I did my first ramp test to assess my FTP yesterday. When I was at the 360 watt level, I hit my breaking point, and my cadence dropped. However, I was still turning the pedals and Zwift disabled ERG mode. Then I got my cadence back up at the lower power level, ERG mode kicked back on, and I was able to muscle through some of the 380 watt level. My FTP came back much higher than it was using the longer FTP test I did a few months ago (252 from 226), and I haven’t been training as much lately. Did I perform the protocol correctly or not? I was not expecting to get a second bite at the apple like I did, and I think it may have caused my FTP to be higher. I appreciate any comments. Thanks.
As I understand it, the ramp test uses your best 1 minute power to estimate the FTP, and it gives you an FTP of approx. 75% of this. If you got 252W FTP then your best 1 minute was ca. 336W, so the bit you did at 360 or 380W hasn’t changed the result.
I don’t think you can compare the result with the one you got from the longer test because the tests are different.