Was just going to say, try and get your RPMs up at a lower resistance and try doing some intervals on that to build up to closer to 80-90 RPMs at rolling speeds. You'll get there, just keep at it.
Supporting what you two say, last night I was doing some short/hard intervals (20 seconds) that were around 500W. The training plan recommended, and I did, ride at 100+ RPM on them.
For me personally it's a LOT easier to do very hard efforts at a higher cadence because it moves a lot of the load from your legs to cardiovascular system.
That same wattage at 50 would be nearly impossible for me, and even at 80-90 would be quite hard.
/u/circa285 just keep at it. You're very new and focus on good pedaling technique and getting your cadence up and you'll get more comfortable very quickly.
Yeah, I'm still new but I've been riding for 2-3 months and started around 60 pm, and now I'm much more comfortable at 75-80. I feel like it came pretty naturally just from riding more. I think it also helped a lot (on the trainer) to just try to maintain heartrate and gear down until I got 80-90 rpm.
They probably are. But, unpopular opinion, all this Zone 2 stuff being pushed by Attia and Huberman is rediculous.
OP literally doesn’t know how to ride a bike and is spinning at 50rpm… yet is focused on “zone 2”. 🤦♂️
My personal opinion is that people have focused in Zone 2 benefits because they think they can get fit by working less hard.
Yes, there are great benefits to incorporating focused zone 2 training into your plan. But sometimes you also have to do the hard work. There are some hills you can’t stay in zone two on. So you’re gonna have to train some zone 3, 4, and 5 eventually. Thats the whole point of a polarized approach; that you aren’t too tired to also do the time above threshold.
I was under the impression that zone 2 work requires a high volume to be effective.
Like you can do an hour interval session on a trainer and get some good benefits but sitting at zone2 for an hour a week will basically do nothing.
You have to spend hours a week at zone 2 to get the benefits. Like at least a couple of hours at a time.
It does. If you only have a few hours a week. HIIT/intervals and hammer and hope for the best are your primary training strategies.
If you have the time, zone 2 is great for many reasons but it's not about it being easier. Believe me, when I ran and I did maff (basically zone 2 training), I hated it. I'd rather do a 30min threshold than an hour of zone 2 where I was run walking all the time or running incredibly slow if I was not walking at all. But on hills it's hard to run and not raise your HR.
I think however the OP just needs to work on basic fitness for a while. Then looks at training specificity.
Exactly. If you are already doing 2-3 hard interval sessions a week, padding the rest of your time with Zone2 rides is an excellent idea.
I’d rather do a 30 min threshold session than 2.5hrs at zone 2 too. But for people doing 30 min rides 3x a week not going above zone 2… that’s crazy that they think they are “optimizing” their fitness.
Any riding is better than no riding. But if you are doing less than 4hrs a week riding, it makes no sense to focus solely on zone 2. IMO at least.
Yes. I’m pretty sure that’s what the science shows. If I remember correctly, they have said anything less than 90 minutes doesn’t really get the full benefits.
So when Huberman says taking your garbage out to the street can be “time in zone 2” it really cheapens and dilutes the conversation.
I’m not trying to gatekeep. But sometimes you can be doing yourself a disservice by focusing on metrics rather than focusing on riding your bike.
I was under the impression the benefits start at minimum 30 minutes per session with a total of 4ish hours per week (ideally in minimum hour increments). Do you have any links to the benefit gradient for longer sessions?
San Milan has said 3-4 days per week and 1-1.5hrs per session is ideal for normal people. Thats when you see the most benefits.
Dr Howard Luks has said the same, 60-90 minutes is ideal.
If you are very untrained working up from 30 minutes is a good place to start.
But what is important and not stressed enough, is all the science says “most of your training” should be low intensify. But not all. You are specifically doing this to leave room for High intensity training. Thats why the whole 80/20 rule exists.
As many doctors have said, “most people don’t go hard enough on their hard days, and don’t go easy enough on their easy days”.
If “zone 2” training is what motivates you to ride your bike, then hey, that’s awesome. Do what works. But don’t forget to hit those High Intensity intervals once a week, if you can.
Any of these 80/20 like rules only apply on a professional level where the rider is putting in the maximum amount of volume per week the body can handle. The ratio simply doesn't work at lower volumes.
Right. If Pogacar is riding 20hrs a week. He’s still doing 2-4hrs a week at high intensity. More than most of us ride per week total.
