I feel your pain and (almost) disillusionment:rofl:
. I changed from a Tacx (not) smart trainer to Elite direto and my FTP crashed faster than crashy thing on a crashy day. Had the wrong settings.
Result? " A correction", as economists say when the erse falls out the market. On the bright side, the only way is up. Still went up 20watts after 8 weeks on Build Phase. Do i feel any different? A bit miffed with the “correction”, but its real accurate numbers. I still love trainerroad and still getting stronger. Just have to set the ego aside. Get stuck in!
1 Like
I was using a Cyclops Fluid 2 trainer last year. Great bit of kit and it did the job. The problem was me. I was inconsistent with my tyre pressure and applied resistance. Stopped using TR in April 2018 with a 325FTP. I laugh at that now.
Fast forward to October 2018 and I purchased a TACX Flux. Expecting to have lost some of my fitness, I dialled my FTP down to 280 and went about riding Carson, one of my favourite workouts. I thought I was going to die! What had happened?
Two days later, I did my first Ramp Test. 268FTP. It has taken me months to claw my way back up to the 300s.
FTP of 325! Don’t make me laugh 
3 Likes
At the end of the day, FTP is not equal to speed. There is a strong correlation but it’s only one factor that is in an equation to speed.
For the last year and a half, I’ve been on a plateau of FTP between 260-275. Really discouraging. But my speed in the races have gone up quite a bit on the same power. My efficiency and my ability to run after the bike is better too. So, keep training and you’ll get there.
2 Likes
To soften your sores a bit: the Garmin Vector S is a single sided powermeter, it could well be that your L/R balance is quite a bit off and your FTP of your L/R combined might be higher than you think now! Here is to hope 
2 Likes
Caught the same issue with Elite Direto vs Stages LR (crank based).
Stages powermeter has dropped my power at least by 10%.
I started the investigation and came up with that my Elite Direto trainer was not calibrated properly (its internal belt was not well tightened).
After two calibration sessions it began to show power that became pretty similar with the Stages one (±3w).
As result my FTP and all my effort for workouts for the past 3 months were overestimated and it upset me a lot.
I decided to reset my career in the TrainerRoad account and started over.
So be careful with smart trainers and with their built-in powermeters.
Always perform proper calibration.
You can also do a few tests to compare. fwiw, I’ve found my original Hammer and 4iii single sided to track pretty much spot on to each other. I’ve a dedicated trainer bike on it now, I guess I should compare every now and again but RPE of workouts on the hammer or using a dumb trainer and the 4iii seem ok.
Been there, done that too mate 
I was using Virtual Power on my Elite novo Force trainer… Thought I was good, then a week prior to my first race of the season I got myself a real power meter. And… I was under more than 70 watts, don’t ask me how miserable I felt 
I still use my Tacx Flow “smart” trainer that I bought to start racing on Zwift.
Back then I could sometimes hold 290W up the entire Lutcher CCW climb, other times I struggled to hold 270W on short climbs. I hate putting the blame on the equipment so I used to tell myself to HTFU.
After 6 months I bought my assioma duos and oh boy… I saw my FTP sink like a burning ship!
For me, a bad smart trainer completely defeated the purpose of training with power, which was having a consistent benchmark of what I can and cannot achieve.
Hi All,
Im new to TR and have not used any platform like this before. Bought my first turbo (Elite Tuo) which was pretty much the only smart trainer i could get my hands on during the pandemic, I have done an FTP on elites training software and then recently on TR but the numbers seem ridiculous? both gave me in the region of 420?!!
Now i am no expert but i am going to say that is very far off, however i have calibrated numerous times and tried different platforms and still getting this issue? i am not too concerned on TR as the structured training is based of the suppose able FTP so regardless of the numbers i am probably getting the correct stimulus.
Any advise?
Just use the 420W and carry on…doesn’t matter if only only have a single power source. Turbos are often of by a fair amount.
Have you performed the proper setup and then a calibration?
I was happy to go the other way — gained about 20w after switching to Assioma Uno from Kickr Snap
Yeah been through calibration a good few times with no change. Think I will just live with it at the moment as turbos are like unicorn dust at the moment.
I started training, was given a 300 watt FTP withg a power curve SEVERAL years ago, eventually grew that to 360.
I was NOT a 360 watt rider hahahahaha
Just keep training, don’t brag about your “FTP” to your buddies, or use online racing platforms with the obviously inflated numbers 
Otherwise, train on!
I went from a Tacx Vortex “Smart” to a Stages and lost 30-70 watts on the high end. 
It sucks but it teaches you not to get attached to any particular number. Look for the trend on the same power meter.