Today, Zwift launched a new “FTP Check” mini-challenge, with the goal of encouraging Zwifters to test their FTP in a uniquely Zwifty way so training metrics are accurate as we head into indoor season.
Challenge Requirements
The Challenge has two parts, which are meant to be completed in the same session:
- Ride the Ultimate Warmup
- Complete the Oh Hill No route, going full gas on The Grade KOM as an FTP test.
About “The Grade”
While Zwift now looks at all activities and will alert you to an FTP increase if it detects on, The Grade KOM is particularly designed as an FTP test. When you finish the KOM segment, the game looks at your average power on the segment, as well as your segment time, then computes an FTP estimate, displaying it on the sign as you ride through the KOM arch:
Read my review of riding “The Grade” FTP test >
If you’ve never ridden The Grade before, it’s helpful to have an estimate of how long it will take so you can pace yourself accordingly. Here are segment times from our bot tests with a 75kg, 183cm rider on the Tron bike at various power levels:
- 150W (2 W/kg): 27:46
- 225W (3 W/kg): 18:47
- 300W (4 W/kg): 14:22
- 375W (5 W/kg): 11:44
- 450W (6 W/kg): 10:04
Challenge Rewards
Your reward for completing both parts of the challenge is 500 bonus XP, so you can level up faster.
Read more about Zwift levels and unlocks >
Joining the Challenge
To join the Challenge, just click its card on the home screen. If you return to the home screen after doing this, you’ll see the card now shows your progress. If it’s showing your progress (0/2, 1/2, 2/2) you know you’re signed up!
Deadline
This challenge is live from October 20-December 31. (We recommend finishing before the final day, though, as the Challenges sometimes end at an unexpected time on the last day.)
Questions or Comments?
Post below!
@Eric Schlange
Eric,
Since most people have their trainer difficulty setting at 50%, will that have any impact on the accuracy of the FTP reading?
No
To be precise, trainer difficulty could have an impact on the accuracy of the FTP reading. The challenge is, you don’t know what that impact is. 😉 Having a lower trainer difficulty on The Grade means you’ll have less resistance, which means more flywheel speed and inertia, which means less having to push over the top and bottom of your pedal stroke. (Imagine the difference in feel between doing an FTP test on a 2% grade and a 4% grade, for example.)
So your muscles will fire slightly differently based on TD. (You could see this with something like Garmin’s cycling dynamics.)
But you can’t say whether this will skew the FTP result higher or lower, or have no effect. That’s a rider-dependant thing, based on physiology and training.
So in the end, the simple answer is what Lukas says: “no”. I wouldn’t worry about what your TD setting is. All that matters is your average power across the segment, and your segment time.
it is easier to hold a steady power with steady resistance, so it might be easier to get a proper FTP estimate by setting TD=0 😉 the grade mostly has a steady gradient, but in the flat part in the middle some people would naturally ease up or forget to keep the effort.
on the other hand, if you set TD=100 and run out of gears in the steepest part, your FTP may become artificially low.
I always on TD=0 as I prefer to stay at my preferred power when riding with pacerbot/group due to terrain gradient.
Thinking of trainer difficulty at 0% as an automatic gearbox clicked for me.
Same power requirements for the route but less need to manually change gears when the gradient changes.
I suppose in some ways lower trainer difficulty is more accurate because you can sit at a more steady cadence which is generally less taxing on muscles compared to the changing cadences as gears change.
It depends on your aim. If your aim is to climb the Grade as fast as possible, it is optimal to spend more power on steeper gradients and less on the flats (due to the air resistance being higher at higher speed). So in that case, one technique is to keep TD>0 and avoid using the gears. Then you will naturally spend more power on the steeper gradients.
On the other hand, if your aim is to get a proper FTP estimate, TD=0 will typically be better. Then you can avoid being affected by e.g. the flat part half way up the climb.
Most people? Where are you getting that data from?
I don’t know anyone who has their difficulty set at 50%.
I have my trainer difficulty set at 40% and most of my teammates have it set somewhere 50ish. It has a reverse algorithm which gives you something more to push against on the steep downhills, which is crucial in a race situation. You can’t let a heavier person with bigger gears than you get away, nor can you let the group fly by without catching them if you happened to crest earlier going for intermediate points…
Yes and no. In theory your power is whatever you can push for the duration of the test. However there is a flat section after the straight before you hit the hairpins. The average person will let their power drop in the flat section as the resistance drops however with TD set at 0 this won’t happen unless you choose to back off as the load will stay the same.
can you do the warmup on oh hill no at the same and kill two birds with one stone?
That should work. Haven’t tested it to confirm, though. Sort of defeats the purpose of the challenge, but of course it’s the most efficient way to finish the challenge if you don’t care about the FTP test and just want to finish both steps and get the 500XP. 😀
That does work. Just tried it and got the bonus amd was first time I’d ridden Oh Hill No so got the extra xp there as well
I didn’t get this to work at all. I thought I was entering the Oh Hill No after the warm up, but I soon realized that I was continuing Sir Bradley Wiggins | Ultimate Warm Up on Figure 8 in Watopia. I improved 6 of my Peak power results and 8 points on my racing score, so it was a good ride anyway.
I just did an FTP test as part of the Baseline challenge.
Why would they start this so soon after?
This is a validation test.i don’t recommend, based on experience, doing this test for two to four weeks from now. You can complete it anytime before New Year’s Eve.
Word of warning. I changed direction after getting back down the climb to take the costal road. Although the FTP readout popped up during the descent by not swinging around the roundabout to go back up again I didn’t complete the test, so it hasn’t registered.
Can this be done as a meet up ?
I wish Zwift would simply make every racer do monthly standard ramp tests, where they have to wear a HRM giving reasonable looking power and heart data.
Didn’t we just do this via the Zwift Camp 20 minute baseline test? Perhaps this is geared toward riders with FTP 4-6 w/kg to test a shorter interval.
I’ll just take whatever FTP I get from my rides and races. But I’m slow.