First Zwift FTP Test | Why do one? | New cyclist aged 40

NOT "new cyclist". Shame. I'm sorry I fell for it.

Being 40 years old myself, it's crazy seeing the difference in your heart rate vs mine. I'm at 115-120 just getting on the bike, not even turning the pedals, but I also hit 180-185bpms almost every time I ride.

New cyclist is a pure lie. No new cyclist has an FTP that high.

Did you calibrate the trainer before this?

As we get older I wouldn't say ANY muscles are superfluous. I think this is a mistake a lot of cyclists make, trying to drop body weight including muscle mass to increase w/kg, and this makes them weak with less bone density. I'm 51 and been road cycling for 3 years. I have an ftp of 300, weigh 81kg. So my w/kg is 3.7.
The only way I want to increase my w/kg is to improve my power. Keeping Muscle mass is so important after 40 for general health, so I'm definitely not going to be giving up my muscle building weight lifting sessions.

Did my ramp this week. I fell apart at the 360. Been riding hard for two months now, but I’m older. I think am naturally well prone to cardio so have responded very well as a new rider. Also I’m heavier than you.

People seem to forget they need a baseline in order to measure progress. Unless of course, you are doing it for the heck of it and don't care, however these numbers are good to have "just in case".

Without looking your Video First:
age 35, First Test 212
185cm
96kg

I do wish that Zwift's 90 day rolling FTP detection didn't make certain assumptions. I'd been doing a lot of zone 2 rides and it kept dropping my expected FTP until I did one of the long new climb portal climbs at 297 watts, top to bottom, for 26 minutes. Suddenly it recalibrates, but you've got to put in a max effort periodically in order to keep it accurate.

I’m pretty sure I did the same ftp builder as you and my FTP before was like 3.5 W/kg and now it is 4.1W/kg but I haven’t retested it only increase because I did the alpe as fast as I could so that gave me a new FTP but if I retested, I think I could get it to about 4.5.

I just tried the normal ramp test yesterday. I was doing the ramp test lite before as I'm new to cycling. Was a bit silly as I had done some high intensity stuff the day before. I've managed to go from 150ftp to 198ftp in 7 months so far. 5 weeks of that I almost did nothing as had issues with my left foot pointing out and ended up getting knee pain and having to keep stopping for days at a time. I also found on this test my heart rate didn't get really high on the test but higher than yours. I didn't feel out of breath at all though and I was the same as you where I just failed because my legs could not go any more.

Why didn't you do a 60 min effort for better accuracy?

So mate in short - you jump on and follow the 1 minute prompts until you are toast and the system works it out for you based on that ?

a huge front chainring is not designed to mash big gears, it is to keep your gears in the middle of casette so your chainline is straight
also, get a fan at max power to the face while cycling inside. No air circulation while cycling out is torture

I'am 47yo and i never try FTP test. I i'am able to stay at 192w NP for 1h12, so i'am probably over 200 ftp.

Well done Max. I did the 20 min test as my first (and only) FTP test with no idea what to expect or how to pace myself. Good choice going for the ramp test! 😁 270 is a good score in my opinion, so well done!

Solid effort. And ramp test was the best option. Wouldn't even both with the 20min FTP test. Don't worry about heart rate, that should be gradually ramping up as the power does, so what your heart was doing was totally the right thing. Racing is different because you need heart rate spikes alongside the power spikes, whereas this is all about a gradual increase of effort to failure.

One other observation. Think your saddle is a bit too high. Hips were rocking left and right towards the end, which is a sign that your saddle is a smidge too high. Would recommend dropping it by maybe an inch and you should find you'll rock less at the high power efforts but also unlock a bit more power from your glutes. Would go so far as to say you'll be closer to 280w FTP just with a slight saddle drop, before any further gains from the structured training.

"It's the one thing in cycling that absolutely gives me the fear [...] I'm anxious about it, didn't sleep last night [...]
But I've never actually done one"

What? xD

Awesome effort 👍 not sure You had a fan, but in case You didn’t- get one. Gets unneeded stress off of your heart. Unless preparing for a race in hot. But it’s a different topic. Also in the beginning You mentioned your body weight. Don’t fall into this trap of trying to lower it. What most tend to do is try to restrict calories intake and especially carbs too much bringing one to a calorie restricted state therefore limiting the ability to push to the max. Eat enough, eat more carbs before training session, if session is longer- get carbs during the session and there will be a huge difference. Especially You’ll notice how less of a hunger bothers after a trining session. Other than that- I wish You a good luck and stay healthy- its the most important thing. Cheers!

😂 Promo`SM

Idk how I landed on this video but ended up watching 😂. Great attempt, you’ll do better the more structured training you do and after you do a few of these. It’s always shocking for me to do 20m intervals at 300 the first week back after a structured workout break and then it’s just uncomfortably normal. The ramp test is kind of the same way, once you build the base up more the whole thing becomes easier. ❤

Sean..thats now how an ftp/ramp test works 😊

Not to mention that a lot of roadies qnd folk who do time trials fpr twenty five miles have a fairly good handle of their FTP.

Why do a 20 min test to find out fitness level for an hour ?. No cyclist goes on a 20 min bike ride probably 2-3 hours yet can never do an hour test ? just put trainer in erg mode for 1 hr at 270w and see if you can now do it. Zwift ramp test is not a n ftp test

You should know that if you're using ERG mode on your trainer for the ramp test, then it doesn't really matter what the size of your chainrings is since if you're using a higher cadence then the resistance will decrease to make the same amount of power. It should, generally, feel the same regardless of the gear you're riding. Some trainers seem to provide a more even feel when riding a small gear, some seem to do better with a larger gear. I've found my Wahoo Kickr does well on the small chainring and whichever rear cog provides the straightest chainline.

Good luck with the FTP Builder training plan. 3.5W/kg definitely puts you in Cat B territory, wouldn't be surprised if you manage to get it up to 3.8W/kg by the end of the training plan :)

Great work Max. Nice video and solid FTP to work from. Will be watching with interest to see how some structured training impacts your performance. I’ve never done the Ramp Test and always opt for the 20 minute test on Zwift. Might give this one a try at some stage.

Nice one. One of the more interesting Zwift FTP tests I've seen. Love the lactate info. Thats something I need to work on for points races.

To me if the ramp test is not reaching HR Z5 something is not right. Either HR zone is wrong, you are so new and inefficient on cycling mechanics or too much fatigue to really bring out power and reach up to your cardiovascular potential

On the power curve chart Zwift just shows your overall best ever AFAIK. Then shows the current ride compared to it.

Well done.

Going to be trying the EF education coaching next to improve my cycling. Currently 53yrs old with 264FTP. The ankle surgery did not help me but im back. And like you i do spend alot of time on Zwift.

Great Video 👍

great video chap!! Last few videos have got me back to riding on Zwift! Got a 1 hour 45 min ride tonight