Or if you want to do a “fun” FTP test, do Alpe du Zwift for time, and just use your average power as your FTP
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Just a funny discovery, that I’ve made this morning. My 8 min peak power (my all time best according to TR) was during a 5 min all-out effort plus 3 preceding minutes of super-easy(!!) pedaling. And the exact number here is 281W. If I take that number and simply pretend I was doing an 8 min FTP test, then 281W*0.90=253W gives me higher FTP number than my 20 min avg of 242W.
Morale? Dude, accept the fact that a test is not a vernier caliper, shut up and just go ride your bike 
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nFTP™ for the win!
My coach has me doing an “ftp” test different than anything ive ever done and it seems more fitting than any other test for accurately providing the correct zoning for Workouts.
10 min Warm-up
30 sec max power effort
3min rest
30 sec max power effort
5 min rest
5min max effort
5min rest
30min @80% of 5min average (was told this is ONLY to determine accurate threshold HR ranges AND to waste muscle glycogen, it is NOT a 30 min “as hard as you can go” effort.
5min rest
5 min max effort.
My “ftp” (he tells me he uses the term FTP, but it is just the number used to guide training zones based on power/HR collectively, and also a good indicator of capabilities of a rider because it gives a decent power profile, and an indicator of what you can do in a race power wise when you’re tired) is 85% of the average power between the (2) 5 min all-out efforts.
I will note that the 30 sec max power intervals and the 5 min max effort intervals are told to me to be performed so that when the interval is over you “damn near fall off the bike from the effort”.
It is absolutely brutal, long, and mentally challenging, but aligns very well to performing training intervals in the zones that are needed.
Yup…I did this after I doubted my Ramp Test a few years ago. Did AdZ as part of the Tour de Zwift so it was a race and pretty much an all-out effort. (it ended up lining up almost perfectly with my ramp test, as it turns out.)
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You’re brave posting 2 x 20 being = FTP on a forum that @empiricalcycling has recently posted on!
(I won’t say his name another 2x in case it summons a 2 page rant about FTP )
He has eyes and ears everywhere (spoiler, it’s me because we’re in another discord group together lol)
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Really? I think both he and @The_Cog would see a well-performed 2 × 20 as a decent proxy for FTP.
After all, it’s a workout most people would suggest as a sense check or verification effort for an FTP number derived by other means.
And if didn’t, he’d be wrong. After all, it is DS #2 on my list.
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Reminder to please keep discussion related to the OP’s original question.
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