Forekast for this evening will be an FTP Test with an array of small disasters

FTP Course for the past 3+ years in the CVNP.

FTP, for those unfamiliar with this cycling acronym, stands for Functional Threshold Power. It is used by cyclists worldwide and represents one's ability to sustain the highest possible power output for 45 to 60 minutes whether you are a trained athlete or not. I have never performed a 45 to 60 minutes test and opt to take a 20-ish minute test on an 8-mile course with 5-miles of the flat-ish road followed by a 3-mile climb. To calculate the FTP value for my effort, 95% of the average power output over 20-minutes is used. I have taken this test many times and I always stress out about it. Why? I really don't know. It's not like this number makes me a better or worse person. It's just a number. Regardless, I tend to get worked up over it days before the test. I stress a lot over the little stuff. Something to work on I suppose.

TrainingPeaks showing the week prior to the week of the test.

I wasn't stoked to be taking this test the week after a big training week, big for me at least, and I of course gripped and moaned about it to my coach. He, of course, took it in stride, laughed a bit, and said that its all a part of his job as my coach and that I was by far NOT the worse one he has to deal with in these types of situations. As usual, he calmed my nerves and I committed to taking the test on Wednesday (3/27). I decided to shift some workouts around, as I tend to do. Monday I did a Hill Repeat trail run workout + strength training + easy spin (to spin out the run as that always feels good). Tuesday I was planning on just an easy spin to keep the legs moving, however, I decided to hit a 2-hour Z2 ride since it was sunny out, I felt like I wanted to ride, and well ... FTP is just a number, right? My weapon of choice for the test would be the S-Works Epic. It has a 1x12 drive train, meaning I shouldn't run out of gear when the road ebbs & flows in elevation, so I took it on the 2-hour ride the day before the test.  During the ride, I kept hearing a strange, almost ratcheting sound, coming from ... ummm ... Go Fish. No clue honestly, but it sort of sounded like it was coming from the Bottom Bracket (the part where the cranks and pedals attach to the bike) or from the rear end of the bike ... like ... the chain and derailleur perhaps? Meh. It would come and go but everything still felt smooth. When I got home I decided to lube the chain ... dang ... forgot to do that after I last washed it so perhaps it was a dry chain. I also removed the front mudguard because perhaps it was rattling around in the wind? Maybe? Grabbed hold of the cranks, moved them around, side-to-side ... seems ok ... feels ok. So ... hope it will be fine for tomorrow's test.

Pic snagged from the interwebs.

Wednesday ... let the festivities begin. Sorta kinda. A full workday is done and dusted and I managed to get out of the office on time. As I was making the last turn onto the road that leads to home, I noticed a sign ... an orange sign ... on the road that is a part of my FTP course. Dang, just what I don't need today of all days. I decided to check it out and sure enough, there was tree work being done and the road is down to one lane. Dang. These guys typically finish around 4pm so if I will drag my feet at home and start my warm-up around 3pm. With a 50-minute warm-up, I should roll through that section after they cleared out. I hope. So, I get home... drag my feet, knuckles, and butt around the house, change, get the bike ready to roll and head out at 3pm. I decided to head towards the trucks to see how things are progressing and HEY ... they already cleared out. Sweet!! While warming up I heard very faint sounds of the issue that I had the day before but nowhere near as bad, so yay!! Crisis averted. After a solid 45-minute warm-up with varying efforts and some short hard intervals to get the legs ready, I was all ready to start the test.

Round #1 - 8-minute effort before sh** hit the fan.

Round #1
Here we go!!! I roll up to the start point, that I am all too familiar with, and hit the gas but not too hard because you want to roll into these things, not at full gas. More like rolling out a carpet where you slowly build up the power over the entire distance. Many people tend to go full gas off the line but then blow up shortly after. This is NOT how to perform an FTP test. After about 1-2 minutes into the test, I begin to feel the lactic acid build up. This is when you just need to focus on the task at hand and ignore the discomfort. The pain WILL go away once you are done and remember ... Pain is Temporary!! I continue to push as I mentally check off sections of road as I progress to the end. Here is when the proverbial sh** hit the fan. Remember that noise that I thought was gone? Nope. It came back with a vengeance. I actually felt the cranks slip a bit and I tried to keep the power down. At eight minutes into the test ... I stopped. Anyone who has taken these tests knows that this is really the worse situation. WHy, stop at 8-minutes? Two reasons: 1) I did not want to destroy this brand new bike cuz I had no idea what was wrong and 2) there is actually an 8-minute FTP test that one can use to extrapolate an FTP number. To the latter point, maybe that would be ok for now and my coach can glean some sense of where I am at then I can re-test in a few weeks.