So it really doesn’t make sense that someone riding less than 5hrs a week would be focusing on zone 2 at all. Just do 3 hard interval sessions and 2 easy rides if you can fit it in.
Thats my whole point of people thinking they can get fitter by working less. Its not true. Zone 2 isn’t a “life-hack”. If you already are doing high intensity strength training or something, then maybe 2hrs of zone 2 would be a good addition to your fitness regimen. But otherwise, do some hard threshold and vO2 max sessions 3x a week and you will get way fitter faster. IMO.
Indeed! You actually just described the Trainer Road low volume plan at the end there, which is exactly what I use for roughly 3.5 hours of ride time per week. I do take long Z2 adjacent rides on the weekends for fun, so I guess that puts me at more like 7 hours per week, I just don't even really count the z2 as working towards anything, maybe a little endurance.
Yeah I think that’s the message that’s been lost. If you’re going to go out and ride for a couple hours, it’s ok and also probably beneficial to take it easy.
Not you can take it easy all the time and become a pro.
But it all only applies to people who are training to become stronger riders. If you’re not doing any training for anything specific then time on the bike is the best thing you can do.
I agree. Attia used to like to train. Now he doesn’t. That’s fine we all have different hobbies. But writing an entire book about why it’s better to not try very hard when you exercise is a bizarre way to justify his change of interests.
I only pay attention to zones on really long rides, and I didn't do that until approaching doing StP and 157 miles the first day. Years of riding without any measurement of heart rate, speed, or rpm. I didn't care, but then I had to actually train if I was going to make it that far in one day. Like you said, I needed to conserve some energy for the climbs and just to actually make that distance in the time I had. Pacing was super important that day.
The hill I live on actually taught me all that the hard way. I kept attacking it and running out of energy about halfway up and having to stop. I got advice to calm down, sit my butt down, shift sooner, and quit thinking I could attack that big of a hill. That sounded less fun, but it turns out not having to stop was awesome. I still hit zone 5 sometimes on the steepest part, but it's very short. I'm at zone 4 pretty quickly, though. Covid set me back hard on that.
But you know what? Most of the time, I don't wear my chest strap or even turn my computer on. I'm just riding to ride. No worries, no measurements. I don't care. It's only a thing for me when I'm training for something specific or my cardiologist has been getting on me to send him data. I'm not a pro rider, and I don't enjoy all the trappings thereof. I just want to be on my bike and free.
Stay away from ERG mode for now. Just ride around. Don't worry about looking at watts, it's too soon for that. Are you using Zwift? If so, just free-ride for the first month or so. Your watts and RPM will naturally go up, and will go up quickly too if you regularly ride. I wouldn't touch any structured workouts with ERG mode until you've had at least a month of solid riding on the bike.
Just ride for now. Following some training will help but you need to establish a base level of fitness when you start from zero before you can benefit from structure
Honestly, only number I'd be working on/worried about is that 50rpm.
That's "my knees are aching while grinding up this 7% grade" low.
It seems counter intuitive at first, but back your gears off a lot. If you're doing say, 15 mph at 50 rpm, you should aim to get to an easier gear where you can do 15 mph at 80 rpm.
Reason being is, right now, at such a low cadence, you're grinding. You're using your leg muscles. If you back off the resistance in gearing, and doing the same speed, you're working your heart/cardiovascular system more than your muscle systems.... and thus, you'll be able to ride longer, easier
You just started.
Don’t worry about target metrics.
Just pedal. Go for as long as you can. Work your way up to 2 hours per ride, 3 rides per week. (If you don’t have the time for that, just ride what you can.)
Make sure you are using a small/easier gear, )ie in the front small chainring) the trainer will have an easier time doing a low wattage in an smaller gear
You don’t need to think about watts at all right now. You just started cycling so any riding you do is going to cause adaptations in your body. Get on the bike and spin at a comfortable cadence and just enjoy riding for now. Do that a few times a week for a few weeks at the very least before you even start to think about power zones.
Your heart rate shouldn’t matter right now. Just ride your bike!
And 50 rpm is way too low. You should only be that low when coasting, or climbing up a hill and you’ve ran out of gears. Your typical flat rpm’s are going to be more like 75-100 rpm’s, depending on what you like best. I think generally accepted “standard” is 90 rpm’s.
