Rowe & King

FTP is the most overrated number in cycling.

Strong words. Here's the science.

FTP is a single point on your power-duration curve. Useful - but it tells you nothing about what happens either side of it. Critical Power (CP) and W′ describe the whole curve: CP is your sustainable ceiling, W′ is the finite work you can spend above it.

That's why two riders with identical FTPs can race completely differently - the one with the bigger W′ can more easily close gaps, follow critical attacks and win the sprint.

The honest caveat: FTP is still a brilliant practical anchor for pacing and everyday training. We're not binning it - we're saying it's incomplete. Know your CP and W′ too.

Save this and rethink your numbers.

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Made, moved, reused - that's the lactate shuttle.

Lactate is produced in working muscle, carried through the blood, and used to produce and either use or store energy. Fitter riders just clear and reuse lactate faster - and threshold training improves exactly that: how well you both produce and consume it.

So lactate isn't waste to be flushed. It's fuel on the move.

Save this for your next threshold session.

Lactate isn't the villain - you need it - it's literally fuel!

The lactic-acid story most of us learned at school is wrong.

▸ Lactate is produced all the time, even at rest - your body uses it as fuel.
▸ The burn you feel mid-effort is other ions and accumulating fatigue, not lactate.
▸ The soreness the next day is muscle damage - not "acid" pooling in your legs.

Let's bury the lactic-acid myth for good.

Save this and tag someone who still blames the burn on lactic acid.

There are numerous ways to try and get faster on a bike, but in the context of VO2max - here are two routes: raise the roof, or use more of the room.

Same ceiling, very different riders. Here's where your next block should go.

▸ The roof: VO2max - your max oxygen use. Lift it with VO2max intervals.
▸ The room: economy - watts per litre of O₂. Built by volume and durability - pure aerobic work.
▸ The edge: at the top, riders usually win on economy, not the biggest VO2max in the bunch. Combine the two for a lethal mix.

Don't chase one number. The roof matters, but using the room matters more.

Save this and follow for the rest of the series.

The biggest engine doesn't always win. Efficiency does.

VO2max is the size of your aerobic ceiling - your maximum rate of oxygen use - think the roof over your house.

Fractional utilisation is your economy - how much of your VO2max that can actually be used, which translates in to the watts you can produce per litre of that oxygen inhaled.

That's why two riders with the same VO2max can perform completely differently: one wastes the ceiling, the other converts more of it into power.

Don't obsess over a single lab number - it's what happens under your roof that matters most.

Save this for your training plan. Full guide - link in bio.

Your FTP is a shortcut, not physics.

A 20-minute test × 0.95 is a handy estimate - but it can be off by 5–10%. That's not a flaw, it's the nature of an estimate. The problem only starts when you treat the number as fixed and never question it.

FTP helps - but don't assume its perfect.

▸ The test: 20-min × 0.95 gets you close, no more.
▸ The line: your real threshold is where lactate stops stabilising and climbs.
▸ The fix: know the gap and your zones finally match your body.

Re-test, sanity-check, then trust it. That's the difference between training hard and training right.

Suggestion - use multiple data sources to validate where you think your threshold sits. mFTP, CP, FTP - ramp, 2 x 8 and 20 minute protocols, race data and whatever else you have! It's all valuable insight in to your physiology.

Save this for your next test block.

Most cyclists train to their FTP, without knowing how wrong it 'might' be.

FTP is the power you can roughly hold for an hour, usually pulled from one short test. Useful - but it's an estimate standing in for something real: your lactate threshold, the line where blood lactate stops stabilising and starts to climb.

The two can sit watts apart. And every training zone you set hangs off that number.

Know the gap and you can build zones that actually match your physiology - not a one-size formula.

Key is to using multiple data points, to form a best estimate of where your true 'threshold' (CP / FTP) sits. To add to the mix, your threshold will vary day to day depending on level of fatigue and sleep!

Save this and re-test soon.

W' is finite - when you spend it decides your ride / race.

Your anaerobic battery only behaves one way, and once you understand it, you ride smarter above threshold.

▸ It drains only above CP - your ~15–25 kJ reserve empties when you surge.
▸ It refills only below CP, and slowly: about a third back in 2 minutes, most of it by 15.
▸ The riders who win aren't the ones with the biggest battery - they're the ones who spend it on the decisive move and bank it everywhere else.

Critical Power (think c. FTP if not familiar with FTP) tells you the ceiling. W' decides the surges, the attacks, and the moment you crack.

Save this and tag a training partner.