Building, or rather rebuilding, my bike fitness for 2026 is a big thing.
Last year started fairly well, with all the groundwork laid in the latter half of 2024, until things took a sidestep. And it was more of a sidestep than a backstep entirely, as habits, drives and desire didn’t entirely crumble.
Now, with January about building consistency in the saddle, working my way back to three to four sessions a week
With a decent bit of climbing in the bank last year, along with a raft of power improvements (read small, compound adjustments), I had brought my FTP to 263W with the feeling of more in the tank. Take the foot off the gas, and sure enough, it’s going to take a bit of a hit.
In September of last year, I tested at 237W, and somewhere between there and October, maybe November on a whim, as cycling was very light if at all, I dropped to 226W. Coming in this morning, under-fuelled, zero preparation, rolling out of bed to get on the bike, hitting 225W sets the bar upon which to build for the months ahead.
I’ll take it monthly, work on the three to four sessions a week I feel I need, and go from there. Ideall,y come March I can push back into the 230s, by the summer the 250s and this year I’d love to be in a position to push towards 270W. Granted, I may need to get back to race weight to help me there, but all in good time.
Wait, what the hell’s an FTP test?
For someone whose relationship with FTP is more to do with moving files around the web than measuring my power output on a bike, let me break it down for you.
FTP stands for Functional Threshold Power, and it’s essentially a measure of your cycling fitness. Think of it as your cycling superpower baseline, specifically the highest average power (measured in watts) that you could sustain for one hour.
- Read: What is FTP and why does it matter for cyclists?
- Read: What Is Functional Threshold Power (FTP) In Cycling? Experts Break It Down
In practical terms, when you cycle at low intensities, your aerobic system uses oxygen to create energy. Push harder, and your anaerobic system kicks in, creating energy faster at the cost of increasing your breathing, heart rate and getting your legs to burn. Your FTP is the point where these two systems balance or where you find your hardest sustainable effort before everything starts to fall apart.
For me, this morning, that was pushing 320W, while trying to get my head to shut up at the same time, as this whole process is as much mental as it is physical.
The test itself doesn’t take an hour, however. In the case of an FTP ramp test on Zwift, you’ll do a five-minute warmup and likely find yourself coming off the bike in 10-20 minutes, with your FTP based on your best one-minute performance.
You start at 100W, increasing 20W every one minute until you simply can’t pedal any further.
An alternative would be doing a 20-minute field test with a power meter, going full gas for the 20 minutes, and multiplying your average power by 0.95 to estimate an hour-long threshold.
Once you know your FTP, it can be used as a foundation for structured training. From there, you can figure out training zones (more on that at another stage) to guide your efforts in each session. It also gives you a benchmark to track your progress over time.
In my case, I’m going to test every month, with my next one in the diary for Valentine’s weekend. For me to go from 225W back to 263W is a 16.9% increase. There’s no hard and fast rule about how much you could improve, or how fast you could or should improve, but even a 2.5% increase over six to eight months would be considered a decent rise.
It comes down to consistency at that stage then, doesn’t it?