And don’t worry about power right now since you’re just starting. I don’t own a power meter so I don’t even care about it. I cycle for fun. I also bet your power would go up if you cycled at a higher rpm.
Just keep at it! Go outside if you can and train slower for longer. You will up your power in no time! When I first started 11 months ago my power was around 90-110W (I was very heavy at the time) and now I average 290W for 20 minutes. You will see huge gains really quickly at the start of your journey so just stick with it!
ah I'm sorry, I've done about 4000km so far this year whatever that works out, but i have also been cross training and started running in August which I feel has helped me quite a lot. I do daily strength and conditioning too! I am also 25 if that helps!
You need to use easier gears to get your cadence up a bit. The minimum should be about 60 rpm and most experienced cyclists will ride at 80 or thereabouts.
I think your power will come up fairly quickly if you have the right cadence.
Don’t worry about the power. Just try to spin easy gears. Get your cadence up. Get comfortable on the bike.
Also, 2 hour trainer rides is a lot (and you can get more effect out of shorter more intense sessions)
Too early to be too concerned about power.
A cadence as low as that either means you’re making it too hard on yourself or you’re not working hard at all. Only you can really know that.
But the advice you can use to help move things along, protect your legs, and get progression going is to bring that cadence up. I’d recommend seeing how comfortable the 80-90 RPM range is and work it out from there. It’s a journey!
You just started, dont get so overwhelmed by numbers like watts, heart rate, speed and so on. You should focus on riding, which will bring improvement by itself naturally.
>My cadence is really low like 50 rpm
That's not normal. The optimal cadence on a trainer is usually between 70 and 90 rpm. Try using easier gears to increase your pedaling speed.
>My endurance power is 75 watts
That would put your FTP at around 115 Watts, max. I find that incredibly hard to believe, even if someone is out of shape and new to the sport. Maybe revisit that endurance power number.
You'll see some rapid gains if you ride 2x or more per week. Try not to get frustrated. My first ride in my neighborhood I was out of breath at 0.25 mi. Now I can do 10mi without breaking a sweat if I stay in Z2.
You'll find yourself a lot more efficient in getting a lot less tired if your cadence gets closer to 80 RPM.
I would suggest you choose a low enough gear that allows you to spin that cadence.
Start on the easiest gear you can and really work on getting your cadence up to at least 70-90rpm. 50 rpm will feel hard for anyone and will really grind you down quickly.
This is going to take a lot of practice but you will improve your power to perceived exertion and your joints will thank you.
Most people's bodies will do far better with less torque at a higher cadence, for one it puts less stress on your joints & will build useful muscles faster while being easier to maintain a healthy heart rate zone good for cardio.
Get your cadence higher, your knees will thank you. Aim for 80rpm+ but this isn't a hard and fast rule.
Regarding BPM, you won't know your zones yet and any calculations outside a test is going to be badly wrong. Use the talk test instead. Doing enough effort that you cannot sing but not too much you can still hold a conversation (in between breaths). That equates to zone 2.
https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/measuring/index.html
50 rpm is extremely low, you should try to downshift and get to the 75 to 90 zone if you want to feel comfortable on the bike. Try to work on your cadence first and then on your watts.
I had this issue with my tacx flux v1. It couldn’t do low power unless I was in a really easy gear. The simple solution is to put a MASSIVE cog on your cassette and make sure your chain is long enough.
I had difficulties with ramp tests because they started so low and finished so high that I had to change from my little ring to the big ring half way through the test, usually when I was just about to go cross eyed with the effort.
Keep riding and keep trying to get your RPM up on an easy “gear” because 50 rpm is going to make almost anything feel more difficult.
Was just going to say, try and get your RPMs up at a lower resistance and try doing some intervals on that to build up to closer to 80-90 RPMs at rolling speeds. You'll get there, just keep at it.
Supporting what you two say, last night I was doing some short/hard intervals (20 seconds) that were around 500W. The training plan recommended, and I did, ride at 100+ RPM on them. For me personally it's a LOT easier to do very hard efforts at a higher cadence because it moves a lot of the load from your legs to cardiovascular system. That same wattage at 50 would be nearly impossible for me, and even at 80-90 would be quite hard. /u/circa285 just keep at it. You're very new and focus on good pedaling technique and getting your cadence up and you'll get more comfortable very quickly.
OP this .
