man I know these feels
I MEAN, you’ll get a TON of varying opinions on this. For my purposes, I’ve found that the ramp test seems to do a good job of setting my training zones for TrainerRoad workouts. Hard workouts are consistently “hard but doable”, and I’ve been getting stronger on the bike. I have no idea how closely the ramp approximates my “real” FTP, but honestly I don’t care that much if my workouts are calibrated properly. The road doesn’t care what my FTP is, and I’m not doing pacing-heavy events like time trials or long road races or something.
You may have different requirements where you do indeed want to know an accurate FTP number, and in that case, it may take some trial and error to figure out what test fits you best. TR has a gigantic dataset showing that the ramp does a good job setting training zones for most people, and that’s why they recommend it. They’ll be the first to caution that it doesn’t work for everybody, and there are plenty of people on this forum who have found it doesn’t work super well for them. There are lots of alternatives, like the 8- or 20-minute tests, or the Kolie Moore protocol. If you feel like your workouts are hitting the wrong zones, like you can’t finish a VO2max workout or a sweet spot workout feels easy, maybe try an alternative test.
Heh, gaining confidence is a funny thing. For a little bit I was doing “opener” workouts before the ramp test that included intervals at around 130/140%, using the same reasoning you’re suggesting. Wake up the legs, kind of get the feeling of that power stuck in my bones. I don’t feel like it helped that much? That last minute of the ramp is just so hard, with all the fatigue you’re carrying by that time, that it doesn’t matter that much whether you can hold 400 or 420 or 500 for a minute in isolation. Not only is the ramp is gonna be harder, it’s relying on a different energy system.