Last Updated on 17 September 2026:
Putting the effort into training is great, but how do you know whether it is moving you towards your cycling goals? This guide explains how to gauge cycling performance improvements using tests that reflect the demands of the riding you want to do.
Covered in this blog
- Functional Threshold Power (FTP)
- Brief understanding of FTP
- Is FTP actually reliable?
- Testing based on your goals
- Tests for sprinters
- Tests for hill climbers
- Tests for testers
- Tests for sportive and gran fondo cyclists
- Top testing tips
Functional Threshold Power (FTP)
Brief understanding of FTP
Functional Threshold Power (FTP), is an approximation of the average power you can sustain for an hour. To estimate your FTP, cyclists typically perform one of a few different tests, including a 20-minute test or a ramp test.
If you’re new to cycling or training with power, you might consider estimating your FTP, keeping your FTP relatively low, until you have had enough time to learn to train with power and your body has settled into a structured training routine.
FTP is important if you use software, such as TrainingPeaks, as it is typically used to gauge effort across other durations and intensities, and it is the base of more complex measurements that can help you plan longer term training, fitness, and recovery trends.
Is FTP actually reliable?
First consider that FTP is an approximation of an approximation. You have a lot of variables that can cause a degree of inaccuracy here; power meter variability is one of the biggest. Then consider whether you could actually hold your estimated FTP for an hour. Almost everyone will struggle to do that without any specific training.
I do like basing my clients’ lower intensity training (anything up to FTP itself) on FTP. It’s highly unlikely that I can plan training based on %FTP for lower intensity and get a different result (adaptation in the human body) than I planned. That said, I prefer to look more individually at a client as the intensity rises. Looking at using perceived exertion, power data, other tests, to gauge how I prescribe their training sessions and intensity.
Ultimately, like a lot of cycling performance training, FTP is a good guide at best. It’s certainly not the only measurement to set your training to, it’s certainly not the most important measurement of a cyclist, and it definitely shouldn’t define you as a cyclist either. If you do use FTP based software, of which I believe all are currently based, you will have to spend some time ensuring the accuracy of your FTP – even if it’s simply still an approximation of an approximation.
Testing cycling performance improvements based on your goals
Here’s the number one takeaway from this blog. Testing should be relevant to your goals. You will also do a wider array of tests to ensure that you have benchmarks across a number of different intensities. Each process goal of your event can have it’s own test. How else can you be sure you are improving enough to meet or exceed the demands of your goals?
Tests for sprinters
If you want to improve your sprint power, you first need a baseline measurement. Of course, if you’re racing, you might need to calculate your sprint power over a number of different durations, then examine and estimate the duration of the sprint in certain races, or perhaps that is certain courses
To start, you might just use a 5” peak power test. As the name sounds, this is a test to determine your 5” peak power. You might sprint for a couple of seconds longer to ensure you have enough data. Once you have the data, you can work towards improving it.
As I mentioned above, this can be used as a replacement for prescribing the intensity of your higher intensity training sessions. Following sessions that are set to %PP (peak power), will be far more beneficial than trying to estimate peak power from FTP, which will vary greatly between different people.
Tests for hill climbers
This will depend on exactly how long the hill you want to climb is. If it is a longer climb of an hour or more, then completing an FTP test might be the most relatable to your goal. However, if you really want to nail your goal, I strongly recommend actually testing on the hill itself.
Strava is a good resource here. You can set your best time on the segment as your benchmark, train for 4-8 weeks, then come back and test on the climb again. For shorter climbs, you can also use your power data from the effort to prescribe the power of your intervals. Short of having VO2Max testing available, this is a great way to personalise the intensity of your sessions, which will be far more accurate than %FTP.
Tests for testers
If you’re a tester (a cyclist who specialises in time trials), you can’t do much better than the classic 20-minute test. Not only will this be a great mental workout, but it is an opportunity to practise pacing too.
Many seasoned cyclists now talk about the death of the 20-minute test. For a very long time, this has been the go to test for many cyclists to set their FTP. Ramp tests have become more popular and, while I do give my clients ramp tests to set FTP, my tester clients will likely do more 20-minute efforts.
Tests for sportive and gran fondo cyclists
For anything where endurance is more important than power; century rides, sportives, and gran fondos, I simply recommend looking at your longer rides as the tests of your improvement. At the start of training, you might only be able to ride for an hour or two, however, as you train, you should see this gently increase.
Once you’ve nailed the endurance demand of your event, you can start to look at those all important average finishing times. The best way to do this would be to work out where you might make up the most time. This could be by riding in a group during the flatter parts, learning to descend more effectively, or improving on some of the key climbs.
Simply look at both the demands of your event and yourself, then work out exactly how to test in order to measure your improvements.
Top cycling performance improvements tips
Regardless of what test you pick, you will need to complete it as best as possible, to get the most accurate result. Here are my top tips for testing cycling performance:
- Make it relevant to your goal
- Test all process goals
- Make the test repeatable
- Calibrate (zero offset) all your equipment before
- Keep your environment controlled
Summary
Choose tests that reflect your own goals, repeat them in similar conditions, and use the results to guide the next block of training. If you would like help choosing the right benchmarks and sessions for your event, Book a Free Consultation.
