You don’t need a lab - just an analytical approach.

Rethinking Fitness Testing for Riders

Every fall, my inbox fills up with questions like:

“Do I need a VO₂ test before starting my off-season?”

“What kind of testing do you use to build training plans?”

And honestly — I get it. When you see pro riders wired up and grinding through structured protocols, it’s easy to assume that’s what real testing looks like.

But here’s the truth: you don’t need a lab to learn a lot about your fitness.

What matters most isn’t the equipment — it’s your consistency and curiosity.

A simple, repeatable test performed with intention can tell you almost everything you need to know.

Why We Test

Testing is about feedback, not ego.

At its core, testing helps you understand how your body is adapting — where you’re strong, where you’re improving, and what still needs attention.

It’s the difference between training hard and training smart.

When we test, we’re not looking for a record-breaking performance — we’re collecting clues about how the system is functioning. The goal is to track progress, not perfection.

You can think of it like setting a baseline on your favorite trail. The first time, it’s a reference point. Later, when you repeat it, you can see what’s changed — not just in numbers, but in feel, control, and recovery.

Good testing for Mountain Bikers answers three simple questions:

1. How well am I moving right now?

2. How strong am I right now?

3. How fast am I right now and for how long?

You don’t need a lab to find those answers — just clear methods and honest notes.

A full Lab test will generate a lot of data, but do we need it, and is it worth the effort and expense?

The Power of Simplicity

Forget perfect conditions — they don’t exist. Weather changes, sleep fluctuates, and trails evolve. What matters is keeping the test itself simple and repeatable.

One of my favorite examples: a 20-minute max-effort ride on a flat or slightly uphill fire road.

Push as hard as you can sustain for the full 20 minutes and record three key metrics:

• Average speed or distance covered

• Average heart rate

• Peak heart rate

From those numbers, you can roughly estimate FTP (your sustainable power) and VO₂max (your top-end aerobic capacity).

More importantly, when you repeat the same test weeks later — same climb, same effort style — you’ll see meaningful changes.

Maybe your speed improves, or your heart rate is lower for the same pace. Both signal progress.

That’s the essence of good testing: simple, repeatable, and informative.

And in my mind, the biggest upside to this approach is flexibility — you can design meaningful testing protocols for any rider, in any environment.

Whether you have a full gym, a gravel road, or just a stationary bike and a notebook, you can still collect valuable data.

Equipment shouldn’t be a barrier to learning about your body — it just changes how you test, not what you can learn.*

How to Make Simple Testing Work

Here’s how to make testing a productive part of your training:

1. Pick simple tests you can repeat

   A short strength test or a 20-minute effort is enough. Avoid overcomplicating it.

2. Record your key data

   Note the numbers, but also how you felt — RPE, fatigue, and mental focus tell you just as much.

3. Compare yourself to yourself

   Improvement comes from your own history, not someone else’s data.

This approach turns every test into a learning opportunity, not a judgment.

The Shift That Changes Everything

When you stop thinking of testing as a one-off performance and start using it as an ongoing feedback loop, everything changes.

You stop guessing. You start learning.

You see how your body responds to training, recovery, and life stress.

You learn what actually works — and what doesn’t.

That’s how you move from random improvement to reliable progress.

The Takeaway

You don’t need lab equipment to train like an athlete.

You just need a consistent approach, a simple test, and the discipline to repeat it.

Because progress isn’t found in the data itself — it’s found in how you use it.

Think you're ready to kick off your Winter Training?

I'm accepting new clients for this off-season.

Book your launch call now and let's start planning for an epic 2026

📚 Further Reading & References

If you want to dig deeper into the science behind this approach, here are a few key sources that support the principles in this article:

• British Journal of Sports Medicine (2018) – Field-based endurance testing and reliability in cyclists: confirms strong correlation between 20-minute power tests and lab-measured FTP and VO₂max.

• Sports Medicine (2019) – Validity and repeatability of power-duration models: shows that simple, repeatable field tests are reliable indicators of performance trends.

• International Olympic Committee Consensus Statement (2018) – Load monitoring and athlete adaptation: emphasizes that consistent, repeatable data collection is more useful than high-tech but irregular testing.

• Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research (2015) – Use of session-RPE to quantify internal load: demonstrates how simple RPE-based tracking predicts training response and recovery.

• European Journal of Applied Physiology (2020) – Submaximal HR and field-based VO₂ estimations: highlights how heart rate and speed data can estimate aerobic capacity in non-lab environments.