Power Meters / Powermeters (SRM, Powertap, Quarq, Ergomo, Vector, Stages, power2max, P2M, 4iii, InPower, Cinch)

I got Scherrit to order me one from Paligap

Yeah, I had a poke around and ordered one from them. It's not turned up though so maybe I didn't use the right password..

Have you tried calling them? I rang them the other day, got straight through, ordered a wrench and went to lunch.

The theft might explain delays receiving the wrench.

They tell you not to call as they cannot update you on service progress for the first 10 days. Heard nothing from them today.

I have improved!

My W/kg for FTP (based on 95% of 20 min peak) has gone up from 1.74 to 1.91 and so I have gone from below even "untrained" to "untrained"!

W/kg for 5 min effort is at the untrained level too, with 5s and 1m still below untrained.

Saving grace is that I'm fat (which really hurts W/kg) and these are just peak measurements from 50km rides of Richmond Park (on fixed) and not a specific targeting testing protocol.

But improvements like this is useful to keep me motivated.

I'll take the geared bike out next week which should help me improve on them too.

these are just peak measurements from 50km rides of Richmond Park and not a specific targeting testing protocol.

Well from just glancing at 95% on a few of my own power curves of longer rides vs testing, your actual FTP could be about about double what you currently think it is :)

Keep it up anyway

The best way to calculate your ftp is to ride as hard as you can for an hour. 25 TTs are good (for example).

I'd be well impressed with someone that can hold their FTP for an hour on the flat. Smash a big climb. I still only manage 95% though.

Lol!!!!!!!!

Then it's not you FTP.

Very rare that you ride outside for only an hour, at threshold from the off, and get to the point of hallucinating by minute 55, then topple sideways off the bike at 60.

Sounds like a 25

I did the FTP test yesterday again; increased by 12 watts and according to Coggan's chart I am in the middle of Cat 3 now for power to weight ratio; pleased with the progress.

I do rides like that sometimes twice a week. The ride doesn't need to be an hour, 20mins (or whatever) either side, easy pedalling isn't going to be a problem.

Good work @amey

The point is that the definition of FTP is an hours effort, at your absolute max -if it wasn't 20 minutes, and if you can keep going at the end of it, it wasn't an FTP test- as some would define it.

You pace yourself over an hour obviously. It hurts but it's not difficult to get your head round.

Not sure what you mean by 'keep going'. You're recovered in a few mins, then spin home?

Yes, of course after a while you can climb back on and set off again for a gentle pedal home.

That's not in question, what I suspect people are doing is picking an arbitrary period from a longer ride, not one in which they gently warm up, then turn themselves inside out for an hour, finishing by collapsing on the verge, then cycle home when their vision becomes less of a tunnel.

The other side being that you can't expect to hold you FTP for an hour in the middle of a longer ride - if you can, then it's not your FTP.

Isnt that the 3 laps Richmond challenge in essence?

I am definitely not recovered 'a few mins' after finishing a TT - which is the absolute test of what your FTP is. My HR might be back to a manageable level quick enough, but the rest of me wants to roll into a ditch and cry for a bit. Half an hour later it was all a fantastic idea, I had a great time and will definitely go faster next time.

Race efforts are always going to push you a little further than training, just because you're motivated. In TT's find that no matter what my plan is, I always go out harder than I meant to and just hang on (whilst hating myself, the world and everything to do with cycling). Maybe one day I will learn, but I'll probably go slower. It's really really difficult (impossible) to replicate those efforts in training when the clock isn't ticking and you don't have someone faster than you 1min behind you.

I'd argue that one.

I get where you're coming from, that I'd you'd just done 1h all out you could have done more. But if you're fit you could get within the accuracy of a power meter in a longer ride if you've the genetics for that kind of riding.

And @amey the rp3lc is a good FTP test. Even if you're rapid and do it nearer 50min that's good enough FTP.

Both the FTP estimates you can use of 20min NP /1.05 or 8 min NP * 0.8 were within 3 watts of my best ever 60 min NP in a crit.

NP for a 1 hour crit isn't going to be the same as FTP from a 1 hour TT though

Np should never be used to estimate FTP. Especially if you've a big AWC. But you could go between the 2, NP and AP. But the point where will depend on the person.

Andrew Coggan disagrees with you