ancker

I read a lot about people performing 'tests' to determine various thresholds.
What are the most popular ones? Is any one better than another?

I don't have a powermeter (hopefully will soon) but can use the KK Speed/Power ratio in the meantime.

jmX

I take 95% of my output over a hard 20minute interval. Once or twice a year I'll try doing a 1hr time trial, but on a trainer you may have a tough time going full on 100% for an hour like that. This is what is described in the "Racing and Training with a power meter" book.

There is also a ramp test, but I've never tried it. https://www.flammerouge.je/content/3_...functhresh.htm

PS I used my KK road machine for training with power last winter using my custom PC software in my sig (for realtime power output info and graphs). It also spits out .fit files which I import into WKO+ for better analysis. I've since purchased a powermeter and found the KK road machine equation to be pretty darn close to the same readings.

climber7

really? interesting to me. anyone else have thoughts on this? my watts were significantly higher with the KK equation vs. a couple of tests i did on a WattBike and a CycleOps stationary bike, and i was never sure which to trust. it'd be cool if KK was right, though...haha.

OP - don't mean to hijack the thread. as jmX said, 20 min is probably most common. 1 hour is most accurate for determining threshold, though, since functional threshold power - FTP - is actually supposed to be max sustained power for 1 hour.

hhnngg1

It actually doesn't really matter which is right, as even people with a dedicated power meter who test indoors and outdoors have slightly different numbers, probably due to variations in wind, temps, and even position due to the various inclines/declines on the road versus the dead-set motion on a trainer. Watt differences have been reported by many to be 20-40 watts difference, even with repeated testing, so it's recommended that you test both indoors and outdoors for best results in extrapolating how you'll fare in an outdoor ride/race based on trainer numbers.

If you're repeatedly testing and training on the same trainer though, you can measure real performance gains even if the trainer is a bit off, as long as it's consistent.

ancker

1) Is there any specific warm up or anything else associated with the 20 minute interval?
2) I own this book but haven't read more than the back cover yet. I'll read through it.
3) I'll take a look at this. Thanks

gregf83 

This is what I do:
Ride easy for 10-15 min, 5 min at estimated FTP, 10 min easy and then do the 20 min.

Often, if I'm feeling good during the 5 min session I'll be doing more than FTP and just keep going for 20 min.