I looked at the Tour Series races but was working during the day unfortunately. When you mentioned crits that was what I was thinking of. I checked the British/Scottish Cycling events page at various points but couldn’t find much that suited which was perhaps just bad timing.
Sounds like we need to start up a Scottish racing discussion thread…
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I just completed the Ramp Test for SSB II with a +35W for FTP, 167 → 202, although I may have messed up my first ramp at SSB I since I didn’t understand Erg mode. Anyways, looking forward to moving ahead with SSB II
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Just finished HVSSB1, my first proper training plan after cobbling together stuff from British Cycling and various websites over the past 18 months. I’m 6’3" for reference:
April 17: Ftp: 264w - 82kg - 3.22w/kg
June 17: Ftp: 291w - 81kg - 3.59w/kg
November 17: Ftp: 317w - 80kg - 3.96w/kg - think I did this on an easy resistance so bit suspect
July 18: Ftp: 309w - 77kg - 4.01w/kg - this was at the height of crit season
September 18: Ftp: 301w - 77kg - 3.91w/kg - post holiday
November 18: Ftp: 312w - 75.7kg - 4.12w/kg - today!!!
Super happy and motivated to start HVSSB2.
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Holy cow! A 62W increase in 6 weeks. That’ll make the first sweet spot and threshold workouts interesting. I just had a 32W increase between SSB1 & 2 and the first Sat/Sun workouts on SSB2 were…intense. Good luck.
Did my second ramp test today after starting SSB1 Mid Vol six weeks ago. I am completely new to structured training and I am happy with the improvement I have made over the last six weeks. I was hoping that the weight will be under 97, but hey, I came close!
23/09/2018 - FTP 263 @ 99.5kg = 2.64 w/kg
06/11/2018 - FTP 274 @ 97.5kg = 2.81 w/kg
btw… I am 39 years old and 178cm tall…
This gives me a 4.2% increase in FTP and a 6.3% increase in w/kg, I am happy with this. But I need to work on getting my weight down!
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Thanks man! I’m pretty stoked. I will admit the second thing that crossed my mind was, over-unders are going to suck now.
2kg in six weeks is good progress. Stay the course. You’re doing good work!
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Yeah man, as I was suffering on the ramp test this morning I kept thinking that this next block is going to be so hard with this new FTP!! 
Zwift - FTPTests and Event sets
29th Mar FTP 239w @ 110kg = 2.17w/kg
11th April FTP 246w @ 109kg = 2.25w/kg
7th May FTP 262W @ 107kg = 2.44w/kg
16th July FTP 283W @ 100kg = 2.83w/kg
31st July FTP 307W @ 100kg = 3.07w/kg
3rd Oct FTP 310W @ 96.7kg = 3.205w/kg
Trainer road - Ramp tests
8th Oct FTP 299W @ 95.5kg = 3.13w/kg
5th Nov FTP 310W @ 95.5kg = 3.25w/kg Half way through SPB MV
3rd Dec FTP 319W @ 93.1 kg = 3.43w/kg End of SPBMV
Also not looking forward to slight increases in under overs!!
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Wowzers… 15kg drop in 7 months, that is impressive! Well done!!
Thanks:) 6,000 km since buying the smart trainer, think the body had little choice! Indoor training has tripled my annual mileage.
First target is 3.6w/kg, I’ve slowed/stalled weight loss down by ‘snacking’ at office desk again! Would be nice to plateau at 90kg, I’m 6’2" so don’t want to lose too much and end up losing power/muscle mass.
I know if I do a week or two of fasted rides and no snacking I might be able to achieve that weight target over the winter months.
Dark mornings don’t inspire me to do that at the moment!
Is 95.5Kg close to your ideal weight? I am assuming Yes.
I am the same approx weight but have 20Kgs to go for my ideal weight.
August 2018 FTP - 295 - 3.73 - at start of sweet spot base mid volume
September 2018 FTP - 315 - 4.31 w/kg - at start of short power build mid volume
Novermber 2018 FTP 323 - 4.45 w/kg - halfway through short power build
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Ideally I’d like to hit and stay at 90kg. For my frame, height, age, blood pressure and ambitions I’d be happy with that. Then I only have to earn another 15W 
for my target w/kg.
Hope you get to your ideal weight, it does take hard work but worth it, found during my loss it came off in ‘chunks’, would spend weeks with no change then suddenly a kilo or two gone, nothing linear about it!
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I have gone from a power to weight ratio of 1.25 w/Kg when I first got my trainer, last time I tested I was 1.78 w/Kg. I am probably over 2.0 w/Kg now. I haven’t really used my trainer seriously to train…that is my next step.
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Did you find yourself actually much faster on the road??
Good Question. I would say yes, but it would be difficult to back up with numbers. I only started racing bikes and participating in group rides this season, so I can’t compare my competitiveness from this year to last. I did shave 2min off a local Strava segment- a 1.6 km climb at 7.5% grade. Aside from that, I think the most noticeable improvement was greater durability- the ability to stay in the saddle longer without breaking down.
I started road cycling this year whilst recovering from a knee injury.
I didn’t really pay attention to what I was eating during my injury and ended up gaining around 10KG before I started cycling.
I started cycling in April and wasn’t really on a plan, just trying to cycle more and more kilometers a week. Once I felt like I was fitter and more in control I started to work more along the line of plans; working on climbs and sprints and changing my diet to drop some weight.
In between I made sure to schedule events that would test my progress, just one-day events with a bit of climbing in it, nothing to spectacular but just so that I have something to work towards to and test myself.
In August I rode the Liege-Bastogne-Liege summer edition (125KM, 2300 elevation meters) and was semi-happy with the results. I was glad I finished it, but was bummed I didn’t complete two climbs without getting off the bike to take a breather.
Because of that I was determined to improve on my climbing skills and especially the ones which stretch out, I am usually better at “walls” (let’s say 700M climbs with 20% parts in them) than ones which stretch out longer with lower max gradients.
Bought a Kickr Core to be able to keep on training in the winter and to work on this during the winter and started Trainerroad SSBLV 1.
October FTP, KG and watt/kg:
279, 84KG and 3.32 w/KG
November; End of SSBLV 1/Start SSBLV2:
294, 82KG and 3.58 w/KG
So that’s an improvement of 5.3% on the FTP and 7.8% improvement on w/KG.
I was actually hoping to hit the 300 FTP mark and it was looking promising in the ramp test as I was hitting the 403 Watt step in the ramp test but I guess I didn’t hang in there long enough to earn the 300 FTP mark.
I signed up for two events in April where I can really test if I improved on my ability to climb.
First one is the Round of Flanders 175 KM (We Ride Flanders/Ronde van Vlaanderen), where cobblestones are the main course with a side of a climbing and two weeks later I am doing the Amstel Gold Race 150KM where there are all kinds of climbs.
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