Transition from Virtual Power to Real Power

Hi. I’ve bought and installed a power meter (favero assioma duo) on my bike. I calibrated it and paired it to my elemnt bolt, but not to the trainerroad app (running on PC). I did a wourkout and recorded the power on the elemnt bolt. As expected the Virtual power and Real power don’t match (VP shows 50W high).

Do I have to retest right away or can I just pair the power meter to the trainerroad app, reduce my FTP by 50W and reset my career? I’m half way through week 3 of Sustained Power Build.

Best bet is to do a new test.

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Yep. New test I’m afraid is always best.

When should I do it? I still have 2 workouts scheduled for this week and don’t want to compromise them with doing a ramp test before. The next week is recovery week, which I don’t think will be effected much by manually changing FTP and power source, following which I have a test anyway.

Which workouts do you have this week? If it’s SS you could switch it out for a ramp followed by a 30min SS workout to get around the same TSS.

Alternatively you could just continue with VP and wait until the end of your rest week when you will probably retest anyway.

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Only two workouts left, no sense at all doing a ramp test. I would:

  1. Complete the two remaining workouts just as you did that Carpathian Peak workout (it’s private btw, so we can’t see it)… keep VP paired to TR and power to your Elemnt if you wish just for reference.

  2. At the start of your rest week, pair your power to TR and use the rest week to test it out and get familiar. You may want to do 1 aerobic ride to verify the power difference between VP and your meter, then just switch over and ride the rest out on power
    OR
    Switch TR to your power meter, lower your FTP at your guess… but primarily ride by HR and feel. You likely know what those workouts will feel like, and you likely can ride by HR just for these aerobic recovery rides and still be a-ok.

  3. Start a new ‘season’ at the start of using power. Your next block starts with a ramp test, so all good.

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Thanks. I’m quite impatient with switching to power meter now that I’ve got it :smile: . I set the account to public so it should be able to see the workout. Its over-unders and the VP and real power track consistently 50W apart (+/- 2W). I’m probably going to do the next threshold workout (Elephants +4) like I did the previous one, just to validate the difference and then swap the FTP/ power source manually. Cant do to much harm to the recovery week and like you said I’m testing after that anyway.

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I would be just as impatient honestly lol, and I think your plan is what I would do - just leave TR on virtual power but pair the power meter to my Elemnt in the meantime; then cut over and ride next week on power meter only - recovery week will be a great time in case any issues pop up too.

I would just continue with the virtual power until the new test.

Or if you have another device, run both side by side. You will be shocked how real power fluctuates, so try to practice with it during the rest week.

I found my real power was lower so I ended up going too hard during the recovery week.

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