Do what you can, you’re playing a long game here, you WILL get some beginners gains, but you don’t want to burn your self out
Play it by ear, but if you struggle with the with 60, tone it down to 30/45, just as when you comfortable with 60, consider more … just one thing, if you don’t get to the end of the workout, don’t get chewed up with the “failed workout” terminology, you didn’t fail, you gave it all you could on that day, there will be plent of training gain .. end of story
Thank you. That’s really interesting to see as mine is very spiky. It could be that I’m not quite familiar with the tests nor my turbo which created the spikey lines. It is in ERG mode but my chain was in the large front ring and the large at the back for the whole of the ramp test so it could have been that? I’ve now changed it to the smaller ring at the front and the middle one at the back. It’s an 11-speed cassette. I might try one of the demo rides on the Tacx app just to check that the turbo is working how it should and then go from there. I was due to have an onboarding call around a week or two ago but at the time I didn’t even have a turbo purchase, thinking I was going to do all my riding outside (wishful thinking!). I will arrange an on-boarding call again to make sure I’m set up properly. I really appreciate all the responses so far.
To me that looks like a fitness problem. Just go with the ftp as it will set up an achievable program to gain fitness and let AI ftp do its job after enough rides. Your basis of doing 1hr rides that feel hard will work.
I think you are right.
No, that shouldn’t be too bad.
I found this:
“Yes, the lowest wattage (50W) with 36/28 and 46/11 in combination with high cadence is nearly equal using the Neo.
You feel that in 46/11 50W you are at the limit. Such high cadence like in first test (up to 142rpm) would not be possible,but more then 100rpm and only 50W is already impressive.
For me this is far to low and fluctuations in power are massive.”
Not sure if this is the ideal trainer for you but just try the workouts TR gives you and maybe it works out…but could become complicated if intervals or rest falls below 50 watt.
Experts like @dcrainmaker or @gplama (no handle/user any longer?) might have more advice.
For closer Erg mode tracking at these low wattages, if that’s wanted, if I was Snail I’d try using small chainring and perhaps 3rd (or max 4th) largest rear rear cog (rather than the usual “centre of the cassette” advice). With such low torque on tap, Neo slippage shouldn’t be much of an issue.
Another thought is that it’s possible Snail’s FTP is higher, but that she’s simply not accustomed to going that deep. For someone who’s only exercised/cycled casually, it can be possible for them to misinterpret feedback sensations from the body when doing hard efforts, and not fully realise that it can possible to sustain efforts at quite unpleasant-feeling intensities if you’re not accustomed and desensitized to these sensations.
I can’t find him either. Clicking the user name in his old posts leads to a dead link. Seems to be gone?
I think you’re onto something there. I had it in my head that the ramp test should only be 25 mins and it was very easy until then. Should I have carried on until I could no longer push myself? My legs only just started to burn. I stopped once I was hitting below the target wattage and got past minute 26 as I wasn’t sure how long this would go on for.
The wattage loss from cross training can be a substantial percentage of a lower FTP. Small on the front and larger in the back will add power and smooth the curve.
Back when I used to do ramp tests, I would wring the ever loving heck out of myself to get the highest number 
I’d suggest maybe you give it another go and push yourself, or let AI ftp do its thing and manage your numbers over time. It’ll take longer this way, and your workout will probably feel too easy.
How does riding at 65 watts feel? Is it easy? Legs burning? Riding at threshold should feel pretty difficult.
Then definitely something was wrong and your FTP might be higher. The test feels very easy at the beginning but gradually increasing harder and harder and the last 3min of ramp is when the music is on and hell is approaching and final minute is all out until nothing left to give.
If you’re motivated try again near the lowest gear (small ring front, maybe 2. biggest ring back), pedal smooth and sitting. Maybe set FTP to 120 before the test so the warmup has not too low wattages (to avoid hitting the wattage floor). Power fluctuating should not occur as seen in my screenshot.
If big fluctuations occur again, something is wrong and you should talk TR or Garmin support about that. Make sure the Neo trainer is only connected/paired to the TR app and no other app or bike computer (so that no 2 apps try to control the trainer…which also could lead to those power fluctuations seen in your screenshot).
And if no ramp test is designed, maybe tell us how this workout feels (3x10-minute over-under intervals alternating between 2 minutes at 89% FTP and 2 minutes at 100% FTP with just 3-minute recoveries between intervals)
And of course the onboarding call will set you on track. Tell them about how your ramp test felt.
