Newbie TP Question

I am brand new to Xert. After syncing 3 months of Strava rides, my fitness signature TP is around 35W lower than I thought it was based on a ramp test and also using the What’s My FTP data field (from Xert) on one harder effort. Those two methods were right on top of each other. Most of the Strava rides were foundation rides, with some tempo or sweet spot mixed in. Is that the reason for the discrepancy? If yes, should I adjust the TP manually or just let Xert figure it out over time? I am in a pre-plan phase, so there doesn’t seem to be a lot of especially hard recommended workouts from Xert to speed the adjustment. Thanks for your advice.

TP and FTP are not the same thing. If you want to see what your 1 hour power is change your athlete type to Time Triallist and you will see it in your signature numbers.

Also, be sure that you have a valid Peak Power in the system. I took a look at your data and it looks far too low. Any idea what your best 1s (or 5s) power is right now?

According to Strava data, the highest 1s power was 350w and 5s power was 330w. That was on a very short, but very steep incline. On the ride I mentioned where the What’s My FTP data field read 161, there is a long but modest climb that I went pretty hard on because I wanted to test out What’s my FTP. The 1s power there was 327.

Maybe the Xert number for TP is right based on the nature of the relatively easy foundation rides I’ve been doing. Strava’s power curve estimates my FTP on the same data you are using as 122. Spot on Xert’s number.

Hi George,

Sorry to jump in here. But what is the difference then? My (calculated) 1 hour power for example is (according to the power graph) 303W. This should be my FTP then. My TP is 308W, so not much apart.

For some people, TP is very close to 1 hour power, for others not so much. This is mainly because FTP is, or used to be, defined as 1 hour maximum sustainable power, but it varies between 40 and 70 minutes between athletes…

Let Xert figure it out but make sure to throw in a BT workout every few weeks or do one right now if you haven’t done so already. The advisor will eventually warn you to do this but there isn’t any reason you can’t jump around. Search the workout library for “breakthrough”.
Unlike a RAMP test a BT workout verifies several markers that comprise your fitness signature.
You might also try riding the hardness tests in sequence over several weeks. See how high you can go in the series.
In pre-base/base you can also set your signature to no-decay (Account settings, Profile) if you just want to ride suggested workouts and not challenge yourself with BTs. Make sure to set back to Optimal as you move out of Base phase.

I think what Scott was saying is the answer. Without a true all out sprint to set your upper PP then the others which are derived where this factors in will be affected. So a max effort on climb is not a sprint. You need some of both to get your signature set. That is my interpretation.