It seems obvious that the best way to determine one's 60-minute power (aka FTP) is to go out and ride all out for 60 minutes.
My only "problem" with the 60-minute TT as the means of determining FTP is that I cannot seem to find a convenient stretch of road that long that would be conducive to such testing. I've been able to find a 20-minute stretch that works pretty well, but for an entire 1-hour effort I've found that the rolling hills, stoplights, numerous turns, and car traffic make it difficult to pedal all-out the entire time. Coasting of any sort absolutely destroys my average power number.
Consider one of my recent 1-hour tests performed on a loop-course in a rural but populated area near me. Even though I was trying to treat it as a TT effort, the ride file shows that I wasn't able to pedal a whopping 8% of the time! The VI for the ride was 1.13! Call me a weenie but I'm not willing to run red lights, pedal hard down hills in traffic at over 35 miles an hour, or take up the entire road making a turn so as to be able to keep the power down.
I know I could put the bike in the car and drive somewhere flat and remote to do my testing but that's not particularly convenient. What I've done instead is compare two measurements:
- 0.95 x 20min AP
- 60min NP
Fortunately, these seem to correlate fairly well so that's what I'm using as my "working" FTP. Anyone else do this?
--Steve
My only "problem" with the 60-minute TT as the means of determining FTP is that I cannot seem to find a convenient stretch of road that long that would be conducive to such testing. I've been able to find a 20-minute stretch that works pretty well, but for an entire 1-hour effort I've found that the rolling hills, stoplights, numerous turns, and car traffic make it difficult to pedal all-out the entire time. Coasting of any sort absolutely destroys my average power number.
Consider one of my recent 1-hour tests performed on a loop-course in a rural but populated area near me. Even though I was trying to treat it as a TT effort, the ride file shows that I wasn't able to pedal a whopping 8% of the time! The VI for the ride was 1.13! Call me a weenie but I'm not willing to run red lights, pedal hard down hills in traffic at over 35 miles an hour, or take up the entire road making a turn so as to be able to keep the power down.
I know I could put the bike in the car and drive somewhere flat and remote to do my testing but that's not particularly convenient. What I've done instead is compare two measurements:
- 0.95 x 20min AP
- 60min NP
Fortunately, these seem to correlate fairly well so that's what I'm using as my "working" FTP. Anyone else do this?
--Steve