ride that same segment hard again!
Looks dodgy to me unless you are a very big guy. Personally if I rode that route at 67kg and NP of 290 I would be somewhere in the region of 35-36 kmph.
I’ve had some dodgy readings in the past and would have loved to believe the numbers but eventually deleted the rides
I largely agree with sentiments of @cartsman. It’d be hard not to notice this drastic change in fitness. It looks like you used AI FTP detection just 10 days ago?
I suggest you carry the excitment and motivation from this result into a Ramp test? That way, you can be confident that you’re training at the appropriate intensity. If this was as a result of an inaccurate power meter reading, I suggest that you delete the ride so that your AI FTP detection is not thrown off by innacurate PR’s.
Even if this was an innacurate reading, hold onto the excitment of your unknown potential and let it carry you into the start of your next Training Plan. There is a lot to be said for unlocking the belief that you can achieve a goal.
Who knows- this could initiate a breakthrough for you!
It was a block headwind on shitty roads, and I am not exactly light. I often see averages near 240W for 15mph on flats, so I think that part checks out.
I have noticed some major improvements, as well as having nearly tripled my available training and recovery time this year. So far, I’ve done 200km with double the elevation faster than I did 100 miles last year, and I was able do a vEverest Base Camp.
I do all my indoor training on Tacx rollers at the moment, so ramp tests are nigh out of the question. Last time I got near the end, vision went a little darker, and found myself under the bike next to the rollers. However, once I figure out a way to put my bike on my old Kinetic trainer, I’ll give a proper ramp test a go, otherwise I’m stuck to AI detection off low intensity efforts and outside testing. Any suggestions for a good workout to test with since ramp tests are off the table at the moment?
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