For us wattage challenged folks - free speed is king. Well, not so much free in terms of money!

Along with aero stuff - biggest free speed I saw while upgrading my bike was wheels and tires. Stock wheels (crap on my bike), same for tires - upgraded to GP5000’s on 40mm deep CF wheels = +\- 1 mph at 200w.


As far as performance increases FTP/VO2 - my opinion, at our age range - once we are at that 5000 per year mark - any real gains from structured training will be minimal. An entire winter of intervals did little to raise my FTP or W/kg - but it did allow me to operate at higher % of my FTP for longer periods and with less blowing up during the ride. This allowed for better average speeds, but not much in terms of top speed.

And since we can’t handle much more in terms of intensity, adding mass amounts of volume and time at low intensity would be the next step. And in the end, after all that extra work - results may not be worth it. (Nor do I have the time and energy for it).