Realistic FTP for 68 year old male

You are where you are whether you are 18 or 68. See where you are and try to improve aspects of your riding that you want to get better.

If you ride for mostly for pleasure it’s even less important - although I guess if you’ve recently bought a PM you are somewhat interested :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

One things for sure, age isn’t a barrier to (relative) performance. I rode a 100 mile TT last year in which a rider from a club near me rode 4hr 15min for 100 miles at 71 years young. Phenomenal stuff.

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63 year old here. I average 4K miles a year over the last 15 years, mostly endurance pace. I’m also new to power but I understand that I will be better to pace myself on the longer rides that I prefer. I have a habit of going too hard too early and blowing up on the last hill , slowing to a crawl.

FTP is what it is. TR will help you improve your power. YOUR number is where your at now. work to make yourself better, surprise your buddies in the spring with good form

What I have found as a more “seasoned” cyclist is that I don’t recover from the workouts as fast as a younger rider. I use the low volume sweet spot plan and I needed to adjust my FTP DOWN a bit to complete the workouts. hopefully that will change as I get used to trainer riding and interval training

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Hey,

I am 61 and have been riding seriously for 3.5 years. 6 months on my own and the last 3 years with a coach. I ride about 5000 miles a year doing two structured training rides and two outdoor rides, usually endurance or hill orientated, of longer duration a week. I went from an FTP of 170 to where I am now at 245. I race with some guys in their 70’s who just blow my doors off. The combination of raising your FTP through structured training combined with weight loss is everyone’s formula for faster riding. But remember this, no matter how you perform compared to others, it is just beautiful to be out on the bike flowing down the roads. It allows me to forget how old I am.

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My dad is 66 and is rocking a 210ish FTP. He barely rides outside anymore because of drivers in his area, but barring knee surgery recovery has been pretty religious about repeating SSB1 & 2 more than most people. He was never a cyclist before this all fell together because he wanted something to stay fit as a former rower. He really loves the structure of it and the fact that there is no guess work about what to do.

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I am 66 and have been using Trainer Road for a couple of years with a Wahoo Kicker trainer. I have set my FTP with trial and error over time and it sits at about 150. I was not training for awhile here and when i came back i noticed that it was a lot harder for me to finish workouts. In fact, i could not finish them. So i backed off the intensity rather than lower my FTP. It seems to get harder as i get older to get back into shape. I have been riding most of my life with my big deal ride from Seattle to Boston when finished college. I too was wondering what the average FTP was for a rider in their 60s. No one wants to give an answer. So it is probably true that all that matters at this stage of life is to keep moving and see if you can raise the difficulty of your workouts over time if you stick to it. 150 watt FTP seems kind of pathetic but you know it works for me as a marker. It is a guideline. 95% of 20 minute max power seems to be a good estimate of FTP.

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The Bell curve of cylists - how fast are the average TR users? - #124 by Nate_Pearson Should shed some light on these questions

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Only on the TrainerRoad forum do you find guys in their 60s with bigger FTPs than riders I know in their 20s and 30s :smiley:

Some nice numbers in this thread. Kudos!

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I ride with guys in their 60’s who are still improving.

Of course, if you’ve been racing bikes for 40 years and training hard and smart, it does go down as you age all other things being equal. But chances are pretty good you are not at your current max so have at it.

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This might be slightly off topic or I got the wrong end of the stick but, didn’t the guys discuss something similar on the Podcast recently? The topic was admitted focused on ex-pros and their seeming ability to retain their fitness.

I’m guessing that even as keen amateurs, we’re developing that muscle memory and nucleus that can be recalled and retrained well into later life.

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One of the guys I ride with is 70 and his FTP is over 300. Im 54 and he is an inspiration to me.

Everyone is different, so cant compare people.

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My dad (64) is still pretty handy on a bike and does affair bit of running too. He found Joe Friel’s “Fast over 50” book really useful and has made various changes to his training (more weights etc) and diet (more protein) which he thinks have had a big positive effect. Worth checking out.

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I am close to 63 and have an FTP of 230 at 145 lbs, 10 stone 5 for UK readers. I compete in road and CX and do a little one to one coaching. My average TSS is about 550 per week and do 10+ hrs on the bike and a couple of gym sessions per week. Recovery is key and I use Polar Flow and regular orthostatic tests to prevent over reaching. I just like to ride little and often, little means a least an hour a day , maximum is 3hrs in a day.

