TrainerRoad AI FTP Prediction FAQs

It’s the design of the hardware. It’s unique.

Zwift is the same. You’d pair the bike for power and one of the power meters for cadence.

I’ve asked TR help a number of times but so farnot sorted it out

I use a custom workout called RUNNING for treadmill sessions which in which I only record heart rate. Will the data from these sessions confuse the AI and effect proposed cycling workouts?

the custom RUNNING TEMPLATE workout is set at 1 watt for 50 minutes. But then my heart rate is average 130. Goodness knows what AI must think about a user generating 130 heart rate when cycling at 1 watt. Is this an issue and how best could I use TrainerRoad for tracking my heart rate running on treadmill

If I’m reading all this right, your bike wasn’t correctly connected to TR until your recent post. Because of this, the power data being received by TR previously was incorrect. You said above that following the instructions worked and the connection is now working properly. Awesome!

It sounds like next step is to clean up the bad data and get the FTP reset. None of that is because TR has “poor software”. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with criticizing when it’s deserved, but this sounds like a bike connection issue, not a TR software one

You mention you need help from TR. Did you open a ticket with TR support for that? If so, what did they say?

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I don’t think FTP is actually “clearly defined” in practice. There are multiple accepted definitions (e.g., ~60-min power, MLSS, maximal steady state, “highest power you can sustain for a long duration”). From the start, FTP was intended as a training construct to anchor workloads, not a lab-precise physiological constant (this is my understanding, would love for Dr. Coggan to chime in). If a new method better predicts sustainable training intensity and outcomes, refining how FTP is estimated seems consistent with its original purpose… even if the name stays the same.

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Hi,

I think the TR software is poor. It should be able to read 2 power meters and send an appropriate ERG signal but it doesn’t. I’m also stuck with a massively incorrect FTP. The software does not allow me to use a manually entered FTP. I have contact TR Ssupport 3 separate times. The first time the guy said he needed to analyse the problem but never got back to me. The second time partially resolved the power reading errors and someone in the forum explained more about Stages. I then realised that I need to run both the Stages app and the TR app at the same time to get power readings from the power meters. In my opinion this is poor TR software lacking basic functionality as it can’t reas the power meters directly.

I contacted TR again to ask how to reset my FTP to a sensible value but so far without success. I wa told basically to waste my time and ruin my training with inappropriate workouts (Based on FTP 100 when my FTP is around 190) until AI catches up.

A forum response suggested that I remove the duff rides from AI. I went through all my rides but the AI FTP didn’t change.

I am very ddisappointed with the lack of instructions, the poor software and the poor support.

you wouldn’t

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No you don’t - once you’ve linked the power meters to the bike then you can forget the app

Just so you are aware also, even amongst TrainerRoad’s greatest detractors, you would struggle to find many that would argue that TrainerRoad is the gold standard when it comes to device connectivity - you’re pointing your frustration in the wrong direction there.

You have brought up a good point about how the new system deals with bad data and that it seems to be hard to get it corrected - you have a fair argument there - but I don’t know if you have given TrainerRoad a chance to correct that for you.

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coggan has said that FTP can be 40-70min maximal effort, which can be improved via TTE work. The thing I feel TR gets wrong is that it tries to approach threshold work as suprathreshold at like 105%, whereas coaches like Kolie Moore usually have athletes a little bit under because going suprathreshold can get really fatiguing, really fast. I feel like TR is trying to approach adding watts like weightlifting and losing sight of the fact that a lot of improvements are made via volume and building endurance.

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The stages article says that they do and that the bike re-broadcasts them - so you just connect TR to the bike :person_shrugging:

I admit i don’t have the bike so cant check myself - but you need someone from stages to explain this to you.

I think you are under (i think) the mistaken assumption that the bike itself has its own slightly less accurate PM - but it just uses data from the cranks.

But this is not a TrainerRoad connectivity issue.

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Pretty sure TR does sweetspot too :thinking:

Why should TrainerRoad be able to read two power meters at the same time and switch back and forth which data to feed the trainer for ERG control? I’m not aware of any software that does this (correct me if I’m wrong). The TrainerRoad software has been reading your power meter but stages gave you two so you only get half the data. I have a dual-sided set of garmin power meter pedals and they send data from each pedal through one bluetooth channel to TrainerRoad. Stages apparently does this by connecting to the bike instead of the power meter directly.

I imagine support is getting slammed right now but no excuse for no response. Also not sure why a manual FTP entry derails all the AI but maybe something in the released Youtube videos on TR AI will explain that.

i get that, i’ve done lots of SST with TR in the past, I just made this comments based on observations of workouts I’m seeing assigned as well as how I’m reading into some of the messaging about this new system

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I used to have an SB20 and that’s exactly how it works, you pair TR to the bike directly. I never had to open the Stages app for anything.

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disappear GIF

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haha - that’s what I’m like every time his name is mentioned :joy:

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Hi Thanks - I think you are right. The power meters must have 2 Bluetooth connections.

That’s great. Now I only need to sort out the wrong FTP data. I wish the instructions had been a bit clearer. Thanks for helping with this - I was going round in circles.

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Trainer road was paired directly to both power meters and to the Stages bike. The TR App allows this but then can’t handle the power data it receives.

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Zwift requires the same process. Is Zwift poor software as well?

Why would the build something for a unique setup when connecting the bike works?

You are looking for someone to be mad at, it should be stages or some self reflection at why you didn’t follow stage’s recommendations from the start.

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