I would love to see a completely flat route that’s at least 40km or 25 mile long to do a proper one hour FTP test. When I say “flat”, I mean 0% gradient for the entire route without any rolling hills. All the so called available “flat” routes are not pancake flat. Both the ramp test and the 20-minute test way overestimate my FTP, and I really enjoy doing the full one hour effort much more since it’s a 1 x 60’ threshold/supra-threshold interval that will help me in the long run. Thanks.
Any route can be pancake flat if you lower the trainer difficulty to 0, or all the way to the left. This essentially removes any increases or decreases in resistance being sent to the trainer. Tempus Fugit is a good route to use, there are only 2 very small bumps in the road, and with 0% trainer difficulty you wouldn’t feel them… I think it is a 12 mile loop or so… so 2 full laps should do it.
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Or you can create a free ride workout and set the resistance on the companion app.
Wouldn’t lower the trainer difficulty to 0 make it way too easy and unrealistic compared to actual outdoor resistance when riding on flat ground? Can one actually hold consistent maximal wattage for an hour with the resistance set to 0?
Trainer Difficulty is gradient scaling. It won’t change anything on flat terrain. It only affects hills (up or down). Try it and see. You can change it in the middle of a ride.
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Zwift is already way easier and unrealistic compared to outside IRL riding 
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Great to know. Thanks.
For me at various power zones, my speeds in Zwift are very darn close to my actual outdoor speeds with the resistance set at default value.
In Pairing can you turn OFF the Controller but leave the Power ON? Would that then remove the resistance change on hills? I think I used to do that very early on, getting too old now to bother 
.
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We have Fuego Flats. You can ride any distance you choose, even a 112 mile event.
Yes, I realize I can do multiple loops as a workaround, but that can get old after a while.
I think it’s realistic with pro-level aerodynamics, which most of us absolutely don’t have.
Pedaling dynamics depend on how “inertial” the resistance is. IRL if you let up on the force, the pedals still move at close to the same speed if the bike is on flat ground, since the bike loses speed only slowly. This is high inertia. The pedals slow down quickly, on the other hand, on steep gradients. On a trainer the inertia on the flat tends to be smaller than IRL since the mass of the human body moving forward doesn’t contribute: just the much lighter flywheel on the trainer. But the inertia uphill may be similar.
I believe resistance = 0% emulates the Zwift version of a flat road.
That said, Tempus Fujit is pretty close to flat.
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Literally not a thing.
TTE at FTP could be btwn 35 minutes (more likely) and 80+ minutes (less likely) so you could be either above or below FTP at that duration.
A one hour tine trial is still a thing worth doing, though.
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But a 40km perfectly flat rout will also get old quickly.
With a free ride workout you can ride any route and don’t feel the climbs.
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How about a 112 mile flat climb portal called Kona Klimb?
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Correct, FTP is the highest power we can produce in a steady state. Go above FTP, and you’ll crack eventually. Below FTP, you can hold it for a while, even if it’s not necessarily comfortable. I think this is roughly equal to working at lactate threshold (LT2 in sports physiology).
Andy Coggan initially proposed the 60 min time trial as an estimate of FTP. That was later changed. There’s nothing about 60 minutes that corresponds to anything physiological.
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Explain to me how they over estimate your power?
If you go flat out for 20 minutes it is your power, nothing unrealistic about that provided your power source is accurate.
For your question, you might just set a 100 minute workout with a steady gradient of 2% and then just ride.
My FTP tests of old were always in a steady fixed 2% gradient in PerfPRO Studio and use the gears when needed. It was the standard method we all used.
There are all sorts of testing protocols you could use as well. Maybe you should use the old Australian Institute of Sport power profile test because it’s a particularly cruel form of suffering…
All the different methods have their reasons, but what’s important is you are using them to quantify how you are going.
20 minutes is your CP20, not CP60. I got an SRM and a Wahoo Kickr V6 for power sources.
I have never been able to complete the classic 2 x 20’ at FTP by using 95% of the 20-minute test (with the 5-minute all out). I have never been able to hold the same 95% for the full hour. My FTP is therefore between 90-93% of CP20, but where in this range is anybody’s guess. On the other hand, I can easily complete 2 x 20’ at FTP using the result from an hour test.
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putting forth a Kona request separately. 112 miles.