Hi all , Ive eventually come back to (analogue) riding after several years emtb . I’m looking for a road/gravel bike at the min but I’m currently using my xc bike on turbo and doing zone 2 rides on my e bike for now . I started 3 months ago doing 3-4 rides a week , ideally two intervals and two longer recovery/zone 2 but I’m a total novice at training tbh 
I did a FTP at the start first ever and nearly cried when it said 150 
now my sprint power seems good ISH I can go over 1000w and after 3months I’ve retested tonight it’s gone up to 210 which is still crap but at 48 next month I’m happy with progress lol I’m 198cm 83kg. What I’m wondering is that because my sprint is ok and my short time power is ok but my hour power is pants does this just mean I’m unfit and need a few years to build a good base ? Or are there different types of rider IE physiologically some people are diesel engines some Ferraris? By the way I don’t think I’ve gone up 60watts in 3 months I’m thinking maybe I’m just better at pacing the test aswell as a bit of a gain 
. Last big question do we think before I’m 50 is 300ftp possible that’s my goal ? I’m really hooked now lol
Don’t fixate on the numbers! If you want a goal, aim to slowly improve fitness each month. You should have plenty of headroom to improve fitness.
Yes you need more base. It doesn’t really matter how fit you could theoretically get after years of dedicated training. That’s a problem for future you. Right now, just look a few months out. You can make plenty of progress building more base/fitness right now.
If you keep doing it, you’ll keep improving for a good long while.
Ride as much and as often as you have interest in. Ramp up your weekly volume slowly, even if you’re feeling motivated to ride lots. You’ll benefit more from a slow steady build up in volume than going super hard for 2 weeks and crashing out.
Volume and consistency are the two biggest determiners of performance. I’ve often felt like I was doing this. But then I look back at past training blocks, and I see A LOT of room to improve consistency.
Consistency is hard because it seems too easy and its kind of a boring concept. Be consistent anyway. That’s the secret.
Focus on nutrition, TR nutrition calculator should be good start. Consider strength training too. With age it gets more and more important.
Welcome to the party. Yes, Sir. That is pretty low power for your frame. Also “hitting” 1000 watts is more of a genetics and physiology thing.
Right now you are a solid Cat 3 MTB racer. You’ll get blown out of the water by a few people who register who need to be in cat 2/1, but you can hold your own and snag podiums depending uopn turnout.
If you keep at it, you’ll be at mid 200s in the nest 1-2 years. 300 is going to depend upon too many factors, but you can get very fast. Your body frame should be able to make a lot of power. No reason you cant be Cat 1 fast in 2 years.
Great news is you are already faster than most non-racer riders, aka most people.
Hi cheers for the replies , tbh the getting fit is mainly for health and the fact I’ve got 4 kids and just lost my mother . The kids said dad your not going to die are you lol love kids ha . As usually happens when I do something I go down a rabbit hole and go all in and get obsessed . I’m not sure I’ll be doing category racing but I’m aiming towards a big gravel event next year and two or three fondo/sportif to dip my toe ? I was going to leave testing my FTP for 6 months now to see how I go, I wondered do you all test regularly or just now and then ? Cheers
Great question, I dont test much any more, but a lot of that is because I have been racing so long, I can benchmark as to where I am at (relative to what AI prediction uses. I’m still a fan of Ramp tests for myself and have no problem doing one every 4-6 weeks. They dont take much time. I can even do one and then head out on a chill ride after.
The biggest benchmark for a Gravel race is ability to hold Tempo/SS in workouts. To stay with groups, You need 2 key things. Ability not to get dropped on 1-4 minute climbs, and ability to ride at low tempo/Sweetspot.
You will need more FTP than that to stay with groups, so I would not skip a single workout that focuses on that and also turn on the dynamic side on those workouts to extend them if possible. Nothing like a 90 minute SS workout to prepare you for the first hours of a gravel race. FYI, not “racing” a Gravel race can be even harder on the day and much more miserable than the 3 minutes of pain it takes to stay with a group on an effort. Getting in no man’s land SUCKS and you end up either doing an individual time trial at tempo or mailing it in and riding at 70% because the event has quickly become “just a ride.” The outcome f the day and your experience is highly dependent upon making the selection. if the gravel event is too small, you also wont find your nice pocket of people. BIG gravel events its easier to eventually find your group of misfits to work with.
30-45 min Zwift races will also help a lot in preparing you for the first hour of a gravel race.
This is all very useful 
I’ve just got a large screen tablet to connect up to my wooosh or zwift . I live in a very hilly area so zone 2 stuff is either done on turbo but that’s boring as hell so I use my emtb to do them mainly gravel tracks to make it fun 
and make sure my power and heart rate actually stay in zone 2 . I did a 1hr at as you call it sweet spot a few days ago and tbh I absolutely loved it lol my wife took the piss out of me as I had headphones on and apparently I was talking to myself 
I would have gone much longer but had lots of kids twisting about wanting to go out on there bikes I’m very grateful for your info cheers . Oh as a side note the event I’m doing next year the guy that came 3rd did 270watts normalised it’s a 70mile or 110k I guarantee I won’t be doing that next year lol
Yes, IME takes about 2 years of volume to build a durable base.
I wouldn’t worry about the FTP number. Instead focus on being able to knock out 2x20, 3x20, and 2x30 sweet spot workouts. Being able to knock out 2x30s @ 235W (based on 94% at 250w FTP) would be more valuable to me than ramp testing @ 300w.
Hi I’m learning alot lol I’m fascinated by the training aspect , tbh I also love just riding on feel and not looking at any figures I’ve just looked at my ride in the weekend and I did a 20min actually 24mins effort and it says I did 270 critical power 263 threshold ? Does that mean that my FTP is probably higher than I thought I’m not fully understanding critical power threshold power average power bloody hell how many powers ? Sorry for all this I’m just down the rabbit hole now
Probably skewed by anaerobic contribution.
Do more of what you enjoy and less of what you don’t. That makes it more likely that you’ll keep on doing something for longer. Targets? If they help you enjoy what you’re doing, brilliant. If they don’t, then they’re irrelevant.
(Me? My periodic FTP tests are simply to keep my garage workouts at the right level.)
Thanks I’m finding that tbh doing intervals on the turbo I quite like sort of settle in and concentrate, I enjoy them even though they hurt lol but zone 2 on turbo is rather eat saw blades it’s soooo boring so I’ve been doing them on my emtb , even though I live in a hilly area I can keep my heart rate under 120 ISH on that and I can do it on gravel and woods it’s great I think I worked out that with a max HR 187 my zone 2 is 112 to 131 but I try to keep it under 120 if possible ? I’m new to this so it’s all learning lol tbh I’ve found that if I ignore my computer for power and ride on feel/HR I seem to go better not sure why but I’m not racing so not really important