THE SHORT ANSWER
Uli Schoberer, inventor of the srm power meter, has appeared on the Roadman Cycling Podcast. Here's where Schoberer lands on FTP and threshold power. The positions below are drawn from those conversations, quoted directly.
WHO IS ULI SCHOBERER?
Uli Schoberer is the reason cyclists have power meters. As a young engineer in the mid-1980s he built the first practical strain-gauge crank that could measure bicycle power in the field, and SRM became the de-facto research and pro-team standard for two decades — used by World Tour science departments long before competitors caught up. The vocabulary of modern training — FTP, power profiles, normalised power — exists because his hardware made it measurable on the road, not just in a lab.
SCHOBERER ON FTP
Schoberer’s key positions on FTP and threshold power.
- Power, not heart rate, is the right primary variable for training prescription — heart rate lags, drifts with heat, and varies day to day.
- Calibration discipline is what separates a useful power meter from a misleading one. Zero-offset before every ride; treat the device like a lab instrument.
- The gap between pro power data and amateur power data is mostly durability, not peak watts. Ten-second numbers are similar; 5-hour numbers are not.
- A power meter pays for itself in the first week of zone-2 work — most riders discover their easy pace was meaningfully too hard.
- Hardware standards mature slowly because each generation of riders refuses to give up the metric they trained on.
IN SCHOBERER’S OWN WORDS
Verbatim from Uli Schoberer’s appearances on the podcast.
“When you are running you measure your speed of running and your heart rate you can do this in swimming you can do this in All Sport but not in cycling in cycling you need the power to describe because the speed doesn't tell you anything.”
“The spider is already free of all the not wanted forces because on the spider is only transmitted the torque to the chain ring and nothing else. Let's say look in a mountain bike you stand on the cranks you do a descent you jump on the cranks you have no force on the spider as long as you're not pedaling.”
“If you put the weight on the Chain ring the force goes Direct in the power meter and it doesn't matter what the friction of the BB is so it's the better calibration point is the chain ring.”
HEAR IT ON THE PODCAST
Episodes where Uli Schoberer covers FTP and threshold power and related ground.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
What does Uli Schoberer say about FTP and threshold power?
Uli Schoberer, inventor of the srm power meter, has appeared on the Roadman Cycling Podcast. Here's where Schoberer lands on FTP and threshold power. The positions below are drawn from those conversations, quoted directly.
What is Schoberer's main point on ftp?
Power, not heart rate, is the right primary variable for training prescription — heart rate lags, drifts with heat, and varies day to day.
Which Roadman Cycling Podcast episodes cover Uli Schoberer on ftp?
Schoberer discusses FTP and threshold power in this episode: "The Genius Behind the First EVER Power Meter | Uli Schoberer".
EXPLORE THE TOPIC
FTP Training— The Complete Guide →OTHER EXPERTS ON FTP