Back story, took part in a clinical heart study. As part of it took a ‘CPEX’ test - basically what I understand to be a V02max cycling test - ramp to failure with full gas exchange etc. Curious as to what it can tell me!
44, male, 84kgs at the time:
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It looks similar to a Trainer Road ramp test! A few takeaways…
It shows “AT” - aerobic threshold - as 202 watts. So if you want to do a long steady ride, stay in a fat burning zone, and save yourself for another day, keep it below 200 and (possibly more importantly) keep your heart rate below 129.
If you were going 359 watts at 15 minutes and reached a max of 381 at 16 minutes, that suggests a final minute power of 370. The Trainer Road protocol would suggest taking .75 of that to get a very respectable FTP of 277.
Your highest HR was 169. I’m not sure where the “predicted” level of 177 came from - I would suggest setting a max heart rate of 172 as you’re unlikely to have a much bigger physical challenge than this test any time soon.
Vo2 max is 50 which shows room for improvement. As you’re 84kg at 178cm, losing weight might show the biggest gains here if you keep training at the same time. You beat your predicted vo2 by a considerable amount though, so it looks like you’re well ahead of the average guy your age.
I did one a couple years ago. I’m not an expert so just posting about some terms and others can paint the rest of the picture:
AT=aerobic threshold=approximately 60% VO2max, or 70% MHR.
RC=respiratory compensation=bicarbonate max=hyperventilation begins=can’t blow off CO2
MAX=VO2max
PRED=??
RQ=Respiratory quotient. An indicator of the amount of carbohydrate or fats are being metabolized for fuel. This is based off RER or respiratory exchange ratio which is the ratio of CO2 produced vs. O2 consumed. Values of 0.7 mean mostly fat is being metabolized; 0.85 is a mix of fat and carbs while 1.00 or greater is mostly carbs. The coach that did my test is HUGE on trying to get the body fat adapted or to use as much fat for metabolism at as high of intensities as possible.
Which would suggest the OP, already at RQ 0.86 at rest and 0.87 at aerobic threshold, could benefit from some low intensity fasted rides?
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I’m the wrong guy to ask about this stuff. My RQ was wicked high at rest and just went through the moon once I started moving…however, the main jist of what she was trying to get across was (in part) training your body to utilize more fat through by eating more “good” fat. And yes, I do remember her mentioning fasted rides and/or rides with lower carb to fat ratio which were accomplished via early season long low intensity type riding.
Very interesting stuff, thanks.
FTP of 277 is 1w higher than I test on a 20min test and 25w higher than a trainerroad ramp - I’m gonna guess that’s most likely due to the test bike being very upright affair vs my TT bike on trainerroad, that or because the cardiologist was cute/encouraging me not to stop!
As I read, VO2max is 51.4, and yes, I’ve dropped 4-5kg since this was done in feb… No real focus on VO2 stuff as I’m all about long/steady. I suspect average for age is dominated by non-athletic types, not taking too much from that…
177 is 220-age. Rarely get much over 170 on the bike - I’ll average mid 160s for a 40kTT. Running is a whole other matter, consistently higher, and I’ll easily blow through the 177 most I’ve seen is 190 at the end of a 10k trying to outsprint someone.
RQ stuff is really interesting - I’m definitely a heavy carb fueller for racing, although I’ll typically do training rides of up to about 4hrs unfuelled in the .7-.75 IF range - whether that says anything, I don’t know! (ETA - just noticed that while RQ at rest was .86, it dropped to .76 in warmup before climbing again to AT… er!?)
My non training diet is quite sugar heavy… that’s something I’m working on for entirely non-training reasons, see weight loss above! Problem being I love sweet stuff too much 
Not massively bothered about fat adaptation per-se, and certainly not at the point where I’m gonna play with fasted rides/change anything about my training (4 weeks from A race).
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OK, so my interpretation is… you’ve fallen in love with a cardiologist and want to impress them with (a) your weight loss, and (b) your understanding of vo2 test jargon? 
25 watts between “very upright” and “TT Bike” sounds within the realms of plausibility to me. Perhaps 277 might be slightly optimistic though, in that case.
Yeah, I did notice that, but I didn’t understand it, so pretended not to have noticed it…
Maybe someone more qualified can explain that one!
Hehe… fortunate enough to have a hot triathlete at home, and smart enough to know which side my bread is buttered, so nope… but fair shout none the less 
Actually the main reason I signed up for the study was a free VO2 test (and a pretty solid check on heart health) , but after staring at it for quite a while I’m not much the wiser / probably more confused!