Yes Nate has seen some pretty big gains in recent years but I would say it was continual. He had some pretty big setbacks due to too much training that caused his FTP to drop and for him to re-evaluate his plan. So though he’s had an upward trajectory it wasn’t always increases.
Is there a reason you switched testing methods? If the 20 min test was working for you in the past and giving you an accurate metric then maybe consider going back to it.
Yes I see he has made good progress. I seem to have reached a ceiling where I cannot get over 200FTP, don’t know what to do to change it. At the moment I am taking a good recovery break to see if the rest changes anything. My TSS score has gone up since last year so there has been an improvement there in that area. The ramp test I prob do the best in cp to 20 min test, I have done both but it does not seem to be the issue. If I could gain a bit each time it would really help motivation so I am still in a puzzle if you can help me that would be great.
So, I took your advice and used the 20 minute FTP test today. That the Ramp Test is the advised one is the only reason I have been using it.
Today’s test indicates my FTP to be 200, which sounds about right. This would mean a 16 watt improvement since October.
I did give myself an extra 15 minutes warm up, which I think I need. I had decided to aim for 205 for the first 10 minutes, and if I felt strong at 10 minutes, to push a little farther. At 10 minutes I felt pretty darn good, so I pushed it to 215 for the last ten minutes.
So, I’m happy with my progress. I still need to climb back to 215, which which is where I was last summer…but I have some time. But it does leave me with the question about whether the Ramp Test is the right test for me since I did one last week and that showed my FTP to be 188. I wonder if it’s possible to simply perform well for a certain test. At any rate, my zones have all changed now, so the proof will be in the pudding of whether or not I can complete workouts at the new level. 
this is great info for me. thankyou.
Coming from fast twitch athlete sports, gymnastics, running sprints, ultimate frisbee, crossfit I find this to be true. I’ve been riding for about 8 months. (april last year). I just got TR, and a Kickr 5 weeks ago. Ramp test first thing, and got a score of 3.1FTP/KG. No idea if that’s really good or not. Now, to the work outs.
I can blast through workouts that have very high/low intervals. It gets painful, but never bothersome, and sometimes find myself upping the difficulty percentage during the High FTP portion of the interval.
Then comes sweet spot work outs, or longer/sustained intervals. these ABSOLUTELY crush me. I go to a real deep dark place to finish these sometimes, even though they can have a TSS score 30 points lower than a “sprinting/crit/surging power” type work out.
4 weeks on the trainer, low volume + my regular mountain bike rides, i’ve increased a measly 6 watts.
I was actually questioning if my FTP should be higher when first doing the sprint interval work since it felt medium, but when those sweetspot work outs come in, i fear them.
Here is an article explaining where the various power levels put you:
In the end it is all relative, with an FTP of 3.1 W/kg you are at about the level of people just entering bike racing. You are faster than most people you will see out on the road in your local rides, while in the world of racing there is a lot of progress to be made.
Are you following a base program first? If you open up your TR calendar others can comment on it.
great article. I’d like to see where I land in the power line descriptions.
how does one perform a 5s power number, a 1 min, and 5 min on a wahoo kickr?
(i don’t own a power meter on the road bike)
You just need to do rides where you went all out for those amounts of time, not necessarily in one ride.
Then, if you log in to TR on the site, you can go to career->personal records, and you will see a graph with your maximum performance for each interval. You can also select date ranges, so the graph will show the maximum over all rides in that date range.
To do this on the trainer, you better use the regular resistant mode, so no ERG because you don’t want to go by target power. Then once you are warmed up, go for an all out effort for the period you are looking for, trying to maintain a constant power level throughout the interval.
Hey all!
So thanks for all the advice and guidance. I restarted my plan as life got in the way last week so I missed a couple of sessions, and replaced a few with runs. But that’s ok! Not much fitness lost.
I started with the suggested 20 minute ftp test yesterday and the result was 19% higher than the FTP from 3 weeks ago doing the ramp test. Through training on ssb mid volume, I guessed my FTP and the 20 min test was 2% higher. So all good! Thanks all!
I’m a bit late to the party, but holy fork, you are quick. Those times are amazing (marathon in about 2:30 and change!). 
I found that after a year of riding with a power meter that I could pin point my FTP within a few W (and I am using FTP as in the 100 % power level in TR workouts). I am not surprised that someone with your extensive experience of pacing yourself fares better in the 20-minute test. A lot of people don’t fare well, because 20 minutes is a long time and takes a lot of mental fortitude.
Sweet spot should never be that hard. That means you are probably working at your actual FTP or probably above. Your biggest concern shouldn’t be doing above threshold intervals even harder but rather getting below threshold work in the correct zone.
I’d look into a longer, 20 minute FTP test. If you know your threshold heart rate, you can keep an eye on that and when you reach that HR then you’ll know you are not at sweet spot.
Hi,
Adding on to this thread. I did another Ramp Test today and realized now, that with my current setup I will never get close to my real ftp:
- dumb rollers (earlier Kickr Smart Trainer)
- CX bike with 46/30 (earlier 52/34)
- Misuro B+ “Power Meter” (actually does only calculate Virtual Power, and does it worse the higher the power goes underestimating power values by 20-30W from 180W onwards)
- some health related issues (earlier not the case)
So where I tested around 250+ earlier I am not able to get beyond 220 anymore.
Simple reason: with my current setup in my highest gear and absolute max cadence I cant push more than 300+something without threaten to fall of the rollers - no chance despite my body not yet at total limit.
On the kickr with the 52/34 setup and Erg mode that was no problem naturally at all.
Today I was offered a new FTP of 214 (!) which is definitely way off.
So what can I do: probably nothing, ignore the “new” results and go through the workouts by feel, analyze them properly and manually adjust the FTP.
One positive note: i can skip Ramp Tests from now on
(Maybe I will try 8min or 20min testing some day)