Lighter. Lower FTP. Lower W/kg. But faster? I don’t get it

I don’t see any Problems with the Tacx. I took a look at the two race files. It seems my Rouleur qualities improved so I was faster in the flat.

But I still have a prob with the FTP Ramp Test. I can’t trust it anymore. The differences are big and I don’t see a failure in my system.

I would suggest switching to Hunter Allen’s 20min FTP test as described in Training and Racing with a Power Meter. p.30 and 31 on the 3rd (newest) edition.

Just go with your instinct and pick a test. A 50W difference influenced by chainring seems odd, but who knows! You don’t need the Training and Racing book, as TR gives you three to choose from:

in addition the Coggan/Allen power profile test

I’ve got experience with the 20, 8, and ramp tests. They mostly work well, but I’ve had issues with all the tests (pacing on 20 and 8, detrained vo2 on ramp). For context, I’m more slow twitch diesel that finds sweet spot work easier than vo2 work. Given my ups and downs with vo2 efforts, and how they can influence ramp test, I’ve considered going back to 8 or 20-min tests. After considerable thought I’m going to stick with the ramp test, as a) it does a good job at setting a ceiling on 5-min vo2max power, b) the ftp estimates are valid about 80% of the time, and c) if I “fail” a ramp test its easy to manually adjust ftp by feel. More importantly, when I under-achieve / “fail” the ramp test its a signal to put more emphasis on vo2max workouts over the next couple of weeks. Hope that helps.

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