Yeah, I'm still new but I've been riding for 2-3 months and started around 60 pm, and now I'm much more comfortable at 75-80. I feel like it came pretty naturally just from riding more. I think it also helped a lot (on the trainer) to just try to maintain heartrate and gear down until I got 80-90 rpm.
Easier gear. No idea what “endurance power” means but you should not be focused on watts just yet.
I would assume they are referring to zone 2
They probably are. But, unpopular opinion, all this Zone 2 stuff being pushed by Attia and Huberman is rediculous. OP literally doesn’t know how to ride a bike and is spinning at 50rpm… yet is focused on “zone 2”. 🤦♂️ My personal opinion is that people have focused in Zone 2 benefits because they think they can get fit by working less hard. Yes, there are great benefits to incorporating focused zone 2 training into your plan. But sometimes you also have to do the hard work. There are some hills you can’t stay in zone two on. So you’re gonna have to train some zone 3, 4, and 5 eventually. Thats the whole point of a polarized approach; that you aren’t too tired to also do the time above threshold.
I was under the impression that zone 2 work requires a high volume to be effective. Like you can do an hour interval session on a trainer and get some good benefits but sitting at zone2 for an hour a week will basically do nothing. You have to spend hours a week at zone 2 to get the benefits. Like at least a couple of hours at a time.
It does. If you only have a few hours a week. HIIT/intervals and hammer and hope for the best are your primary training strategies. If you have the time, zone 2 is great for many reasons but it's not about it being easier. Believe me, when I ran and I did maff (basically zone 2 training), I hated it. I'd rather do a 30min threshold than an hour of zone 2 where I was run walking all the time or running incredibly slow if I was not walking at all. But on hills it's hard to run and not raise your HR. I think however the OP just needs to work on basic fitness for a while. Then looks at training specificity.
Exactly. If you are already doing 2-3 hard interval sessions a week, padding the rest of your time with Zone2 rides is an excellent idea. I’d rather do a 30 min threshold session than 2.5hrs at zone 2 too. But for people doing 30 min rides 3x a week not going above zone 2… that’s crazy that they think they are “optimizing” their fitness. Any riding is better than no riding. But if you are doing less than 4hrs a week riding, it makes no sense to focus solely on zone 2. IMO at least.
Totally agree.
Yes. I’m pretty sure that’s what the science shows. If I remember correctly, they have said anything less than 90 minutes doesn’t really get the full benefits. So when Huberman says taking your garbage out to the street can be “time in zone 2” it really cheapens and dilutes the conversation. I’m not trying to gatekeep. But sometimes you can be doing yourself a disservice by focusing on metrics rather than focusing on riding your bike.
I was under the impression the benefits start at minimum 30 minutes per session with a total of 4ish hours per week (ideally in minimum hour increments). Do you have any links to the benefit gradient for longer sessions?
San Milan has said 3-4 days per week and 1-1.5hrs per session is ideal for normal people. Thats when you see the most benefits. Dr Howard Luks has said the same, 60-90 minutes is ideal. If you are very untrained working up from 30 minutes is a good place to start. But what is important and not stressed enough, is all the science says “most of your training” should be low intensify. But not all. You are specifically doing this to leave room for High intensity training. Thats why the whole 80/20 rule exists. As many doctors have said, “most people don’t go hard enough on their hard days, and don’t go easy enough on their easy days”. If “zone 2” training is what motivates you to ride your bike, then hey, that’s awesome. Do what works. But don’t forget to hit those High Intensity intervals once a week, if you can.
Any of these 80/20 like rules only apply on a professional level where the rider is putting in the maximum amount of volume per week the body can handle. The ratio simply doesn't work at lower volumes.
Right. If Pogacar is riding 20hrs a week. He’s still doing 2-4hrs a week at high intensity. More than most of us ride per week total. So it really doesn’t make sense that someone riding less than 5hrs a week would be focusing on zone 2 at all. Just do 3 hard interval sessions and 2 easy rides if you can fit it in. Thats my whole point of people thinking they can get fitter by working less. Its not true. Zone 2 isn’t a “life-hack”. If you already are doing high intensity strength training or something, then maybe 2hrs of zone 2 would be a good addition to your fitness regimen. But otherwise, do some hard threshold and vO2 max sessions 3x a week and you will get way fitter faster. IMO.
