Road bicycle tires/ tubes

I run tubeless on all my bikes but imo it's better suited to lower pressures applications like mtb. They barely seal at road pressures but I use it for the feel and speed, not the flats. fwiw, the constraint to tyre size/volume is the frame, optimized to a rim/wheel system, but dictated by the road surface. Smoother = lower vol/narrower, courser = higher vol/wider. And let's not talk about hookless.
Also latex leaks so you'll be pumping up more regularly. Interestingly, gatorskins are so slow rolling it's still faster to use a regular performance tyre in an iron man and stop to fix the flats with the 6-8 minutes you'll be further up the road.

 

I went pretty wide w/ my road setup in part to avoid having to run high pressures.

I'm running 50 psi F&R on 30/32 GP5000S TR, but they measure out closer to 32/33 when mounted.

Pre-race footage of Paris-Roubaix showed MvdP ran about 51 psi on 32mm Vittorias, and he is a much bigger guy than me (although I'm probably fatter).


Before I went tubeless though, I had good experiences with Vittoria latex tubes (no flats), but maybe only a couple hundred miles since I split miles with a gravel bike.

 

I'm sure he's a few psi higher when not on the cobbles and not 32's

 

No doubt, and narrower as well.

I'm looking at it from not pinch flatting perspective.

 

If you get a pinch flat running tubeless you need a few more psi

 

Well I'm right about 500 miles on this new setup and loving it. I got a power meter for my birthday, (Garmin pedals) and now I'm doing the deep dive into those metrics. It's interesting to watch all of my Garmin calculated metrics jump as soon as the power field was added, and I've only done one ride.

Does anyone do the FTP testing, or do you just let Garmin estimate and go with that? Keep in mind I'm not racing, just having fun and of course keeping track of lap times.

 

I do FTP tests with trainer road in the winter, it helps set the proper resistance for winter indoor zone training. Other than that, I don't much care about it when outside having fun riding any more.

 

A proper FTP test is fairly difficult to do, especially if you dont know where you should be power wise.
Ive done the 20 min test on the trainer before, not as terrible.

If you have a power meter a FTP is good to know to be able to train at specific zones.

 

If you want to do an ftp test just prepare for it well. They're hell. But you have to go through the hell to get accurate results.
I used the book "Time crunched cyclist" and the ftp test in that book isn't as much suffering as a 20 min ftp test. A 60 minute ftp test isn't really doable imo for an amateur like myself. You have to be mentally trained to endure it. You can do the tests indoors but will likely have lower results unless very motivated and you keep yourself cool with lots of fan and lots of motivation.
The shorter time crunched cyclist test yielded me slightly higher estimated ftp but only a little over the 20 minute test.
If you're going to train with power, an ftp is necessary to set your training zones. Meandering on the bike too high or too low doesn't get results. Most people's "feel" training is too high for cardiovascular results, but too low intensity for "threshold" training. This usually results in a fatigue result without much benefit to a specific system. We've been taught to train as hard as you can, but this isn't the correct approach for endurance based sports. "80/20" is another good book out there. Basically on a 1-5 zone scale, 80% endurance zone training(Z2) with 20% Z4&5. A schedule based on this allows for you not to need to waste days on recovery rides. Many coaches don't suggest recovery rides bc the athlete tends to ride too hard. Just rest on recovery days. 80/20 might look like 4 hours total Z2 + 2x30min sessions of threshold intervals. That 60mins equating to 20% of total training for week.
That's low numbers but you get the basics.
It you want the best and fasted endurance training results, I suggest a schedule and plan based on your goals.
Don't use zwift training plans. I like Dylan Johnson on you tube. He breaks down a lot of things and has suggested schedules in his videos.

 

Ooooh Weeee , I hear a new weapon coming next ! PS- Bikes are always N+1 . The power meter pedals are a tool. You will get out of them what you put in. Ride with them some more and keep a eye on the numbers. I think Garmin keeps track of all that stuff each ride. Then dive in if you want. Like it was said above a true hour test would be murder. The 20 mins one is tough as well. Since the hips I just ride on road no power and watch my rouvy app when on the trainer some. I'm sure you are spinning for endurance. Makes things way easier on the track for sure. Get some long rides(1-2 hour) in when you have the time and you will see the difference on track.

 

Garmin's FTP estimate is based on your hard efforts during rides. If you smash yourself on rides and do some solid 20-30min efforts, its estimate will be pretty close. If you never max-out like that, it's going to be more incorrect. It thinks my FTP is going down during training because all my long intervals are to a specific power, not all out.