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I’m 66 and currently my FTP is 219 and weight is 73KG so weight/KW is around 3Kg/W. I do around 200 -250 km per week ( 12000 -15000km year) usually a couple of group rides and the rest solo or rides on the indoor trainer.
I was doing TR plans indoors for awhile but then I realized that I’d rather be outside riding as I live in the country and there are a lot of good back roads to ride on so the last few months I have been very sporadic with actual training but I’m really enjoying my riding outdoors which is what it is all about.
Occasionally I am attempting to do some hard intervals outdoors since they introduced the outdoor sessions. :slight_smile:

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My Dad is 62 and has an FTP of 215W and weighs around 64kg. He has very good stamina and can go close to his FTP for long times but seems to struggle with punchier efforts and FTP test… Has TSS avg of 400+ and trains inside with TR and outside on the weekends.

I have been trying to figure out how can he up his FTP but seems to be near his limit as he fails every FTP test (either ramp or 8 minute) but out on the road his numbers prove around 215ish.

Respect for everyone out there still pushing the pedals hard!!

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Sounds like working on vo2max will improve results on Ramp test (which is based on vo2max).

Improving vo2max may or may not improve sustained power.

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Well, back in January I was able to reach 248 in a Ramp Test. I’m 67 weighing 65 kg/143 lbs with Strava showing 5400 miles last year. That Ramp Test came after Sweet Spot Base mid volume II. Your milage may vary; my background includes a lot of distance running when I was younger, but also a couple interim decades with almost no endurance exercise.

Make sure your heart and cardiovascular system are healthy enough for this kind of work. My last stress test was a couple years ago; it’s time to go again.

I’ll also add that I found the Sustained Power Build mid volume plan to be too hard, and my testing spiralled downward with me recently wimping out to get a 233. My previous 2 years with the Build plans gave similar results. Joe Friel’s “Fast after 50” says we need intense workouts, so I continue to use TrainerRoad to provide these.

I agree that 300 watts may not be very realistic for us, but I’ll continue to explore what IS possible.

Did I mention that you should have your heart checked?

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Waiting until I took the Ramp Test today to comment. I’ll be 62 next week and had my FTP set to 213 since March. After finishing SSBMV2, I pretty much abandoned the structured training and got outside to train in May for my “A event” this past Sunday. I was a little concerned about my lack of long distance (maxed out at 50+ miles) since the event (around Lake Tahoe) is 71-72 miles. Turned out just fine and didn’t have any trouble finishing. Finished about the same time, maybe even a few minutes faster, but I’m happy with the result. My next event isn’t until October (mountain time trail), so doing a build and speciality works out great time wise.

Today’s Ramp Test showed a drop to 207, which didn’t surprise me considering the lack of structured training. Yesterday’s leg opener (Truuli -1) workout showed I could still handle intervals at FTP as well as the 120% and 125% intervals so despite my earlier comment in this thread about just accepting the result, I have decided to split the difference and train at 210 instead of 207. I’ll just adjust as I go along, if needed.

Looking at my FTP history, my highest FTP was 231 in 2016, about 8 months after I started with TR. I was “only” 59 years old then, so maybe that’s why it was higher? :sweat_smile:

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67 here, TR program with Kickr Core for 4 months now. Been riding since Dec 2017.
Started at 97.5kg, now at 93kg. Weight goal is 84kg. First tested this year around 200FTP.
Now at about 215. Not much improvement.
However, the workouts seem to be getting easier. Workout or ride every other day, but nothing
like some I read about on this list! Usually 15 miles.
Just did BRAG (bike ride across Georgia) First day 73 miles right over Burnt mountain. New PR for distance for me. Longest day was 86 miles, another new PR. This year, I was able to keep going without stopping, except for traffic lights or official rest stops.
Just ordered a new Cannondale Synapse carbon disk. I could not believe the difference in the rolling resistance and dampening effects of the carbon. It was noticeable…goodbye my old 2004 700R!
I will say that if you are older, you have to keep at it, no long layoffs!

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Wow, that is super strong. :muscle:

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Turning 60 in a month. Did TR for a few months last winter and then spent time outdoors.
In Sept my FTP was 199 and I was disappointed. Hired a CTS coach and as of Dec I’m up to 236.
I’m 213 or about 97 kg so power to weight is 2.45. I will never be a racer but I want to complete Colorado’s Triple By-Pass, hope to get to 2.75 by next summer. Setting big goals and working toward them is fun, even if I will be on the slower ones.

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