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Long rides on a road bike
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hi fellow STers,

i currently have a tri bike (P3) and am training for a full IM next year. I have completed 2 70.3s on it.

99% of my rides are indoors on the trainer and i still manage to carry out a long ride of about 2.5 hours a week indoors. However i cant imagine spending 3+ to 4 hours every week on a trainer.

I have roadbike as well and i was thinking of doing my weekday 1h rides on a trainer on the tri bike and the weekend long ride on the roadie. However my roads are not safe enough to go on a tri bike outside.

Would it be better to suck it up and spend the 4 hours indoor on the tri bike? Or would the crossover training from long rides on the roadbike be almost as effective as being on the p3?
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [garg] [ In reply to ]
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You'll be fine. Go outside.
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [garg] [ In reply to ]
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garg wrote:
hi fellow STers,

i currently have a tri bike (P3) and am training for a full IM next year. I have completed 2 70.3s on it.

99% of my rides are indoors on the trainer and i still manage to carry out a long ride of about 2.5 hours a week indoors. However i cant imagine spending 3+ to 4 hours every week on a trainer.

I have roadbike as well and i was thinking of doing my weekday 1h rides on a trainer on the tri bike and the weekend long ride on the roadie. However my roads are not safe enough to go on a tri bike outside.

Would it be better to suck it up and spend the 4 hours indoor on the tri bike? Or would the crossover training from long rides on the roadbike be almost as effective as being on the p3?

the answer to your question largely depends on your bike position.
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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x2.

Personally, I do most of my riding on the road bike, and then bring out the tri bike for a few longer rides leading up to the race.
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [krull_etc] [ In reply to ]
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krull_etc wrote:
x2.

Personally, I do most of my riding on the road bike, and then bring out the tri bike for a few longer rides leading up to the race.

x3. Life would be terrible if I only rode my tri bike. I usually ride my road bike 90% of the time leading up to the race, and then the last couple months before the race ride my tri bike 90% of the time. The biggest thing is being able to maintain your position at your power for the length of time you will be riding. Adapt to that, and you will do well.
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [garg] [ In reply to ]
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As others have said, it should make no difference which bike you choose for your long rides. Just make sure you do some of you outdoor riding on your tri bike.

Why do you say that it is too dangerous to ride outside? Where are you?

---------------------------
''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! đŸ˜‚ '' Murphy's Law
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [Sweeney] [ In reply to ]
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Sweeney wrote:
As others have said, it should make no difference which bike you choose for your long rides. Just make sure you do some of you outdoor riding on your tri bike.

Why do you say that it is too dangerous to ride outside? Where are you?

The OP stated that it was too dangerous to ride a Tri Bike outside. I don't understand why riding a road bike would be OK, but not a Tri Bike.....

Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [japarker24] [ In reply to ]
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japarker24 wrote:
Sweeney wrote:
As others have said, it should make no difference which bike you choose for your long rides. Just make sure you do some of you outdoor riding on your tri bike.

Why do you say that it is too dangerous to ride outside? Where are you?


The OP stated that it was too dangerous to ride a Tri Bike outside. I don't understand why riding a road bike would be OK, but not a Tri Bike.....

Same thought. If it's dangerous it will be on a road or a tri bike. Personal preference but I always ride the tri bike (i know is a bit masochistic, lol).
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [krull_etc] [ In reply to ]
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krull_etc wrote:
x2.

Personally, I do most of my riding on the road bike, and then bring out the tri bike for a few longer rides leading up to the race.

x4. I train on my road bike up to 6 weeks out from a race then switch to tt bike. 6 weeks is more than enough (physically and mentally) for me to acclimate to it. I'd go crazy if I had to be on aero bars all the time for months and months on end
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [rodchaves31] [ In reply to ]
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rodchaves31 wrote:
japarker24 wrote:
Sweeney wrote:
As others have said, it should make no difference which bike you choose for your long rides. Just make sure you do some of you outdoor riding on your tri bike.

Why do you say that it is too dangerous to ride outside? Where are you?


The OP stated that it was too dangerous to ride a Tri Bike outside. I don't understand why riding a road bike would be OK, but not a Tri Bike.....


Same thought. If it's dangerous it will be on a road or a tri bike. Personal preference but I always ride the tri bike (i know is a bit masochistic, lol).

The essence of riding a tri bike is that you ride it using the aero position. Some roads might require a great deal of quick reactions in terms of braking. It’s useless using your tri bike sitting up all the time. In that case using the road bike is the most sensible thing to do.
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [garg] [ In reply to ]
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Most of my rides are on the road or mountain bike. Only bring out the tt bike ~2-3 months from race day and even then it's only about 1 ride a week on the tt bike.
Last edited by: slowrob: Sep 29, 16 6:48
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [garg] [ In reply to ]
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I ride my road bike for training most of the time.
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [18Argon] [ In reply to ]
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Agreed. Roads where I live are pretty busy, lots of traffic, lots of junctions and multi lane situations. Not particularly dangerous if you're a sensible rider on the hoods position where you can brake quickly, indicate easily, look around a lot to ensure you're aware of your surroundings, etc. On a TT bike you spend a lot of time not being aero though, at least until you get further out of town onto nicer roads
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [garg] [ In reply to ]
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OP, here is a good article written by Jordan Rapp

http://blog.rappstar.com/2014/04/why-triathletes-need-road-bike.html
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [garg] [ In reply to ]
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I'm different from a lot of the folks posting here in that I mostly ride the tri bike on the road unless it's a group ride or has major climbs where I'd rather be on the road bike. Ultimately I don't think the mix matters that much as long as you're building your fitness and keep riding the tri bike on a regular basis in order to maintain adaptation to the position. I do think it's important you do at least some of your long rides on your tri bike so that you know how good you are at maintaining the position over longer distances.

I believe that a good, very aero tri position requires adaptation and if you mostly ride the road bike you may never end up optimizing your tri position and might be one reason there are so many "sit up and beg" positions out there.
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Re: Long rides on a road bike [18Argon] [ In reply to ]
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18Argon wrote:
rodchaves31 wrote:
japarker24 wrote:
Sweeney wrote:
As others have said, it should make no difference which bike you choose for your long rides. Just make sure you do some of you outdoor riding on your tri bike.

Why do you say that it is too dangerous to ride outside? Where are you?


The OP stated that it was too dangerous to ride a Tri Bike outside. I don't understand why riding a road bike would be OK, but not a Tri Bike.....


Same thought. If it's dangerous it will be on a road or a tri bike. Personal preference but I always ride the tri bike (i know is a bit masochistic, lol).


The essence of riding a tri bike is that you ride it using the aero position. Some roads might require a great deal of quick reactions in terms of braking. It’s useless using your tri bike sitting up all the time. In that case using the road bike is the most sensible thing to do.

Well of course my assumption was that the guy would be riding the Tribike in the aero position. Otherwise don't get a tri bike. I can see your point about quick reactions in terms of braking. However, IMO for IM training you need to look for roads where you can go long pedaling without having to break too constantly disrupting the tempo and more importantly the zone (power or HR) that you should be training depending on the session.

I see that the issue here is less whether the OP needs a tri bike or a road bike for outside but more so that they need different roads to train on.
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