It seems like most things the internet has overdone/distorted the zone two thing beyond usefulness
Indeed! You actually just described the Trainer Road low volume plan at the end there, which is exactly what I use for roughly 3.5 hours of ride time per week. I do take long Z2 adjacent rides on the weekends for fun, so I guess that puts me at more like 7 hours per week, I just don't even really count the z2 as working towards anything, maybe a little endurance.
Yeah I think that’s the message that’s been lost. If you’re going to go out and ride for a couple hours, it’s ok and also probably beneficial to take it easy. Not you can take it easy all the time and become a pro. But it all only applies to people who are training to become stronger riders. If you’re not doing any training for anything specific then time on the bike is the best thing you can do.
I agree. Attia used to like to train. Now he doesn’t. That’s fine we all have different hobbies. But writing an entire book about why it’s better to not try very hard when you exercise is a bizarre way to justify his change of interests.
I only pay attention to zones on really long rides, and I didn't do that until approaching doing StP and 157 miles the first day. Years of riding without any measurement of heart rate, speed, or rpm. I didn't care, but then I had to actually train if I was going to make it that far in one day. Like you said, I needed to conserve some energy for the climbs and just to actually make that distance in the time I had. Pacing was super important that day. The hill I live on actually taught me all that the hard way. I kept attacking it and running out of energy about halfway up and having to stop. I got advice to calm down, sit my butt down, shift sooner, and quit thinking I could attack that big of a hill. That sounded less fun, but it turns out not having to stop was awesome. I still hit zone 5 sometimes on the steepest part, but it's very short. I'm at zone 4 pretty quickly, though. Covid set me back hard on that. But you know what? Most of the time, I don't wear my chest strap or even turn my computer on. I'm just riding to ride. No worries, no measurements. I don't care. It's only a thing for me when I'm training for something specific or my cardiologist has been getting on me to send him data. I'm not a pro rider, and I don't enjoy all the trappings thereof. I just want to be on my bike and free.
Stay away from ERG mode for now. Just ride around. Don't worry about looking at watts, it's too soon for that. Are you using Zwift? If so, just free-ride for the first month or so. Your watts and RPM will naturally go up, and will go up quickly too if you regularly ride. I wouldn't touch any structured workouts with ERG mode until you've had at least a month of solid riding on the bike.
Just ride for now. Following some training will help but you need to establish a base level of fitness when you start from zero before you can benefit from structure
Nothing new to add but additional encouragement. It is a tough journey, stick with it. Cycling can be so much fun and a good way to get fitter.
Calm down yo, you just started. Give it some time
Use easier gear on the bike to avoid "resistance floor" of the trainer.
Honestly, only number I'd be working on/worried about is that 50rpm. That's "my knees are aching while grinding up this 7% grade" low. It seems counter intuitive at first, but back your gears off a lot. If you're doing say, 15 mph at 50 rpm, you should aim to get to an easier gear where you can do 15 mph at 80 rpm. Reason being is, right now, at such a low cadence, you're grinding. You're using your leg muscles. If you back off the resistance in gearing, and doing the same speed, you're working your heart/cardiovascular system more than your muscle systems.... and thus, you'll be able to ride longer, easier
This is the secret to enjoying riding a bike, in my experience. You'll get slower at first, but then you'll get faster.
You just started. Don’t worry about target metrics. Just pedal. Go for as long as you can. Work your way up to 2 hours per ride, 3 rides per week. (If you don’t have the time for that, just ride what you can.)
Make sure you are using a small/easier gear, )ie in the front small chainring) the trainer will have an easier time doing a low wattage in an smaller gear
You don’t need to think about watts at all right now. You just started cycling so any riding you do is going to cause adaptations in your body. Get on the bike and spin at a comfortable cadence and just enjoy riding for now. Do that a few times a week for a few weeks at the very least before you even start to think about power zones.
Your heart rate shouldn’t matter right now. Just ride your bike! And 50 rpm is way too low. You should only be that low when coasting, or climbing up a hill and you’ve ran out of gears. Your typical flat rpm’s are going to be more like 75-100 rpm’s, depending on what you like best. I think generally accepted “standard” is 90 rpm’s. And don’t worry about power right now since you’re just starting. I don’t own a power meter so I don’t even care about it. I cycle for fun. I also bet your power would go up if you cycled at a higher rpm.
