Spring is around the corner, so naturally…let’s talk FTP, right? FTP (Functional Threshold Power), is a metric used in cycling to determine the highest average power output a rider can sustain for an hour. It serves as a crucial benchmark for training intensity and helps cyclists tailor their workouts for improved performance. If you have a power meter, then you’re bound to have wondered how to get it higher. The question is, how much can you do over the course of a season? Whether you’re racing or doing group rides, or simply training with intensity, it’s a good question.
Lots of factors for your FTP
Peter Glassford, a cycling coach for over 20 years and co-owner of Consummate Athlete, says it depends on a whole lot of factors.
“If we have a beginner cyclist and they’re going to do something like 20 or 30 minute time trial, we’re going to try and guess at what their FTP is based off of that. Maybe they’re only going to get 100 watts because they’ve not done a lot of endurance sport, it’s very hard and they’re still figuring out cadence and gearing, so there’s a lot of room there to improve,” he said. “Probably they could get up into the two hundreds. In that case, you could easily see 5 to 20 per cent as an estimate for this assuming that someone has a little bit of experience.”
You can’t control all factors
Glassford says there’s a few factors that you can’t control, along with some you can.
“Now, this of course also depends on genetics, which we can’t do a lot about, but it also depends on how much time you have available to train. I had a higher FTP when I was willing to train a lot and now I don’t really want to train as much,” he explains. “So there’s this question of how much would it increase and then also, how much are you willing to work to increase it? There’s also of course the level you’re at. I’m relatively fit.”
Test it in the natural environment
Glassford believes that where you do the FTP is crucial, especially if you’re planning on racing. That doesn’t just mean if it’s on the trainer or your outdoor bike, either.
“A lot of times I’ll see people give race me their indoors FTP test, but I’d rather see you know, a gravel racer and do it on gravel, a road racer do it on the road or mountain bike on mountain bike course,” Glassford adds. “That makes it a little messier as far as testing but does help us to decide if the person is, say an off-roader, they know how…
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