Has there been a change to ramp rate on the ramp test?

Has there been a change to ramp rate on the ramp test so that the current ramp rate is more gradual than it used to be? Therefore it will take a longer duration test to hit the same FTP than it used to.

I’m currently 286FTP and about to do a rest week ahead of a new build block. I test on mobile device so don’t have the new ‘live FTP estimator’ that desktop apps have (yet). I was curious to set a goal so that I get over 300FTP.

Helpfully I was 283FTP a year ago prior to injury. I tested at this and got 300FTP so thought about checking that out. The old ramp test with lower FTP has larger jumps in the ramp rate than the new projected test. In the new test, I would need to stay on the bike for a whole extra minute to hit the same FTP. It’s a good job I checked or I would be very disappointed at the end of the test.

Has there been a change and why?

Old Ramp test watts. W/U 138, Stage #1 @156w, #2@174, #3@192, #4@210, #5@228, #6@245, #7@264, #8@282, #9@300, #10@318, #11@336, #12@354, #13@372, #14@390 (and then I stopped!)

New Ramp test watts. W/U 132, Stage #1 @149w, #2@166, #3@183, #4@200, #5@217, #6@235, #7@252, #8@269, #9@286, #10@303, #11@320, #12@337, #13@355, #14@372, #15@389

I’ve checked my old & recent ramp tests & in each case the ramp test starts at 5 minutes of 46% of FTP and then increases by 6% every 1 minute. What are the percentages showing on yours when you look on TrainerRoad? Might be easier to workout.

No it hasn’t changed, both are the same, one with ftp set at 300w and one with ftp set at 286

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Ramp rate is a set percentage of your starting FTP. Sounds like what you really want are targets? 19:30 is roughly the break even point. Stop right then and you should get the same FTP you began with. Every second you hold target power beyond 19:30 and your FTP is going up.

Further, TR recently added an optional LIve FTP display stat (For ramp tests only) into the secondary stats slide out tray. Display that and you’ll have a very tangible target.

It is based on percentages of set FTP as @CJKeig correctly pointed out…

image

Blue text - your numbers typed in.
Two columns calculated using %ages.

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Out of interest was this when the ramp test was in Beta (but that was more than a year ago) because if you stop at the end of step 14 - 390w that would give an FTP of 293w, I think there was a period when they tried 76% or 77% of one minute power. EDIT: I would guess you did some of step 15 though, 30 seconds in would give an FTP of 300w?

75% of 390w highest 1 minute power ----- 390x0.75=293 (rounded up),

To give an FTP of 300w you would have to take 77% of the 390w

Anyway as I have already typed it into a spreadsheet I might as well post the following, if you set your FTP prior to the test is set to 308w this would be the step progression and you would need to get to the end of step 14 for it to suggest your FTP was 300w
image

Thanks for this! But my old ramp test was done at an FTP of 283w and then resulted in an increase to 300w. My upcoming ramp test is being doing at 286w and we obviously don’t know the result of this yet.

That’s exactly right. I did 37s at 390w of which about 27s was usable and the rest was me failing miserably!

I’ve done a similar spreadsheet here to highlight the differences.

And here is the actual test:

Hi @BigLee

There are a couple of issues with the calculations you have in your spreadsheet. I managed to replicate your numbers by adding the following errors:

  1. both ramp test intervals have been entered as rounded numbers from your workout, so will not be precise. If you add the % of FTP as hard numbers (increasing by 6% each step), then calculate the Existing FTP steps as a % of FTP, without rounding, you will find that each step neatly ramps by 6% of FTP and will match your workouts.

  2. The first ramp test steps have been calculated as your 300w result, but should be your 283 original FTP for when you completed the test. You have then calculated the % of FTP from 283, so the steps look a lot higher.

So, to fix:

  1. Enter all of your “% of FTP” numbers as manual entries (46%, then increase by 6% for each step)
  2. Add a formula to calculate each step by taking the % of FTP and multiplying by the “Existing FTP”

I can send you in Excel if you need, just shout :+1:

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