I’ll give the ramp test another go on Monday. 65w was relatively easy compared to 90w, but even 90w didn’t feel dreadful, just the slight leg burn. It only started on about 20 watts and went up to about 84/90w in the 24th ish minute. I’ll double check what is connected to the Neo and TrainerRoad. As far as I know, it’s only the Neo and my heart rate monitor that are connected to the trainer road app, not my cycling computer.
I think this is a wise decision to eliminate any questions about your abilities. Remember that the ramp test is supposed to be to failure. Go on as long as humanly possible. This could be difficult for less conditioned cyclists with muscles less used to the specific movement.
If you have difficulty to perform at a level that you expect, don’t worry; you may just need some more cycling in your legs before your heart, lungs and legs line up. In the meantime just let TR’s AI serve you the appropriate workouts and rate them accordingly.
Go for it and tell us how it went. Keep my fingers crossed for a smoother experience. Ensure ERG mode is on and in order to avoid the spiral of death keep cadence high like > 80, willingly 90.
He was chastised on here and decided that it was no longer productive to be on here.
Sad
While it is likely you didn’t test well, it is also likely that you will have a low FTP. Just a curse of being small.
My girlfriend is also 5’. She has an “above average” VO2 according to her Garmin, and A LOT of training history (mostly with running), but her FTP is staggeringly low. If she commits to training it does go up though, with some work.
Up to you if you want to retest, you totally can. But if you just start doing workouts, the whole system will get worked out, and you will get stronger over time (but you will need patience and commitment).
It will go on forever! The idea is that it increases the power required, and you keep pedalling until you can’t anymore. That is usually either your legs can’t turn anymore or you feel like you can’t breath anymore. Once you stop, it’ll take your average power of the last minute you pedalled, and calculate your FTP from that. (That also means, once you have to stop, stop, don’t do really intermittend slow pedalling at the end, because the average of that is likely lower than the minute before.)
The most important thing to start training is to get into a consistant training habit. Commit to doing three rides/sessioms per week. Don’t think you have to do “three hard sessions”. If it feels too hard, swap for an endurance ride, but do show up and do a ride/session. The amount of time you spend on the bike is important too, and especially at the beginning, I think it woupd be better to do a 60-minute endurance/z2 ride, than a 30-minutes hard intervall session. Obviously, best would be to do both, but I would start by prioritising riding your bike (on the trainer, or outdoors), and then, once three rides per week don’t fill you with dread anymore, start adding intervalls into them. You’ll notice your fitness will improve very quickly, once you ride regularly!
Hi,
here is my experience with TR:
I picked it up with a running background. Back then I was 27 and weighted 70 kg. Size is 5’10 or 178 cm. My initial FTP was 165 watts. Though I couldn’t hold that for 60 minutes. Maybe 30 were more realistic. So I guess my actual FTP was rather 140 or so.
That FTP was ridiculously low compared to my mates who are all bigger and had FTPs well north of 200 watt. Every group ride with them was a sufferfest for me. Back then I thought I would never be able to compete against them. Boy I had it wrong.
Anyhow, I secretly bought a Tacx Neo and signed up for TR. Back then AI training was not available. So all I did was cycling through SSBMV/HV and SPBMV. I did that for close to two years and my FTP went up all the way to 290 watts. Back then I tweaked polar bear to make it a session which had me at high SS for 2 hours straight. It was mental.
Again, anyhow, during that phase I was quiet about what I am doing. I did not join any rides with the boys but only attended when the women were with us. Eventually, however, I joined another group ride with the boys and let me tell you something. I messed them up so well, it was hilarious. It felt like playing football against toddlers. Some took the hint and picked up structured training themselves.
The volume, structure and the proper progression made all the difference for me. Looking at my mates, they had none of that. They rode their bikes outside and during winter, they did nothing. At least no cardio.
So I guess I would not be surprised if you would see a similar paradigm shift. It sure works.
Best,
Jo
PS: Eventually I got kids and got gained 10kg. Though TR has remained my go-to cardio. It helped me to hover around 250 watts FTP. Running surely also helped.
I sometimes run a workout off my phone, but mostly from a bigger device, and I’ve had these kinds of power fluctuations if I’m training on that bigger device but my phone is anywhere nearby with Bluetooth turned on!