Bike Ramp Test

Sunday night I did a Ramp Test on the Compu(s)Trainer, mostly to establish a baseline of my bike fitness, or in this case, non-fitness.

Any one serious about getting fit and/or fast on a bike needs a CompuTrainer. If you don't have one, sell that disc wheel and go get one.

A Ramp Test is a sub-max test that's handy to use every week or so to check things like recovery, training "absorption", or in this situation it was general sub-maximal aerobic fitness. Ramps are also a good warm-up for more intense sessions (yuck).

Ramp Test protocols are all over the place, mine is simple. Warm-up 5-6 mins spinning, then calibrate the resistance (on the CompuTrainer I like it in the 2.75-ish range). On other trainers, you can do a timed spin-down of the rear wheel to keep things close for future tests.
I start at 50watts for three minutes, record HR in the last :30, then the same at 100w, 150w, 200w, 220w, 240w, 260w, etc.

I usually go up to wherever my HR gets to the 160 range. Here's what this one showed:
50w - 112bpm
100w - 118
150w - 128
200w - 140
220w - 147
240w - 155
260w - 160

Measuring only me against me, this is about 110w under what I used to do in the good old days before I became a girl.
I usually bump up pretty quickly once I actually train, along the lines of 10w/week at the same HR, we'll see. My bro-in-law Ken and I are planning a 2-3hr ride in the mountains of St. Francisville this weekend, that should put the paddles to my so-called fitness.