Good thread. I picked up biking regularly around February after hip surgery last November. I was a hobbiest runner beforehand, so felt pretty good pacing myself and the effort for 20 min FTP tests. I took my first test in March at 3.2 w/kg, then 3.4 w/kg, and 3.6 w/kg in June, before my July race. I’m sure a lot of my gains have been the easier newbie gains. I started trainer road in May with a high volume polarized plan.
I’m 175 cm and hover around 72 kg. I’ve been weightlifting for 20+ years (I’m 36) so have a lot of muscle for the standard cyclist and am very low BF. I think I could maybe squeeze down to 70 kg with a lot of work and being crazy lean, but at the same time it’s very little effort to hover around 72 kg. The good news is that my strength training is already on point, so I continue with that. Although, if it wasn’t, that’s leave a lot more room for growth.
I’ll likely do another polarized plan this fall/winter. Right now I’m just building my own plan to maintain a bit. I feel like the 4 w/kg should be in reach within the next year.
Hopefully but this eFTP was based on a 5 minute effort after 130 minutes of z2 with 3x2 minute earlier efforts which I did on rollers. It takes quite a bit of additional effort to not crash (which I did almost a few times) during such hard efforts so I might actually already be there.
Exact workout. So far, I am getting consistent improvement without mental/physical exhaustion. Seems to balance them both for me. Training for a May climbing event. Climbed above 3w/kg for the first time.
Reached 4.15W/kg during summer, again after 2 years. 70kg and 35 years. For me the volume pushed me over 4W/kg. A lot of hard work during winter on TR to get nea 4W/kg, then just a lot of unstructurd rides during summer, but increasing training hours from 6 to 10 per week.
I’ve only read the last 50 or so posts, so forgive me for not doing the whole thread!
I’m 31.5 months, 36500km and 1450 hrs back into cycling. I raced as a kid then had almost 20 years away from the bike and I’m now 40.
I’m at 4.3w/kg, with a body weight of around 101-102kg at 203cm. As others have said, I think consistency is the key. The only week I’ve ridden less than 200km this year was the first week of the year (I did about 160km, and felt the need for an easy week after a lot of volume in December). This is only outdoor cycling, all through the Swedish winter.
I feel that I still have a lot of progress to make. I’ve tried various sports over the years and I’ve always been very strong in aerobic performance. Can’t sprint to save my life, but can hold 400w plus for a really long time. I do some indoor rowing and resistance training too (can bench about 100kg and deadlift 160kg).
My race focus for next year is the UCI Gravel Worlds, and with it being a hilly course, I will try to peel the last of the fat from myself (there isn’t much) and maybe a bit of upper body muscle. If I got in with 95kg and a 450-460w FTP, I should be fairly useful in my age group.
The way it’s going, I feel that I’ll probably top out at 5w/kg at 95kg. I can’t see myself getting beyond that and I reckon it’ll take me another 2 years to get there. Then Father Time will start to make his presence felt and the long, steady decline will begin!
But I do appreciate that I’m fortunate to me approaching a mid 400s FTP after a little more than 2.5 years of training. I have worked bloody hard though.
Those are some monster numbers!! Congratulations!!
As someone who was recently around your same weight but trending down (currently 89kg) after some dietary changes, I’m curious if you still find it taxing to keep up with annoyingly stick skinny riders when the gradient kicks up? I’ve got a buddy who is (maybe) 145 lbs soaking wet, and he’s been that way since college (now he’s in his early 50s). Despite having crept somewhat close to 4w/kg in the past, I still could never drop him on any sort of steeper gradient, even when I could drop him on the flats somewhat handily when I got a gap. I’m getting back into a routine after a rough 1.5 years or so, with the goal of eventually hitting 4 w/kg. In my mind, I have these fanciful visions of being able to put him in the hurt locker a little bit on some climbs, but I’m trying to figure out if I’m just kidding myself.
I really like crazy join workouts like this one eg. madness? and everything goes? and other weird join workouts because the number of intervals is limited you can give a bit more and you don’t need to worry that the next time you will get an even harder workout. Last year my best ever 2h power was 2.7W/kg this year 3.2W/kg
If the average gradient is below 6%, I can keep up with almost anyone. Beyond that, gravity and I fall out.
I was out riding with an elite level enduro rider last week (aged 19) and on the three climbs we did, he beat me by 3 seconds on the first (an 8 minute climb, for which I averaged 484w), 9 seconds on the second (about 5 minutes) and I beat him by a second on the third (a 4 minute climb).
But I really love climbing, and my technique on gravel is quite efficient.
Us heavier riders will always struggle to drop lightweights on climbs, but if we can gap them on the flat, the watts advantage is favourable for us
Is this by any chance the burner account of Magnus Backstedt?
While I’m not quite as far over to the heavy side of the bell curve, at 83kg/360 watt FTP/ 4.3w/kg I definitely feel many of your points re: smaller riders. I think being a watt monster has its points though; assuming you can get reasonably aero, you should have a substantial advantage over lighter riders with similar w/kg on flat terrain. I find working a lot on VO2 and repeatability, so I can (barely) hang on up shorter climbs then recover and drop climbers on flatter terrain has worked well. We all have our strengths and “toolboxes”, and figuring out how to use it is part of the fun!
Haha! I had to look up Magnus Backstedt, but no, just a British expat in Southern Sweden. Though I have ridden in Linköping with Magnus’s old club before.
I love V02 max type climbing - our area has loads of climbs in the 40-130m range and many of them can be quite punchy with ramps at 20% or more. My rides tend to be skewed towards lots of these climbs simply because it’s what’s fun for me.
Aero is an issue though. I have quite a long torso so catch a lot of wind. But I’m working on it.
Jolyzara - I remember catching an interview with Matt Beers. Fascinating guy and a real machine!
Have you gotten there? Sorry cant spare so much time to read all the topic but read some of it.
Im around your wheight and also had a similar FTP back in 2018 when I did my 1st FTP test. Continuous ridding made me go up to 4.2wkg. Hope you got there!
I did manage 3.9W/kg for 50:26 minutes (and then I reached the summit of Alpe du Zwift and had enough). In 2 weeks an FTP test is planned again, I think I will give the Grade in Zwift a try. I figure it should take me around 13 minutes with the recent 50 minute efforts that should be enough to convince WKO5… (wko5 still has my mFTP @ 3.85 W/kg btw)