Power/Weight Thread

Did the ramp test actually stop? Is that what happens in Zwift? 250W sounds very low if you were set at 190W previously. I think when I do a Half Monty (SYSTM version of ramp test, with added 20 mins of sustained effort) with an FTP around 300W, I don't 'fail' until I'm touching over 400W (which SYSTM analyses and says 'yes, your FTP is 300W ish) so for the test to actually stop at 250W seems odd? (Mind you, I guess proportionally, 190 to 250 is almost the same as 300 to 400?)
 
Yeah, i guess it goes to 125% maybe?

I might try another test where it's not set to ERG mode and just calculates me riding and putting maximal effort in for 20 minutes? I guess that's tricky as you can find it hard to pace yourself. The other option would be to just not care about FTP figures i guess :p
 
No, I would say it's really important to have a roughly accurate FTP if you're doing workouts. Just set it to 220W and do a test again :) (Or for a baseline, various things, I think including Strava, will show you your power curve. Check what the best 20 minute power you've ever done is and multiply it by 0.95 for an FTP)
 
It's been a while since I last did a Zwift ramp test, but the "lite" version ended after the 250W interval, the standard one goes well beyond 400W if you can still turn the pedals above ~70rpm while seated.

I've never been aware of the Zwift ramp test protocol being affected by what your FTP was set at before the test (eg. skipping early intervals if you had set your FTP at say 350W like PikeyPriest's example)... Is this a new thing in the last year or so?

My old goto method was to enter Tempus Fugit TTs and negatively split them, having a ballpark figure in mind of what I thought I could do and start under it using a larger sprocket, then moving to a harder (smaller) sprocket every ~5mins or so.

But I'm not sure if I did any sort of "proper" test last year, I did a fair few events of ~20mins where I couldn't use the controller on my old Direto and so the virtual terrain was flat, using my 4iiii crank meter rather than the turbo... On more than one occasion I finished a race just short of 20mins, having no idea of what my average was until that point and that if I'd have continued after the event I would have completed a random goal I've had for the last few years.
 
Or you can just guess and see how the work outs go! I find my FTP is usually about right if I can complete SST short, the Gorby and Jon’s Mix. I only cycle twice a week though, so over training is not a worry.
 
wonko said:
Thought I'd throw my figures into the pot

Username - wonko
Age - 55
Height - 180cm
Weight - 82kg
FTP (60min) - 331W (Strava estimate)
CP (20min) - 338W
Gear - Stages SB20 and a towel
Click to expand...

wonko said:
No dramatic changes for me, but a nudge upwards in FTP during the Zwift MAAP Stage 3 event this morning which started off hot and kept going. I still need to do a proper FTP test sometime I'm feeling masochistic.

Age - 56
Weight - 79.5kg
FTP (60min) - 334W, 4.2W/kg (Zwift estimate). Strava estimate is 344W, 4.3W/kg and maybe a bit optimistic.
CP (20min) - 351W - 4.4W/kg
Click to expand...

Interesting to look back and see how things have changed after another 18 months, and happy that the figures aren't yet showing the relentless march of time. The bigger efforts and numbers were all during Zwift races and other events where bloodymindedness to not get dropped kicks in. Still can't sprint well or compete up the hills against the lighter guys though :/

Age - 57
Weight - 79kg
60 min - 336W, 4.25W/kg
20 min - 360W, 4.56W/kg
5 min - 390W, 4.94W/kg

Current FTP is estimated at 348W / 4.4W/kg by intervals.icu and 358W by Strava (again seems optimistic). Zwift's zFTP is also 358W which I doubt I could sustain for 40+ minutes even with a Scooby-Doo monster right behind me.
 
Not really visited this part of the forum but some of your numbers are pretty insane.

I’m at about 4.2w/kg with FTP of 285 or so and weight of 68kg. This is based on 20 min average, zwift ramp, TrainerRoad ramp and TrainerRoad AI so fairly consistent. Kit is a blend of Kickr Core, 4iii precision crank power meter and Vector 3 double sided pedals.

Looking to drop to about 66kg and see how I feel. Suspect FTP should climb over next couple of months as I managed to do some nerve damage to my leg and back last year and have only just got my FTP back to where it was using a low volume TR plan. Going to jump on the z2 bandwagon and see if I can add 4 hours a week of decent spinning and see what that does.
 
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Shaz]sigh[ said:
Not really visited this part of the forum but some of your numbers are pretty insane.

I’m at about 4.2w/kg with FTP of 285 or so and weight of 68kg. This is based on 20 min average, zwift ramp, TrainerRoad ramp and TrainerRoad AI so fairly consistent. Kit is a blend of Kickr Core, 4iii precision crank power meter and Vector 3 double sided pedals.

Looking to drop to about 66kg and see how I feel. Suspect FTP should climb over next couple of months as I managed to do some nerve damage to my leg and back last year and have only just got my FTP back to where it was using a low volume TR plan. Going to jump on the z2 bandwagon and see if I can add 4 hours a week of decent spinning and see what that does.
Click to expand...

Are you packing 3 power meters when you are on the trainer :p

As you say though, some beasts on here.
 
Feels like this belongs here more than the Road thread. I've just started a training plan on Garmin to try and give me more structure. However my issue is that Garmin seems to hugely overestimate my FTP.

