Originally Posted by
jadmt
I have no idea and I am not kidding one bit what FTP means..I was hoping it was not derogatory towards the Pope...I have no idea what watts are relating to cycling. When I first heard the term I thought people had rigged up some kind of pedal powered generator to run their lights.....I do know even being grossly overweight I can push along without feeling chest pains or twinges. I always figured if my heart rate got too high it would just let me know....I need to look into this sometimes...I know when I used to be serious about running and biking in the 80-s and 90's it was much simpler.
FTP stands for functional threshold power. Sometimes this is called one hour power but usually measured in 20 minute tests. It's the amount of power you can produce in a steady effort.
The power we produce is measured in watts. One horsepower is about 740 watts. Some track sprinters can produce over 3 horsepower, or 2500 watts, for a short time.