I’ll go against the grain here and say that I have done my KM tests in ERG mode. I have easy access to increase/decrease the set power, and find that it helps keep the effort very consistent. I’m generally a fan of erg mode.
I have only done a KM test and ramp test close in time once, and they lined up within a few watts for me - I think within 1%.
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Yes, close, however WKO typically shows my 20 minute power at ~95% of modeled FTP. Some coaches use other multipliers for example multiply 20 minute field test power by 95% to estimate FTP for slow twitch athletes, multiply by 90% for those with strong anaerobic power, and multiply by 92.5% if the coach doesn’t know the athletes power profile.
I’ve done long tests since 2017, and have always done them as long time trials. In other words, go for a negative split, start out a little conservative, settle in for 10-15 minutes, and then teeter back and forth over threshold and finish strong. From the TrainingPeaks blog that is basically Progression 3. Also note in the article, and I quote:
“I tell my athletes that there’s no wrong way to perform these tests; learning how to self-pace is a crucial skill for any competitive cyclist.”
KM intended these to be self-paced ^^ and outside IIRC, and if inside not done in Erg. If inside then probably better to do it in Zwift on a flat course. The only way to do them ‘wrong’ is to not learn how to self pace. So turn off Erg!! Erg is ‘wrong’ 
for this test just like the TR 8 and 20 minute tests use RESISTANCE mode.
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I have no idea because I never did both back to back. I can say that the 20 minute test sucks because it’s 20 minutes at 105% or so with the last minute or two at some last ditch high wattage. It’s just pure 20 minutes of suckage. If you pace it too fast you end up failing much earlier.
I do the baseline test or a little more. At some point around 20-25 minute you can just feel that you are at MLSS. You do that next push to a higher wattage and you start feeling like you only have 5 or 10 minutes left. It’s a good exercise to have your feeling for FTP sorted out.
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Just completed a KM Protocol proxy (Pioneer+3 where I tried to ramp up the final 10-12min).
Sensations were all as described by Kolie on the @empiricalcycling podcast; felt like SS for the first 20 or so min then got progressively more difficult without ever feeling like a mad effort.
I’m going to bump down my FTP I think (still cooling down so haven’t seen the average). It’s going to be a real test for AT as I’m at 7.3 or something Threshold already 
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Curious to others who have changed FTP from a long test, did you stick to it in all areas? i.e. I like to do (and have a progression lined up for the next six weeks of specialty) SS at 90%. It’s been 284W for a long time and I don’t find that to be over stressful unless heavily fatigued. I’m concerned about missing out on training stimulus/benefit if I’m not dropping my SS output. (I find SS is where I really make the biggest gains by far!)
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Just go longer or stick with power when doing SST work. It’s a zone not magic percentage - your body will see no difference. What will be a difference is your ability to put more work and recover better. If you have TTE from your FTP just go over that with your sst tiz.
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Has anyone tested at a 28min TTE?
I guided a friend of mine in person thru this test. I could quickly tell we were going to end up at around 225 watts just based on how he would try to push a bit harder but always return to around those watts.
RPE was slowly creeping up, HR stayed very stable thru-out the first 25min. After the first 25min min I told him to “increase the power if you want or continue and stop when you feel like it”
He shifted up once and tried to give it some more gas and stopped at the 28min mark.
He’s new to structured training but has been in triathlon for a while. He may have been able to go a bit longer if he kept the power stable but I think a good place to start would be 4x8min at FTP or 4x12 at 90%
First 10min 235
2nd 10min 213
next 6 min short burst at the beginning but avg 215
Last minute or or so was burst up to 260 and avg 240
I think he started out a little too hot and I wanted to try 205 to start but based on some feedback from recent rides he said that were relatively easy he went for 220/230, and still overshot it a bit. In time I think he will be able to figure out how to pace
Sounds like it. I guess we’ll find out pretty quickly if he can’t extend the interval lengths at 98%
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His FTP is probably closer to 215 than 230. If he was at 235 and built up a bunch of lactate, he was able to clear it enough at 213 to put out 240 for the end burst. His FTP is probably 215-220W.
Definitely a pacing issue.
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This ^ I was going to say ~218w before I saw that ^
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Did my own test for the first time. Ramp tests minus a few watts (98-99% intervals) used to work but no so much these days. Left my ego at the door and set my FTP what I thought it was from a few weeks of intervals.
Set it to 330 and went for the test. AI FTP is measuring 357. I wasn’t feeling stressed or anxious which was a great change. Starting easier really helps that.
3min all out power I tested last week is still at my all time best at 446, and it looks like I have a lot of TTE to try and get back. Made it to 30min, may have been able to go a little longer…maybe…but really just didn’t want to haha. I like that note of the test protocol. “The test only needs to be as long as you want it to be”
First workout will be a 3x12 @ 325
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Welcome to the club, that is a decent effort and a nice FTP. I normally call somewhere between 30 -35 minutes as the minimum for a valid assessment, however, I am sure you could have got there and there seems to be a minute or two where you ramped a fair bit over the average watts so I’d call it good. It is more important that you could feel it if you occasional went over or went over during the ramp
This might well be worth it’s own topic (let me know or feel free to make one if you think it’s right), but I figure posting this podcast here is a decent share to start. There’s some NSFW content like some of his other episodes, so keep that in mind.
Overall, I found this a great sweep of the FTP topic from testing options, test anxiety, high vs low results and application in training to name a few.
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Always a good laugh to see Ten Minute tips squeezed into an hour podcast
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I clicked on it thinking I was going to be annoyed having interrupt my workflow and comeback to my desk in 10 minutes only to be happy to find out it was an hour 
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I know. Not sure where that title comes from, but all ones in that series seem to exceed that time 
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Having a string of awful workouts that more rest didn’t seem to be fixing
just applied the ramping efforts. Taking 15w off my FTP
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Here’s a suggestion for followers of this thread/protocol:
Don’t schedule the test… just do it on a day where you feel good and can skip a rest interval on, say, a 2x20 FTP interval set. Bang out 45 min at threshold (or more) and ramp up the last 3-5 minutes. You’re doing the same thing without hyping it up, causing anxiety, etc.
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Yep, I use a club zwift TT race that takes about 25mins and if feel good I just carry on after the finish line for another 10-15 mins
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I think it started as 10 minutes, but now he calls it “some multiple of 10”!
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