Clarke Boulter Cycling Coach

FTP is a measurement. Not a workout type.

A new peer-reviewed study of 888 runners and cyclists found that VO₂max accounted for up to 76% of the difference in endurance performance between athletes, from recreational level all the way to world class.

Not tempo rides.

Not threshold intervals.

Not long mountain climbs.

The aerobic engine behind them.

If you want a higher FTP, stop obsessing over the number and start building the capacity that drives it.

📄 Mougin et al. (2026). 35 Years of Joyner’s Endurance Performance Model: Assessing the Contribution of Physiological Determinants of Performance Proxies in 888 Individuals from Recreational to World Class.

On Friday, I was hit by a car whilst cycling.

The result was five broken ribs, a punctured lung, minor spinal injuries and a bike that appears to be beyond economic repair.

Lying on the road struggling to breathe was one of the most frightening experiences I’ve had in a long time.

The good news is that the pneumothorax should resolve on its own and I’m now back home.

What surprised me most wasn’t the pain.

It was that not once did I think about giving up.

Project 300 in 90 is now on hold.

The goal has changed.

It’s no longer about hitting 300 watts.

It’s about making the start line at the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Japan this August.

Recovery is now the training.

A huge thank you to Ben and his cycling buddies who stopped to help, along with the emergency services and hospital staff who looked after me over the last few days.

The road to Japan just got more complicated.

Not cancelled.

Many cyclists over 50 don’t need to train more.

They need to stop spending so much time in the middle.

Not easy enough to maximise endurance.

Not hard enough to maximise VO₂ max.

Just hard enough to create fatigue.

Structure matters.

Maybe this is as good as I get.

That’s the question behind Project 300 in 90.

Not whether I can reach 300 watts. Whether I’ve already reached my ceiling.

Current FTP: 265W. Target FTP: 300W. Time available: 90 days.

The Gran Fondo World Championships are the week after. This is a real performance target.

I’ll document the training, the setbacks and the result.

No hiding.

If you’re over 50 and still chasing performance, check the comments. I’ve got something for you. 👇

Thought I was fully recovered. I wasn’t.

Back-to-back races. Four hours sleep between them.

Ten days of vivid dreams, broken sleep and zero motivation. Too tired to train fully.

Three weeks later, one long ride in Dubai’s summer heat and I woke up feeling exhausted all over again.

Recovery over 50 isn’t always measured in days. Sometimes it’s measured in weeks.

The body keeps the score even when your ego doesn’t want to.

4 by 4s today at 110% of FTP.

Rep 4 made the 300w FTP target feel a long way off.

But that’s the point of Project 300 in 90.

If you want the number, you have to earn the number.

Raising FTP is not just about doing more threshold.

For Project 300 in 90, the aim is to improve the whole performance system: endurance, VO2 max, threshold, strength, sprint power and recovery.

Today was sprint work.

But the principle stands: if you want a higher FTP, don’t just chase one workout. Build the system that supports it.