Understanding your Durability score

Durability is one of the most telling numbers in Pedal Pulse for endurance riders. Two cyclists can have the same FTP, but the one who can still produce their power four hours into a ride will finish the granfondo stronger. Durability measures exactly that.

What Durability measures

Durability is your ability to maintain performance efficiency over extended periods. Athletes with high durability can sustain their power output for longer without significant degradation — which makes it a crucial quality for granfondos, sportives, ultra races, and any long day in the saddle.

It's scored on a 0–100 scale, where higher is better, with power sustainability over long rides as the key indicator.

How it's worked out — the process

The score is built on cardiac decoupling — a well-established sports science concept. For each qualifying ride, Pedal Pulse compares your efficiency (the power you produce relative to your heart rate) at the start of the ride against the end. Shorter rides are split into halves, longer rides into quarters. When you're durable, the early and late efficiency stay closely coupled; as fatigue bites, your heart rate drifts up for the same power and they decouple.

Two things make the score fair rather than naive:

• Expectations are intensity-adjusted - some decoupling on a hard ride is normal, so your actual drift is compared against what would be expected for that ride's intensity and duration. You're scored on beating expectations, not on avoiding physics.
• Only fair tests count - a ride qualifies when it's around 45 minutes or longer, reasonably steady, and has good power and heart-rate data throughout. Interval sessions and stop-start rides are excluded, because comparing their start against their end wouldn't be a fair efficiency test.

Your headline score then aggregates your qualifying rides over roughly the last three months, with recent rides counting most — so it reflects your current durability, not ancient history.

Where to find it

1. From the home page, tap the Body grid
2. Tap the Durability card

The detail page shows your current score, your trend over time, a 30-day comparison, and personalised insights — like which intensity band and ride duration produce your best durability, and how your decoupling is trending. Durability analysis is a Pro feature.

How to improve your Durability

• Ride long regularly — steady rides of 3+ hours are what build (and demonstrate) durability
• Include sweet spot work at 88–93% of FTP
• Practice your race-day nutrition on long rides — fading late is often fuelling, not fitness
• Stay on top of hydration throughout training
• Prioritise recovery between hard sessions
• Increase ride duration gradually over weeks rather than in big jumps