I can maintain 4.4-4.5 wkg year around on 7-8hrs a week. Not sure what I could accomplish if I were to consistently ride at 10-12hrs a week for a few months. Maybe 5wkg? My lifestyle situation won’t let me do that anytime soon between kids and work…so I may never know!
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I just reached 5.1w/kg for 20min after about 4.5 years of riding.
Contrary to what seems to be the popular method on reaching it in this thread - I never once focused on losing weight. my natural weight is around 80kg (currently around 81.5 when i hit most recent power pr) and everytime i tried to track calories and cut a little weight i begin feeling lethargic and lazy and have not motivation to ride easy, let alone train. so instead I just focused on eating super filling protein heavy meals and plenty of carbs for fuel and focus on hitting all my workouts and building power.
for me this is far easier since I feel ready to train all the time when i am well fed. I made the most gains in the last 2 years when in 2023 i did around 15k miles of mostly unstructured training building a base, then in 2024 when i got a coach and did less miles/hours, but much higher effort and more structured rides
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That’s amazing and nice work and dedication!
However, the focus on weight is because the topic is about w/kg of your FTP, not 20 minute power. Not to take anything away from your achievement, but 20 minute w/kg is a bit easier to get, particularly if you’re anaerobically gifted and haven’t done a “5 minute blowout” prior to your 20 minute effort. This would tend to make weight less of a compounding issue.
If you did a 5 minute blowout prior to your 20 minutes and took about 95% of that effort, then you’d be closer 4.85 w/kg (FTP). Which is still incredible, but it’s just not the same. Unless you believe your FTP is 415 and that’s what you use to train and set your intervals by.
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Totally agree with this!!! Thank you for bringing it up. I feel like there has been a recent trend on social media and online where people dodge the FTP question, and state their w/Kg for a 20 minute effort. I know FTP isn’t everything, nor is w/Kg for that matter, but the hazy “introduction” of a slightly misleading figure from one’s power curve is new to me…
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I had a similar situation - two years of unstructured riding, lots of miles/hours for me (780hrs a year avg.). I got worse at racing, but I had crazy ‘endurance’. I could ride at 3w/kg for 12 hours 
However, I got dropped at the begining of every gravel/mtb race. I used to be fast at the starts
I got a coach, dropped the hours down to 600!, added structure and 6 months in my 20 minute power jumped by 40 watts.
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yea i didn’t do an actual protocol, but I still feel its a close enough representation. i was doing 3x10 @400w and did the first two reps, then on the third rep i decided to go for a 20 min max effort.
I think i could probably recreate similar numbers, and would still rather focus on the building power over losing weight for a 20 min ftp protocol.
but i get what you are saying. I dont do the protocol because my coach just uses the the numbers from recent training to set my power targets rather than resting and stuff just to use a whole day for testing
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I’ve noticed the trend as well. However, it isbetter than stating the FTP figures without clarifying the type of test used to perform (ramp, 2x8, 20m, long-form - how long?, AI, etc.). At least its a clear and concrete number. Inflated compared to the “true FTP” (whatever that is defined as), but you can make that assessment.
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If you did 2x10 @ 5.1wkg followed by 1x20 @ 5.1wkg, I’d say that’s a pretty good indication your FTP is in the 5wkg range.
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