Good luck @Patrick_Galligan . I imagine this will be very tough.
I am looking forward to seeing the result.
Thanks @Ryan_Nelson. I think your probably right. I have decided to leave my FTP at the higher number but will not be pushing to achieve it etc. If I do any intervals and cant make the numbers then I may take your advice and lower it.
I am quite likely gaining fitness as I am still only a few months into regular riding so hopefully I will catch it up anyway if its a little high.
FTP tests arenāt great. The number you end up with is influenced by so many factors. As suggested, use it as a starting point and adjust up and down a bit based on your assessment of your performance of your structured workouts, after all, the goal isnāt to boast about your massive FTP on the coffee ride, itās to make sure your workouts are productive! At least thatās what I tell myself when I look at my FTP number ā¦ 
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I cant boast about having a massive one. 
I ended up with 241W avg over 30min. The graph says Z3 because my FTP is set at 270W. It was 86% humidity here this morning so after 30min I figured I had enough data. I decided to use the Kolie Moore test, at that 30min mark you are supposed to gradually increase power. So I brought up to ~270W and could feel in my legs what was going to happen. I may have been able to last long enough to bring it up to 250W which is where I was expecting it to be. I was still a little fatigued this morning but no soreness in my legs when I started.
@Kent_Dixon power curves are different for everyone. Dr Seilor says your best 6min power is your VO2Max power. For me thatās 320W, which lines up percentage wise with an FTP of ~270W. But like I said I canāt sustain 270W for an actual FTP effort. However, on hill climbs I can do 9min at 265-270W for 4 climbing repeats which is mostly a threshold effort (HR bumps up into VO2Max territory at the end, but thatās because I see the top and start working harder).
Power meters and indoor trainers are great for helping you train at a particular level, as long as you know what that level is supposed to be. Both of your FTP numbers could be right, depending on what you using them to calculate 
Thatās a great effort @Patrick_Galligan.
It sounds incredibly tough.
I like your point about both being right and see what your getting at.
I might try a different type of test next time possibly the 20 minute test rather than the Ramp.
I only like to test once a month though so a few weeks away yet.
Just to add to the confusion, I went for a 48km ride this afternoon and averaged 255W (same power meter) for the first hour. This was a hard effort but not all out since I had another ~50min riding to get home. Also got a KOM 4km from home
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Have you done this yet? If so how did you go?
Iāve had an interesting few weeks, other life events changing my riding plans a little bit. Iāve been using both the new indoor trainer and riding outside. But my other life events usually involve running around (eg. gel blaster comps, which are like airsoft, and a paintball comp which was 8hrs at a relentless pace equiv to a hard 100km ride according to my HR monitor) so I get some good cardio but then have to have a rest day. So I just had 2 days rest, still a bit fatigued this morning so went back to sleep and rode this afternoon instead. Managed just under 2hrs @230W and NP of 263W. On Saturday I smashed a 14sec PB up a 2:20 climb which boosted my FTP 10W to 280W on both this platform and Xert (I just have a trial login there out of interest). Felt really strong today.
I would suggest just training for a while and uploading your data here. The eFTP seems to be a pretty good estimate for setting your training zones. The FTP test really needs to be done when you are really fresh. I felt so strong today if I had done an FTP test Iām confident I could have gotten the same as my eFTP here or better. I wasnāt overly motivated, I just felt really good once I started riding.
This is what my HR looked like today, I was working hard but it definitely didnāt feel that hard.
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Adding to the discussion, this might be a good alternative to get a propper figure for the majority of the cases with the advantage of estimating TTE@FTP as well.
No Not done it yet. I probably wont do an indoor test any time soon as I am going out more now and just enjoying riding.
Those are some good numbers your posting seems to be going well for you!
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My goal is to hit 4w/kg which for me is around 320W. So while Iām happy with my progress I donāt see them as āgoodā numbers, at least not until I hit 300W FTP 
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We are in a snap 3 day lockdown here, can still exercise outside and itās a great time to be riding since thereās less traffic. I think I would go bonkers if I had to do all my riding indoors
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Its all relative. they are better than my numbers so to me they are good.
I know what you mean though, goals are individual and as long as they are achievable a good thing.
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Absolutely! I follow a bunch of the pros on Strava. Sometimes itās demoralising I guess but itās also good to look at their numbers as motivation to improve your own even though you know youāll never get near theirs.
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Yeah, Kolie Mooreās testing protocols seem to be exceedingly robust for determining FTP by testing in a longer, progressive way.
Helps that with his podcast heās clearly exceedingly knowledgeable when it comes to sports physiology and coaching.
If I werenāt finally seeing the light at the end of an Achilles tendinopathy, Iād absolutely be using his protocols for my FTP testing.
As it stands, I have been with eFTP and had just drastically lengthened my minimum duration for eFTP calculation because I tend to be able to push pretty far into the anaerobic cave and it shoots my FTP estimated to hell.
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What if my eFTP for a 17 minute cat and mouse crit race came out way above my prior 20min FTP result? I assume this just means Iām in better shape now and probably more motivated by a race than a solo ftp effort
This is unrelated to the subject of this thread but OPās image is the perfect example, why is the 30s (shaded) power stretched along the y-axis? The 30s power graph of the ramp part looks like itās parabolic when it should be linear. Iāve noticed that before in my graphs where there are high power spikes.
Yes 17m minute max effort in a race should give you a good number. In theory you should be able to do better with a steady effort in training but then there is the motivation problem
It is 30s power on a log scale to accentuate the high power bits. It shows you where the training load (TSS) for the ride came from more or less. A linear scale wouldnāt do this as nicely. It does break a bit if you have some big sprints and are good at that.
Ah yes, that makes sense. I had a couple of rides with sprints where the rest of the power curve was squished into a few pixels. I love the the shading because itās much easier to read, is there maybe any plan of adding this to the normal power chart?