Forekaster 2.35 is NOT FTP Test approved!

Needless to say, I was not a happy camper!! Obviously, the only thing I can do at this point is to lick my wounds, yell a few colorful metaphors, and just get my butt home. As I roll up the house, I am still fuming ... livid. What other options do I have? Well ... there's always the Pivot HT that has the same power meter. Damn. Ok ... this is where some of that mental fortitude comes into play. The bike has a 1x11 and the Epic has a 1x12. I was fairly certain that with a 1x11 and a 32T chainring that I would likely spin out in a few spots on the course. Also, I was running a rather aggressive 2.35 Forekaster tire on the front ... yeah ... that's not going to help me bust this out in record time. Meh. I have no other option, so ... that is exactly what I decided to go with. Pumped up the tires, pissing and moaning, of course, calibrated the power meter, jumped on the bike, and headed back over the start line ... for a second attempt. With slightly cold legs I tried to spin quickly and get the body ready for another painful battle.

Round #2 - The full monty; notice spots of higher cadence and drop in power.

Round #2
Punched it off the start line, but not too hard of course, and tried my best to empty all negative thoughts out of my head and focus on the test. The first section is down, the second section down, the third section down ... finally reached the point that I had stopped on the first attempt. While still frustrated I kept telling my self ... DO NOT GIVE UP!! Failure is NOT an option. I rolled with as much as effort as I could put into it and of course ... just as I thought ... I ran out of gear a few times. Not a good thing when you want to put down consistent power. Spinning at a high cadence is not conducive to laying down much power, at least not for me. I knew this would impact my overall number, but at this point, my mind was set that I would finish this test no matter what!

Pic snagged from the interwebs.

Finally, finish the 5-mile flat-ish section, make the right turn onto Truxell Road for the final 3-mile climb to the end. I have climbed this hill ... man, I lost count. So many times so I know it extremely well. I know exactly where the road begins to elevate, where the harder portions of the climb reside, and where the exact halfway point it. Once I get past the Kendall Lake hill I just have 1-mile left. As I approach the Kendall Lake climb ... my luck apparently continued to run out. As I gave up the next grade increase what do my eyes see? Two cops and a park ranger in my lane with cones thus making this section a one lane road. You have GOT to be kidding me!! Now, in my head, I was going to blast past these guys regardless of what they may say or yell at me. In reality, if they had told me to stop ... we all know that I would have stopped. Fortunately ... they were just getting into their cars getting ready to roll. I did have to ride around them, but at least I did not have to slow down or stop. Continued my march to the end of the road, pushing, pulling, grunting, sweating, cursing, legs burning, all the way to the top. Hit the top and stopped the timer. Phew. Done and dusted.

How'd I do? Meh. Not great, but not bad. Given the circumstances, the bike setup, the overextended warm-up, running out of gear and spinning way more than is preferred ... I did ok. I will likely re-test in late May, but for now ... I finished. To finish with all the little things that kept coming at me, I count that as a win. At least for today. I don't mind sharing the numbers because frankly there is nothing impressive to see here, never really has been as I have never been able to push out big watts like most of my cycling brethren.

8-minute effort on the S-Works Epic.

That 8-minute round #1 attempt resulted in 4.88W/kg @ 325W NP and 324 average power. Significantly above my last FTP test, but it is difficult to say if I would have maintained that all the way to the end. Bailed when the sound from the bottom bracket got rather obnoxious and I did not want to cause any damage to the bike.

Full monty on the Pivot HT.

The 23-ish minute round #2 attempt resulted in 4.33W/kg @ 292 NP and 291 average power. About 10W less than my last FTP test and as I analyze the data when I ran out of gear, 4-5 times, my power was down significantly. I am sure that the pile-up of small issues throughout this ride had an impact on "the number" in the end. Regardless, it is what it is and it's just a number.




I learn something every time I take these tests. In this case, I learned more about my mental fortitude than anything else. I can take what I perceive to be an extremely horrible experience and continue to push on and complete the mission. #doinghardthings is not only physically difficult things but also mentally difficult things.

Much like Cleveland, OH sports fans tend to say ... There's always next time.

At least it was a beautiful day in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park!

UPDATE: I have been since informed by my LBS that the bearings in the read hub quite literally exploded, stuck the bearing race into the freehub body, and ruined the freehub body spacer. So ... there's that. Oy Vey.