Estimating ftp from longer ride?

Is it possible to estimate your FTP from a 2hr ride?

On my last ramp test I got an ftp if 213
I ignored it , as it had gone down 4 tests in a row, and left it at 217 (I think I still have it set at 220 in TP)
Yesterday I did a virtual climb ride and averaged 214 for 2hrs, (I was 216 @ 2hr and 215 @ 90mins) normalised 216.

Do you think I should up my ftp? (I was riding probably close to my limit)
If so what to?

I am obviously no good at tests :laughing:

Thanks in advance

How do the workouts feel? FTP is just used to scale them. If they feel too easy, adjust it. That’s rarely my case.

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are you using the same power source on the ramptest and outdoors?

Yes same power source.
I’m only training indoors, as I am suffering from long effects from C19

I’d say it depends on your training history and strengths.

If you are a very aerobic rider and/or you have trained on increasing TTE at high percentages of FTP I’d say that you were closer to your threshold than you could think, I guess in the 94/98%.

Otherwise, it could have been around 90% or slightly below it. Personally, back in April I held 252 watts for two hours with a FTP of 276 (so 91%) during a group ride on Zwift. I was only doing SSB MV with some additional Z2 volume and I wouldn’t say that riding at high % of my FTP for extended periods of time is my strength (although lately I’ve improved this aspect).

Anyway, you could try to increase a few % and see how the subsequent workouts feel.

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sorry, missed the virtual part on your climb… :smiley:
I don’t think there is a formula to get FTP from a 2 hour ride, but at least it should be higher then your avg, I would say 220+. Depends a little on your profile, if you are very good at steady long power near FTP (TT efforts), and bad at over threshold stuff, you might struggle with a ramptest. The difference then shows on these rides.

Maybe a 20 minute test suits you better

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I may have a go at the 20min test.
My background is endurance - I have been doing Ironman for 15years and a but of ultra running in that time.
I train a great deal to control Pw:Hr drift nd when tested I have Huge lactic buffering numbers …
… I’m just not a very good/powerful cyclist :laughing:

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Well, then endurance is definitely your main strength.

I’d suggest to try the Kolie Moore’s FTP test protocol, the 20 minutes test is still focused on the anaerobic side (much less than the ramp though) and the 95% formula is not perfect. Instead, the KM test should give you a more accurate result of both your FTP and TTE at threshold.

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I’ve no idea how good it is but you could try and see what intervals.icu says is your estimated e’FTP.

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Looking at your two hour climb:

If it was me, I’d do a Friel 30 minute or a longer max effort test. I’ve always done my longer max effort tests similar to Kolie Moore progression 2 or 3. Just go out and do a long hard max effort push for ~40km / ~25 miles if you have a course (or inside).

Like you I’ve seen lower ramp test estimates, and without going into detail it can be an expected result because TR uses 75% of max aerobic power (the ramp test actually estimates max aerobic power / 5-min vo2max, not FTP).

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