I just got my powertap and have been playing around with it. What is considered a good FTP?
350 watts.
Maybe, if you weigh 50 kilograms.
I myself aim for about 11 watts per kilo for my FTP. Anything else is weak.
i would say reasonable would be whatever it takes for you to break an hour in a 40k.
50 kilograms? translate that into american.
somebody give me the cliff notes on FTP. power that one can sustain for 1 hour? 20 minutes?
would that be a 7 power to weight ratio? That seems more than reasonable.
50 kilograms? translate that into american.
American? LOL. About 110 lbs
somebody give me the cliff notes on FTP. power that one can sustain for 1 hour? 20 minutes?
I believe it’s definition is max sustainable 60 min power, someone feel free to correct me though.
would that be a 7 power to weight ratio? That seems more than reasonable.
Well, in w/kg, if you your FTP were 7 w/kg at my weight (170 lbs or 77 kg), that would make your FTP 539w. I’d kill for that. Literally. Or even better, I might buy PowerCranks for that.
Nah, I wouldn’t go THAT far… 
According to
http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/images/powerprofile_v4.gif
anything over 4 watts/kg for a male and 3.5 watts/kg for female is “good”.
This could be wrong but…I think 7 watts/kg is the magic number for TOP professional cyclists. It’s actually pretty unreasonable for most people…
Whatever yours is, add 50W. There ya have it.
Uh seriously folks, if you can push an FTP of 4 w/kg and you have a reasonable aero kit you will win the bike leg in almost every local sprint/oly tri you enter.
Anything extra is gravy. The last time I tested my FTP I pushed 247 watts, I weigh 67 kilos so about 3.6 w/kg, nothing at all special, but I still blow away some decent cat3 riding buddies on the hills.
5w/kg. I am currently trying to get down to 60kg, while bringing up my power to 360w. Still 30w’s short and 4kg too heavy! 6w/kg here I come!
Uh seriously folks, if you can push an FTP of 4 w/kg and you have a reasonable aero kit you will win the bike leg in almost every local sprint/oly tri you enter.
Anything extra is gravy. The last time I tested my FTP I pushed 247 watts, I weigh 67 kilos so about 3.6 w/kg, nothing at all special, but I still blow away some decent cat3 riding buddies on the hills.
Do you live in an area with no other people, or have you underestimated your FTP?
hahaha. yea 3.6w/kg wont fly in san diego. maybe you could win the womens bike leg
A little bit of both. Pittsburgh’s not exactly tri central, though we do have our fair share of “good” athletes, some of which are certainly better than most non pros. And I haven’t done an FTP test since coming off of a knee injury in February. That said… I did do a 40 mile group ride last Saturday and during a steep mile long hill I averaged 327 watts for over 5 minutes, so my 5min power is pretty strong. Good to have in a region with lots of short and steep hills.
I’ll go over 25mph on the flats with no problem and last August I averaged over 23 mph on a 20k course with a 3 mile hill climb. Maybe I’m just aero and use really, really good tires with latex tubes.
Dude, there’d be no shame if I didn’t beat the fastest woman.
My wife, for one, can run me into the ground on anything over 10 miles.
Those of us that live CA or CO have some very deep competition compared to other states. Yes, there are fast people in other states, just not hundreds and hundreds in a populated area like CA and CO.
A cat 3 cyclist in Northern CA will have an FTP over 315w from what I can see in results and talking to folks locally. Southern CA is most likely similar, but it is a different cycling district, so I do not know for sure.
An FTP around 280-320 with an aero position should net decent results in a tri.
I just got my powertap and have been playing around with it. What is considered a good FTP?
RTFM
I have a hard time with cat 3 with a FTP of 315 in the latest velonews it should the power of team slip stream riders during the TTT and it ranged from 327-370. 370 David M
A decent FTP would be 500w and 72k like lance on epo. Oh yah if you lose 6kilo you will go from middle of the pack to tour champ.
Yeah, Pittsburgh seems better at making HOF football players than it does at making triathletes.
Maybe it’s the french fries and cole slaw on everything
3.6 w/kg for FTP in SoCal will get you soundly and unceremoniously dropped on the first hill of any decent group ride. On Swamis or Como Street (our faster group rides), that kind of number would get you dropped during warm-up. The Cat 3s here would eat people with 3.6 w/kg FTPs for breakfast.
4.0 w/kg in a triathlon would maybe be top 5-10 in a rinky-dink local tri and top 50 in a big race. If you come ride in SoCal, you better bring some heat. I have high Cat 2ish/low Cat 1ish 5 minute and 60 minute power and I have to work very hard to make the break on the faster group rides. That might be because the rides are packed with Cat 1s, domestic pros, and pro triathletes.