Paraphrasing Thomas Mann (on what makes a writer a writer), "A racer is someone for whom cycling is more difficult than it is for other people."

People who don't race have no idea how painful it is. Back in the mid-'80's, I inadvertently set a course record on a popular regional 10-mile circuit during my second-ever time trial, having decided to chase down the guy who started before me. I was a Cat 3, and I didn't know that the guy in front was a Cat 1.

I caught him about 2/3 of the way around. He looked at me, chuckled, and said, "Go for it." I gasped, "I can't," and slid slowly backward, but managed to then just catch him at the line. As soon as I stopped pedaling: tunnel vision, a grayed-out world. I vowed never to do another time trial.

Sure: a casual rider, or even many older guys here who might think they're pretty fast, would have no trouble completing a 1-hour FTP test, or even a dozen, except for the boredom.

Do the first one right, though, and you'll never want to do another one. I sure don't. I'm still capable of hurting myself on a bike beyond what most people would be willing to tolerate, but I'd be an idiot not to go for the FTP background calculation method.