After training hard over winter doing 3 interval sessions and one long ride each week I finished my winter training with an FTP according to trainer road as 309W. All of my training bar the long rides was done on Watt bikes at the gym and the long rides I didn’t have a power meter so that should be noted.
About a month or two ago I switched onto a Tacx Neo 2t and pretty much the same time started riding my summer bike again with a power meter. This is when I started doing a Chaingang every Tuesday which is very high paced, just two intervals and a long ride each week. Due to the load it tends to be that one of the intervals ends up being an endurance ride.
Since stopping using the watt bikes and training more outdoors my FTP keeps falling even though I am doing more than ever before and feeling faster than ever before. I am fairly consistently hitting power pr’s outdoors however, every time I do an indoor session trainer road drops my predicted FTP. My prediction is now down to 280W after two months of switching off of the watt bikes. I’m very confused whether this is just the difference in trainers or whether I am actually getting slower. I don’t feel slower if anything faster than ever however I do struggle on the Tacx trainer as it feels considerably harder than outdoor.
Feel free to look through my trainer road calendar, I would love some feedback or insight on where I am going wrong.
You’ve been setting PRs consistently since the beginning of 2026, it looks like, which is good news, but you’re also not taking rest weeks.
You’ve got to follow the plan in terms of both the key workouts and the easy ones/off days. Without that, you’re just burying yourself in fatigue, which is why you’re getting those struggle surveys every couple of weeks.
On top of that, your weeks are really full. You’re averaging 2-3 hours more volume each week than what’s prescribed, and you’re doing a lot of back-to-back strength work, hard group rides, intense workouts, etc. Maybe it’s hard to recover enough between sessions.
Based on your recent workouts, your FTP is probably set a little high right now, but I think you could get it to climb back up there if you pick a plan that works for you, follow it closely, prioritize those key workouts, and eliminate some of the other stress from your weeks.
Thank you so much for the reply. The extra 2 hours a week is from commuting which I’m not going to stop but don’t know how to get the trainer to consider this. It is done pretty much in zone 1 and therefore if anything I find often helps with recovery. For my strength training, I have massively reduced my volume that I am doing and don’t feel much fatigue from it at all. In addition I position my leg workout each week so that it will not affect a structured workout for example I’ll often do it on a Friday before my long easy ride on Saturday as I know hitting power isn’t necessary on this ride.
For my FTP right now it feels like it’s about the right point. In doors it does feel quite hard but manageable. However when I train outdoors it feels completely fine. For example yesterday I did a structured sweet spot session outdoors with trainer Road had said was rated hard. I did it outdoors which was hard to maintain power due to undulating terrain however I stayed in the range and I rated it moderate because I felt like I could have quite easily gone harder. I got back from the ride and my FTP prediction had gone down.
I know my week is super busy but it’s working for me at the minute and I don’t feel over fatigued. When I do have recovery weeks I always stick to the training that trainer Road gives me it just may look like I don’t due to other things like still commuting and stuff like that. For example I will always do an endurance ride if it is suggested and for my weekly group rides I’ll go with easier groups rather than harder ones to ensure I’m not pushing.
It’s good to hear that things feel like they’re working pretty well right now.
What I noticed when looking for recovery weeks is weeks without any intensity above endurance (zone 2), and it looks like you quite often have at least one harder workout a week.
Are you using different power meters when riding inside and outside? Do you have any idea if there is a difference in their accuracy, and if so, how large it is?
If your FTP predictions are dropping after doing outside workouts, you’re definitely running into a well-known bug that’s our company’s current #1 priority to address.
We actually have a post about this and a form that we’re asking affected athletes to fill out to get us as much data as possible while we sort things out on our end. Check it out below, and if you feel like this describes your issue to some extent, please consider filling out the form.
Yeah I’ll work on making recovery weeks properly recovery from now on, I really appreciate the advice.
Regarding the power meter yes. Outdoor I use my bike power meter which is the sram force spider one and indoor I use a Tacx Neo 2T. I have noticed that outdoor it is around 5% ish higher which I assume is due to drivetrain friction etc.
I’m glad the bug is getting fixed thank you for the reply and advice you have been very helpful.
I’m sure you’ll hear from us when we get things sorted out with that bug, but if you’d like to chat about anything else between now and then, feel free to reach out!
