I did the challenge last year. Trainerroad ramp test and then used that number for the hour record a few days later. Think I ended up doing a few watts over for the hour.
Looking back, I can see that I picked up a bug a few days following, and was off the bike for a week. It could have been a coincidence, but after such a hard effort my immune system had probably taken a bit of a hit. Might be worth considering when you do the hour record just in case it hampers your training.
The current knowledge / state-of-the-art hasn’t really changed much, has it? A few things have changed:
People are looking for a false sense of precision, instead of accepting these are estimates and adjusting as necessary.
Coggan’s early paper gave a few ways to estimate, the first two:
average power from a ~40K time trial (50-70 minutes) although he notes that performance can vary from day-to-day, and the power levels/zones have somewhat arbitrary dividing lines, and to not be led to a false sense of precision
average power maintained in longer training intervals, such as 2x20 threshold intervals, although like above this is just an estimate and “within perhaps 5 percent” of what can be obtained from ~40K TT
I still think those early observations are true and apply now. If you want to field test (I’m not going in for lactate testing!), it really comes down to actually doing longer efforts and learning about yourself.
Interesting. I did the Hour Record back in June of last year and I picked up a cold/bug for a few days afterwards as well. Never happened to me before on other workouts, and it definitely wasn’t cold and flu season (Florida, US).
This should be correlation, not causation. The infection was already in your body, it was going to play out anyway but the stress of training may have brought it on earlier and exacerbated the symptoms.
Actually pretty good for about an hour afterwords. There wasn’t the same muscle burn like in the ramp test, where I feel like I physically can’t turn the pedals anymore. I had some muscle soreness a few hours later, but gone by the next day.
Oh I totally agree. I just thought it was an odd coincidence.
@Nate_Pearson @Jonathan Would either Nate or Jonathan attempt an hour record in 2020? Last year we had the 40k TT this year the hour record? With Nates new TT position and fondness of pushing the envelope of what’s sane…
To be clear I love time trialing. But I may not be sane either…
I try to go hard up Alpe du Zwift sometime around my ramp tests to keep track of sustainable power and TTE. I usually pace it like one of Kolie Moore test protocol progressions.
For something that long I need to have some entertainment, definitely not erg mode, and I also like distraction from the forced variation from the change in gradient. Also a fan of CX and YouTube crit videos (TR and more recently NorCal Cycling full race vids 
)
So far the numbers typically agree for me. Maybe a bit higher on the FTP estimate from the ramp test, but that gap is getting smaller as I focus more on sustained power.
Just finished a 4 month Tour de Sofa. Did a 20min test on Sunday (now officially on the wrong side of the bell curve!). With a long weekend coming up I just might plop this doozie into my sched. 
Couldn’t have stated it better myself, @JoeX.
Nah, not right now. Maybe some day.
That’s my go-to as well. In addition to the variety of grade and scenery, the way they break it into segments makes it easier mentally. I usually shoot for 97% of FTP. Based on perceived effort and watching what my HR is doing, it gives me a really good idea of what my 1 hour power is.
Anyone else on here got a Wattbike Atom and tried any of their simulated climbs (Alps etc)?
I’ve only been using my Atom for TR with ERG mode so have yet to even try using it with the simulated gears (11 instead of the full 22).
I don’t have Swift so the Wattbike’s own simulated climbs seem like a decent option as something different to try sustained power on.
Interested to know how people rate / compare etc Wattbike’s own simulated rides for this…
Oh yeh - and I’ve scheduled the FTP Challenge / Hour record workout for the end of my ‘rest’ week (next week) so lets see if I chicken out before then 
As a followup, I did the Ramp test exactly 1 week after the hour challenge, and the ramp test FTP came out to 240 watts. Hour challenge was 228, which works out to 95% of 240. This was my 3rd ramp test and 1st hour challenge. Maybe the difference will go down as I learn to push myself in both.
I did an hour record attempt for the second time in January on a Tuesday, then followed up with a ramp test on the Thursday.
Hour was 221W, ramp test was 238W, so 93% - not very close.
Feb 2nd…and 9th…
Sadly he/she bailed on both attempts. Seems like the indomitable @Chris21 is struggling as of late, having completed Gray only once in the last couple of weeks. 
(I hope other people get the joke so I don’t look like an ever bigger jerk!)
Hope I can make him/her proud with my attempt this weekend.
Whilst not a All Out at FTP attempt, I did do a hour climb today, 306w, 59:59, Avg HR 145, TSS 81, kj(Cal)
1,038. IF.89.
Im certainly interested in what an hour attempt would be like on the road or track. The sustained effort at .95.-.98 over 60mins.
The source is in the old thread, so some explanation might be in order…
Nice
@Chris21 has managed to do something unique by doing something repetitive. It will be a sad day if I ever see @Chris21 is no longer riding Gray. 