Hi TR community, Last night I gained my first FTP using the ramp test method. I was somewhat disappointed in my result. I weigh 78kg. I’m 5 foot 6 (if it matters).
My result was an FTP of 114 riding for 22 mins and 43 seconds. I allowed TR to obtain my Strava data so it could get an FTP estimate.
Just focusing on the test. I used a Wahoo Kickr V5 fully updated software (no calibration needed) I rode on MyWhoosh for a around 45 mins prior to the ramp test. All of the test was taken in largest front 52 tooth chain ring and rear 11 tooth chain gear of the cassette. I found that as the ramp test approached the suggested FTP of 135 I literally couldn’t spin the peddles fast enough to meet the power requirement, for the avoidance of doubt I had the energy to keep up, yes I was pushing really hard from a cadence perspective but it felt like I needed more resistance or more gears. The trainer was running in ERG mode. I was only using a HR monitor, I don’t have a power meter on any of my bikes.
About me - Admittedly I’m not at my fittest and went from everesting in September 2024 to zero riding until May 2025. Since May I’ve completed 1676 miles averaging approx 80 miles per week mainly from made up of x2 6 mile commutes 4 or 5 times a week. I’ve been pushing on theses commutes often incorporating intervals and regularly gaining PR’s and recently a small number of top 10 KoM places on Strava. I’ve also done some club rides approx 1 or 2 a month with mileage ranging between 60 and 80 miles.
Out of curiosity I looked up my FTP result and to be informed my FTP is typical of a novice/beginner
I don’t feel is correct. Any advice would be appreciated.
Personal opinion (and I’m not a coach), do at least 2 weeks worth of workouts with your assigned FTP and see how it is. Pay attention specifically to sweet spot and threshold workouts, i.e. do you feel like you’re at or near your threshold for the workout?
In the end, FTP is a number so that your coach (or AI coach) can prescribe workouts with a given level of difficulty, not something to compare yourself against your friends with.
There is a technical problem with your config.
At this power, even at the smallest gear you should not have to spin fast. In fact, you being on the biggest gear could be the issue. I would redo the test on a smaller gear, first plateau, and see if it works better.
Are you sure you disconnected correctly from the software you used first? Dual connection can give issues, the trainer not knowing which instructions to follow.
If you are not used to it, it could be caused by the erg mode. You should keep a confortable cadence and the trainer in erg mode should adapt the resistance to meet the power requirement. If you try to increase cadence, the trainer will just offer less and less resistance
It doesn’t sound as though ERG mode was working correctly - my guess is something else was hogging your trainer.
You are maybe no good at ramp tests; I know I wasn’t and was far better at 20 mins tests; maybe it was ERG. However, the 20 mins tests on resistance mode were probably too high and my best season race wise came when I manually entered an FTP in the middle. Coincidentally AIFTP was developed just after that and it gave me a FTP on par with my manual entry. I suspect that if you go with your ramp test value AI will quickly sort you out to where you should be.
Appreciate the response but this is something else tonight’s workout - Starlight -2 was horrendous. Any time I was required to go near my FTP I just couldn’t spin the pedals fast enough my cadence and power was all over the place.
Hi ChrisDe, I’ve never used a decent smart trainer before so perhaps it is not being used to erg mode but for both the ramp test and tonight’s Starlight -2 I didn’t feel anything from my trainer at all. before signing up to TR I had it all working on MyWhoosh and upon hitting a hill the resistance was there so it’s definitely working but on TR I feel nothing.
I’m getting a feeling I’m not understanding how erg works and may need to do some research.
Harder on a hill is resistance mode. It’s like riding on a real road.
Erg mode sets the power. If set at 100 watts, spinning at 60 rpm gives you 100 watts. Spinning faster at 100rpm still gives you 100 watts. If the requested power gets high enough, you just cannot spin anymore and have to stop. You should definitely feel the resistance in a ramp test.
Do you feel any difference when you switch back and forth between resistance and erg mode in the trainer road app?
Something isn’t working like it should. You should be able to just keep spinning your natural cadence, and the erg trainer will adjust resistance to meet the exact power of the interval.
This is screaming equipment issue to me 
What other programs and devices are in range of your trainer? Is your trainer definitely connected to TR and nothing else?
Was MyWhoosh completely shut down before loading up TR? 
You were in the wrong gear, 52x11 has the flywheel spinning too fast for the trainer to match resistance at low power, unless you think your FTP is 400W+? Try again in the inner ring and middle of the cassette. Spin a constant cadence and give the trainer time to adjust resistance.
The kickr v5 is a highly capable trainer - it would cope with any gearing you throw at it.
My money is staying on connection issue 
I do agree with this - but it’s not what’s happening to the OP here.
If anything their experience (spinning out) would be more similar to hitting a wattage ceiling - which would be even less likely to happen using the extreme gear they are in.
General guidelines you reference on gearing is good though 
My n=1 using a kickr v5 and a 1x bike with 54t upfront though is that I can shift into the 11t cog and the kickr copes fine - I tend to keep my chain line straight.
Agree with everything you just said - I just don’t buy that it’s the cause of the issue here - this sounds like there is no resistance being applied at all.
Although I admit I haven’t done a load of testing around 100w.
Certainly conceivable that its the combination of the low ERG set point and high gearing.
Speaking of which…. based on the short description of the OPs background I’d be surprised if thier FTP wasn’t at least 200w (my guess would be 250w) so it could be that the initial ERG setpoint is just far too low so the flywheel is getting to fast too quickly.
However, it just feels like it’s still well in the range that the kickr can operate in - my money is still on connection issues.
Thank you to all that took the time to comment. I’ve discovered after researching how ERG mode works that the issue was user error.
Instead of spinning consistently and letting the trainer increase the resistance gradually I was spinning faster as you would in real world environments trying to match the power. i was expecting to feel significant resistance but it’s quite the opposite.
Redone the ramp test tonight. Rode for 35 mins and now have a suggested FTP of 169.
I’m glad that you got a good test wrapped up. 
It does look like there was some sort of signal interference during your first Ramp Test. There were lots of dropouts in the power & cadence data, so that’s why things weren’t feeling as they should.
Regardless, I agree with @Dark-Passenger’s post, and I always recommend using a low gear when taking on TR workouts in ERG mode. Use the smallest chainring that’s on your bike and shift up to at least halfway up your cassette while keeping a relatively straight chainline.
Let me know if you have any issues moving forward. I’m not sure where the issue came in previously, but it could pop up again, so if things don’t feel right in the future, don’t hesitate to reach out here or to support@trainerroad.com
Best of luck! 