Hi all. My partner wants to give TR a go. She is absolutely not a cyclist but has been a keen spinner for years. She is a cross-fitter and is very strong. Any guidance for me estimating her FTP for her first ramp test on Sunday? I just don’t have a clue (but I hope it’s not as much as me lol!) Thanks. Lee
Nate shared a graph showing the bell curve of TR’s user base watt per kilo back in this thread, if she’s got some time on the bike previously I’d set the FTP to 2.5 watts/kilo and let her have at it. The ramp test should land her pretty close to where she needs to be
IIRC, for the new account creation process, TR uses their weight and sets the initial FTP at 2.0 watts/kg.
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Smashing thanks for these!
I don’t think you have to estimate FTP for the initial ramp test; believe TR sets that for you based on other metrics you input. Could be wrong about that. I know my initial TR-set FTP was 140w and ramp took 45min.
You are correct, during new account setup, it will all be done automatically and they should just roll into the test.
Reading between the lines, I wonder of the OP is doing a test for another person who does not have a new TR account?
Yes. Trying to avoid that so we get a decent result.
Thanks all. She’s new to this and is looking for me for guidance. I’ve enough experience to get her close to the mark if I know what TR accounts for, especially given other fitness and strength factors which are outliers and will skew her from the norm. Really just trying to avoid a 10minute or 40minute ramp test lol
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Why not just play it by ear like the spin bike dials. She’ll get on and be like this is really easy or this is really her and then start adjusting intensity.
That’ll probably give you your FTP setting.
I’d just plug in ~175 and have her go. It couldn’t be off more than…what 50 watts? That’s probably close enough. That should be a 20 min test, give or take a few minutes.
Really, I think the way the test is set up…you would have to be comically off to end up with a 10 or 40 minute test. Like plug in an ftp of 40 watts or 500 or something. Anything reasonable should work IMO.
Later in that Bell curve of cyclists thread Nate broke it down by age. Your partner is generally fit but untrained on the bike, so maybe find her age bracket and pick a W/kg a bit to the left of center. It’ll probably be close.
(FWIW, when I started, TR ballparked me at 1.0 W/kg. I was sedentary but not quite that sedentary, heh. 35-minute ramp, super confusing, thought it was broken.)
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