When i rode indoors, Strava would estimate me around 220W. That feels like it's fairly accurate, however Garmin seems to regularly update after a normal ride and say it's 280W.

My general rides over an hour usually fall around 180W-190W and would include some hills and some easier recovery. Here's an example of the most recent ride which was a step up in distance compared to usual.
www.strava.com

Morning Ride - Martyn T's 56.0 km bike ride

Martyn T rode 56.0 km on Dec 17, 2023.
www.strava.com www.strava.com

I can only assume that Garmin is assuming i'm at 190W at Zone 2 based on HR and then calculating up to maximum effort, however there's no chance my legs could manage 280W for an hour, even if my HR suggests there's space. The problem being that the Garmin training plan takes an FTP of 280w and is setting me targets based on that. I could manually drop it down, but then Garmin is going to keep wanting to increase it!

Anyone have any decent suggestions?
 
@Martynt74 I would say that strava is probably broadly correct. My FTP is currently around 260 according to Zwift and I would reckon that I could do a route like that at an average of about 28-29kph. Hard to say as FTP doesn't really say much unless you know at least weight as well but I am ~82kg right now.

I don't know how Garmin training plans work but I assume it tells you when it ups your FTP so you could always just knock it back down. Whats it got you doing?
 
Should've added weight but i'm around 102kg (it's jumped from ~95kg in these 3 months!). Strava i trust and it co-incides with Zwift/Wahoo when i used to use that. I would have said around 2-2.2w/kg is a reasonable estimate. Certainly not 2.8w/kg as per Garmin

Admittadly the first day of the training plan is a fitness test so there's always going to be some pain, but the 10 minutes at >110% FTP is going to be tough, whereas it'd be fairly comfortable for someone with a 280w FTP

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I guess i just try and ride it at where i feel i'm capable of and see if Garmin adjusts from there. The problem is all other sessions are based on power zones, so an easy "Z2" ride, will likely be my actual Z3 etc. I'm also struggling to find anywhere to manually adjust the data.
 
It is all relative unfortunately. When I started zwift the winter after COVID my ftp was around 180-190 and weight about 93kg. I am now 78kg with an ftp about 270-280 I would say. I find that ramp tests always flatter me as I am never able to put that kind of power out in ERG node for long periods.

My current numbers: (from zwift)
Weight 78kg
15s 965
30s 757
5 min 374
20 min 306
Zftp 280

These are best numbers from zwift in 90 days and not the same ride.

I have been in B cat for over a year and recently found that I can stay with the front pack on courses that don’t include long climbs segments. My hope for Spring next year is to break the 300W barrier, but definitely notice the improvements slowing and my 2-3 rides are week may not be enough. Does anyone do any weights/squats if they do not have enough time for a bike workout?

*edit - also there is a chance my power meters are just wrong and giving false power . I have a bike power meter now so will be able to get a comparison when the weather improves.
 
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I do wonder at what stage you really need to start kicking up the volume to keep progressing. I think 10 hours a week is probably the most I am ever likely to want/be able to do on a bike in a week. Mad that some amateurs are putting in 20+ hours on top of working etc. Thats like 4 hours a day with a couple of days off a week.

I want to get to a 4w/kg FTP which I think is plenty enough to be able to ride as far as I want and reasonably quickly as well. After that I think I will need to really put too much time in to get better.

I will probably do another ramp test in a month or so. Honestly I quite like doing Alpe du Zwift as a reasonably good FTP test. They say that to go sub 1 hour you need to have a power to weight of about 3.2w/kg. I just managed 1:05 and I was thinking that my FTP was around 260 at the time so I would say its all in the right ball park.

I think that Zwifts ramp test does overestimate your FTP a bit but honestly if everything they do is based off that it doesn't matter too much. If you know roughly what you are doing as well then you know when to knock the difficulty/intensity down to get the right effect from a workout.
 
My improvement came from lockdown and changing to working from home. Four pre-breakfast weekday TT sessions (with a yoga session on Fridays) made a huge difference. I didn't follow a specific plan on Sufferfest / Systm, so it was just the extra volume. For 2019 Strava says I logged 149 hours of cycling / running. In 2020 that jumped to 246 hours, with a bigger jump to 403 hours for 2021 though I started logging yoga and longer walks from January '21.

At 20+ hours/week, I can't imagine you have anytime for life other than work, sleep or being on the bike.
 
#Chri5# said:
My improvement came from lockdown and changing to working from home. Four pre-breakfast weekday TT sessions (with a yoga session on Fridays) made a huge difference. I didn't follow a specific plan on Sufferfest / Systm, so it was just the extra volume. For 2019 Strava says I logged 149 hours of cycling / running. In 2020 that jumped to 246 hours, with a bigger jump to 403 hours for 2021 though I started logging yoga and longer walks from January '21.

At 20+ hours/week, I can't imagine you have anytime for life other than work, sleep or being on the bike.
Click to expand...
I was regularly doing 20+ hrs during 2020, had nothing else to do was riding before and after work plus the weather was gorgeous and the traffic was even better. Back down to a more norm 10ish hours now and hitting similar numbers.
 
I can only dream of 4w/kg right now

Started zwift but struggling to get on it after my night shifts.

Ramp test suggests 260w or so at 81kg(on a good day).

I'll follow the plan and see where I end up for the summer.
 
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