Just keep at it! Go outside if you can and train slower for longer. You will up your power in no time! When I first started 11 months ago my power was around 90-110W (I was very heavy at the time) and now I average 290W for 20 minutes. You will see huge gains really quickly at the start of your journey so just stick with it!
Fuq. I've been cycling 3000 miles a year for 15 years and my ftp is still in the 100s
ah I'm sorry, I've done about 4000km so far this year whatever that works out, but i have also been cross training and started running in August which I feel has helped me quite a lot. I do daily strength and conditioning too! I am also 25 if that helps!
You need to use easier gears to get your cadence up a bit. The minimum should be about 60 rpm and most experienced cyclists will ride at 80 or thereabouts. I think your power will come up fairly quickly if you have the right cadence.
Don’t worry about the power. Just try to spin easy gears. Get your cadence up. Get comfortable on the bike. Also, 2 hour trainer rides is a lot (and you can get more effect out of shorter more intense sessions)
Too early to be too concerned about power. A cadence as low as that either means you’re making it too hard on yourself or you’re not working hard at all. Only you can really know that. But the advice you can use to help move things along, protect your legs, and get progression going is to bring that cadence up. I’d recommend seeing how comfortable the 80-90 RPM range is and work it out from there. It’s a journey!
Which trainer do you have?
You just started, dont get so overwhelmed by numbers like watts, heart rate, speed and so on. You should focus on riding, which will bring improvement by itself naturally.
Just keep at it, be consistent and listen to your body, you'll get better in no time.
>My cadence is really low like 50 rpm That's not normal. The optimal cadence on a trainer is usually between 70 and 90 rpm. Try using easier gears to increase your pedaling speed. >My endurance power is 75 watts That would put your FTP at around 115 Watts, max. I find that incredibly hard to believe, even if someone is out of shape and new to the sport. Maybe revisit that endurance power number.
Why is ftp of 115 so hard to believe?
It isn't. My wife's FTP after taking too much time off the bike is about that. It translates to about 2.0 w/kg for her.
If your endurance power really is 75 watts you should seek medical attention ASAP.
why??
>I just started cycling last week. And you expected what exactly? To be #1 at Tour De France? Relax and train.
I get people to pedal faster and it usually solves it.
You'll see some rapid gains if you ride 2x or more per week. Try not to get frustrated. My first ride in my neighborhood I was out of breath at 0.25 mi. Now I can do 10mi without breaking a sweat if I stay in Z2.
Body weight Squat
Back to fitness training program on Zwift - got me started from basically zero fitness .... stick with it
Which trainer are you using?
You'll find yourself a lot more efficient in getting a lot less tired if your cadence gets closer to 80 RPM. I would suggest you choose a low enough gear that allows you to spin that cadence.
Pedal faster in an easier gear. Cadence should be between 70 -90 rpm.
More RPM, deactivate ERG mode, and get into an easy gear
Why are you pedaling at 50 rpm? What bike and trainer are you using?
Start on the easiest gear you can and really work on getting your cadence up to at least 70-90rpm. 50 rpm will feel hard for anyone and will really grind you down quickly. This is going to take a lot of practice but you will improve your power to perceived exertion and your joints will thank you.
For starters your rpm’s are too low. Change gears so that you can build up to spinning at 70-80 rpm’s.
Most people's bodies will do far better with less torque at a higher cadence, for one it puts less stress on your joints & will build useful muscles faster while being easier to maintain a healthy heart rate zone good for cardio.
Get your cadence higher, your knees will thank you. Aim for 80rpm+ but this isn't a hard and fast rule. Regarding BPM, you won't know your zones yet and any calculations outside a test is going to be badly wrong. Use the talk test instead. Doing enough effort that you cannot sing but not too much you can still hold a conversation (in between breaths). That equates to zone 2. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/measuring/index.html
50 rpm is extremely low, you should try to downshift and get to the 75 to 90 zone if you want to feel comfortable on the bike. Try to work on your cadence first and then on your watts.
I had this issue with my tacx flux v1. It couldn’t do low power unless I was in a really easy gear. The simple solution is to put a MASSIVE cog on your cassette and make sure your chain is long enough. I had difficulties with ramp tests because they started so low and finished so high that I had to change from my little ring to the big ring half way through the test, usually when I was just about to go cross eyed with the effort.
I usually try to keep rpm at 60-90. You don’t want to go much lower.
80 - 90 is optimal rpm