Am i just not suffering enough

Bike4Him said:

It seems that my FTP should be higher. Am I just being a wimp during the 20 minute test interval?

LOL - yes. Are you testing indoors or outdoors? I find doing a 20 minute test all out very hard to do mentally. Put me in race or time trial like I did yesterday and I can go hard for 20 minutes or more no problem. I do my tests indoors on my trainer and in conjunction with Trainerroad and using their 2 x 8 minute testing workout. Tough but not as mentally challenging as one 20 minute effort.

My last tested FTP using this was 288. Yesterday's 18km TT had me average 305 watts for 27 minutes. x .95 and that's an FTP of 290 so almost identical to the 2 x 8 minute test done indoors.

Bike4Him said:

Back on the bike and a recent test set my FTP at 218. 230 watts at 95%.
I routinely do 10 minute intervals that start with a 2 minute big effort up a hill and then a constant slight climb for another 8 minutes.
I averaged 253 watts on this ride the other day and it didn't kill me to do it. The first 2 minutes average was 325 or so, and again not a 100% effort.
It seems that my FTP should be higher. Am I just being a wimp during the 20 minute test interval?

This is early season and simply a matter of riding more. Those who believe that riding harder allows you to ride harder are seldom correct. You gain power and speed almost entirely from riding and your bodies genetic abilities.

Do the tour of Sufferlandria. I recommend a 10 week training plan at the intermediate level. You will notice results by week 4! I am in my twentieth week and plan to complete 30 weeks plus a three week climbing plan. You will consistently burn 600 plus calories for each high intensity 60 plus minutes of indoor training. Go visit their site you will never look back...IWBMATTKYT and you will definitely kick more ass!

^Training plan will help you out in no time. Slowly gets your body ready for the real thing!