The last time Garmin recommended I adjust my FTP setting was after my last race. I attacked the first 60min to get into a fast group and got close to power PRs. But the race was 7hrs long! I wasn't going at 100% for that effort because I had 6hrs left.

I'm doing an FTP this Saturday and expect to see a bigger number. Garmin will do 0.95*20min-power and I'll accept the new value.

Knowing your FTP isn't THAT useful. You can use it to decide power for long intervals, 12-30min range. But that makes up so little of your training. You don't need it for base training as that should be done off RPE. And you don't need it for short intervals like VO2Max as those should be all out.

 

I feel you probably have a lot of training miles under your belt, so don't take offense to any of this. Just opinions. Not trying to get in a piss match.
While I agree that you don't necessarily NEED power for base training, most people initially train too hard before they research deep in to how to train. RPE will change with the weather. When it's hotter, perceived exertion will increase, while wattage does not. I find a solid zone 2 range helps in those situations. When it's cooler you may go too hard and when it's hot you may go too easy. Having tested zones for both hr and power allows you to reduce power to the lower area of the zone on hot days when hr is reaching the zone upper limit, and vice versa on cooler days. Wind, hills, speed, road surface all change rpe. I've ridden at 10mph on a road I'd normally be doing 20mph bc I was riding in to an extreme headwind. Without power metric I would've hammered in to it. It killed me mentally going that slow, but the target power was scheduled and the meter doesn't lie.
If efficient training with maximum cardiovascular growth is the goal, power with HR I feel are the best metrics. If your hr climbs out of the target zone while power is on the lower end of zone, you know you're too fatigued for the training schedule. Or you may not be acclimated to the training environment.
RPE definitely has a place and we shouldn't become laser focused on power unless you have a big race goal like you did. But if we have the tools, I definitely would be using them most of the time even if no race is scheduled.
I wouldn't torque a cylinder head by feel when I have a calibrated torque wrench in the tool box.
Spending hours on a solo training ride guessing if I'm at a good effort seems wasteful when the tool is there to monitor.

 

Everything you described is why you should be training to RPE for base workouts. Your body response to training includes the effect of all of those external factors. So you should put out less power on hot days, or days when you are fatigued, or when you aren't acclimated, or when you slept terribly the night before. If you don't decrease your power, you are adding extra fatigue for little to no extra adaptation. This makes you less able to train the following day, a knock-on effect that reduces the overall effectiveness of your training. You are thinking about this whole situation backwards.

The accepted practice for finding Zone2 when doing polarized training is the conversation test. The top of Z2 is the effort where you just start to struggle to hold a conversation. This is an RPE metric as it's heavily impacted by conditions, fatigue, etc. Call that effort RPE 4. Good Z2 rides are generally RPE 2-4. It is useful to know the Power and HR at RPE 4 so that you have a target for each ride. But if you find yourself gasping for breath while doing your "normal" power for RPE4 because it's hot, you're at elevation, and/or you are super fatigued... slow down! Otherwise you'll be turning that Z2 ride into a Threshold ride.

 

Yep, and if your riding off rpe you could be gasping for air bc you're too tired to be on the bike that day turning your base ride in to a recovery power level on your legs and a threshold effort on your heart. Hell, if only use rpe I can train all day everyday. I will eventually slow to a crawl and fall over, but as long as I can get a couple sentences out before getting out of breath I'm in the zone right?

My final opinion, yes you should do a ftp test, yes you should train with power, yes you should train with heart rate, yes you should listen to your body and know how efforts feel.
A combination of all the metrics makes for good monitoring of yourself and your training.

 

You're probably trying to be cheeky, trying to find a "gotcha" in my post. But, your whole post suggests you don't understand RPE or Z2 training.

A ride where you are gasping for air but doing "recovery power" is not a base ride. That's an RPE 8-10 ride because you are gasping for air. A person would have to be dumb as rocks to try to train in that state. This is only relevant as an example of how to know your RPE. The "recovery power" part of that example doesn't lower the RPE - if anything it raises the RPE because you are super fatigued.

Z2 IS the RPE that allows you to train all day everyday. That literally the point, build base miles without adding significant fatigue that you can't recover from. If you are doing Z2 properly, you won't slow to a crawl and fall over. It's literally easy endurance pace. It's how amateurs do 15+hrs of training per week and how pros do 30+hrs. And if you went ultra-endurance, rode for 24+hrs straight, and literally wanted to fall over... well that wouldn't still be RPE 4, would it?

I said "conversation", not a "couple of sentences". The point of "conversation" is that the RPE is long-lasting, steady, and consistent. If you are out of breath right after, you are doing it wrong and you've overshot the zone.

Your "final" opinion is so vague that it's neither wrong nor actually useful.