TrainerRoad FTP Test

dario28

i signed up to trainer road ysterday and tried the 8min test

my FTP came back as 500 plus , clearly wrong

Setup was elite hydromag on level 4 resistance
Garmin cadence and HR monitor

from the warmup it was saying i was getting close to 1000 in power , I upped the intensity but even for the 8 min tests I was still pushing close to 550 on both

Any ideas what Im doing wrong ?

gofasterdad

I'm not an expert, but I remember seeing this on the Trainerroad website when I was checking if my own trainer was compatible:

"Some trainers have variable resistance. Each item in the list corresponds to a different resistance setting. For example, Taxc Satori has 10 resistance levels. Tacx Satori 1 corresponds to the easiest setting while Taxc Satori 10 corresponds to the hardest. Pick the setting you want to ride in and set TrainerRoad to match. In general the resistance levels are numbered with the lower numbers corresponding to less resistance. There are some trainers like the CycleOps Magneto that have named resistance levels so we try to match those when possible."

dario28

gofasterdad wrote: »

I'm not an expert, but I remember seeing this on the Trainerroad website when I was checking if my own trainer was compatible:

"Some trainers have variable resistance. Each item in the list corresponds to a different resistance setting. For example, Taxc Satori has 10 resistance levels. Tacx Satori 1 corresponds to the easiest setting while Taxc Satori 10 corresponds to the hardest. Pick the setting you want to ride in and set TrainerRoad to match. In general the resistance levels are numbered with the lower numbers corresponding to less resistance. There are some trainers like the CycleOps Magneto that have named resistance levels so we try to match those when possible."

Yeah I choose elite hydromag 4 as that what I have the resistance set to , unless the turbo wheel is loose and its not really set to 4 and spinning too easy

joey100

I wouldnt worry about the figure too much, once its consistent. trainerroad isn't great at getting an accurate power reading (from my experience) but it does allow you to measure your improvement against where you started.

Ryath

Started using it myself a few weeks ago and picked the wrong trainer initially was wondering why it was killing me to hold 100 watts in the warm up. I'm using a Cyclo ops fluid 2 which is listed in the beta section. After selecting the right model the wattages are much closer to what I'd expect. The same effort was close to 300 watts. You sure you have the right elite model and resistance level there seems to be a good few with similar names easy select the wrong one as I did.

I'd image if the wheel was to loose against the roller you would know it was slipping.

Haven't finished a FTP test yet so am just using the default 200FTP which is probably a little to low. Started the 20 min test did warm up and got 10 mins into test when I accidentally closed the program. Was holding around 220 and heart rate was at 90% and close to puking. Didn't have a fan though so not sure how much this was effecting me.

Have a fan now and what a difference it makes after the first FTP test I could wring sweat out of my bib shorts. With the fan still sweating buts it's not dripping of me.

Going to do the test again on Tuesday should be more accurate now not like last time two days after a bit of binge and two weeks of the bike.

Must say I'm finding Trainer road very good following one of their base plans. Never been a fan of the turbo would much sooner head out with lights. But can see this will be very good to do some proper structured training. It's actually quicker to set up the turbo than put on all the layers and lights for cycling outside on winter nights. Plan for the moment is two sessions Tues and Thur and I'll do my long spin at the weekend on the road with the club.