I was disappointed after my last ramp test so I began digging into the results. I’m having trouble making sense of my final FTP of 237 (at least I think that is what it said)
237 would have actually been a drop of 1 watt from my previous test. I opted to keep my old FTP(238) but now I can’t seem to find anywhere on TR where it shows the actual result? I’m just trying to verify the 237. Maybe I misread it in my exhausted state, post ride? I’m sure it is correct but I was surprised that I could not find the actual result.
Assuming that the 237 is correct I wanted to understand why.
I have listed some of the data here: I did a ramp test on Feb 17, new FTP 238
On step 15 I had an NP of 315
On step 16 I lasted 17 seconds
After finishing the first half of sustained-powerLV:
I did a ramp test on Mar 19
On step 15 I had an NP of 322
On step 16 I lasted 42 seconds
The results for my Mar 19 test seem slightly better. I would have thought that I would have received a marginal FTP bump? But instead I dropped 1 watt. Does this seem right? Any thoughts would be appreciated
Further info:
Instead of doing the recovery week at the end of first half of sustained-powerLV I just took the week off entirely. I was on vacation.
On March 17 (when I returned), two days before my assessment, I did a 77km ride outside. It was pretty hard😦. I’m not sure how much this affected my ability on March 19
Normalized Power (NP) is useless for efforts/intervals < 20min.
I believe the Ramp Test uses the last completed step for its calculation. This means that the partially completed step, whether you lasted 5s or 50s is meaningless.
I could be mistaken, but I seem to recall seeing the calculation as follows: 0.75* (power of last completed step) = FTP Using this formula and your screenshots:
FTP from the TR ramp test is calculated by max 1 minute power multiplied by 0.75 (?). The longer you hang on, the higher your estimated FTP will be. You can check your 1 minute max power from the power curve on the workout page for your ramp test. Unless they have changed the calculation formula recently, your second test should have yielded a higher FTP if you completed the steps at the prescribed power
If I’m not mistaken you should have an FTP of 247 (slightly rounded up) from that test.
75% of the average power for the last minute : 329 * 0.75 = 246.75
For the feb. 17 test it was 318 * 0.75 = 238.5, which matches your old result.
This is the correct answer, I have no idea why it sometimes gives the wrong results, I always double check with the powercurve, and sometimes it’s just a bit off.
What @Gigageek should look at is the powercurve here:
For my understanding this is incorrect. TR ramp test should calculate the FTP based on the last best minute power. Not last completed step. So every second you hang in there counts. If not, people would stop when the power steps up thinking they can’t make the whole minute. Even when they might.
Yes, I too believe that it is the best 1-minute power.
Note in my original post, “I could be mistaken…” Also, my edit was the addition of the Ramp Test FAQs link which states:
<snip>
1. How does TrainerRoad calculate my FTP from the Ramp Test?
We take 75% of your best one-minute power. If you are above target for the final minute, the app will reduce your result by a small amount. It’s important to follow the target power closely as you progress through your test.
