How much money do you have to spend?

A few hundred to upgrade my existing road bike. The next race that I'm looking at isn't until June so I could save a few bucks

If you have a few hundred dollars to spend, then you can't consider a new time trial bike.

Right. That's what I was thinking but I didn't want to dump the money I have into the road bike if it's not worth it.
Thanks

For a few hundred dollars, you can get a decent set of clip-on aero bars. If you did that, you could probably get about 80% of the benefit of a full tri bike.

If you watch craigslist, you can probably find a pretty good used triathlon bike for well under $1K before next June. That is probably more than "a few hundred," but you will get a lot of benefit over the incremental spend on clip-on aero bars.

Keep an eye on craigslist and Facebook market. I've seen 3 cervelo P2 under $500 lately. They were all 2007-2008 models, but still nice bikes. One was a P2C dura ace for $350, kicking myself for not buying it!

These guys are right but also depends on your goals. If you are in it to spin it and for the next five, get & learn to ride the T-bike. It's not as simple as buying one.

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Converting your road bike with clip on extensions, a longer stem and a forward seat post will likely get you into a much better position and provide much of the advantages of a tri-bike. The down side is that you no longer have a road bike without lots of hassle switching back and forth. I ride both my bikes every week and I'm really glad I didn't go that route as a result. However, if you're happy to either ride it as a tri-bike all the time or else say ride it as a road bike in winter and convert it to tri-config for the race season then that's feasible and definitely the cheapest way to try out a tri-type position and make sure you like triathlon before maybe committing to a dedicated bike in the future.

One thing to be aware of - converted road bike (I used a CX bike breifly) are either a compromised position if you don't throw the saddle forward and likely fit a longer stem, or they can acquire some poor handling characteristics if you do. When I did it, I dropped and stretched the cockpit using a -24 degree 120mm Specialized stem which was reasonably cheap and I moved the saddle forward using a Profile Design fast forward offset seat post. I was able to get a reasonable but not perfect position and the handling, while not perfect was usable. Your results may vary!

I'd agree with others that clip on aero bars are worth it.

The other thing that is worth mentioning that you might not have yet is clip in cycling shoes. I remember trying them for the first time and you just feel a whole different level of being able to apply power compared to flat pedals or cages. From a cost point of view you'll take them to any future bike.

Used a Scott speedster (tourney 14") for the first year of "tri"ing in the sport
With next challenge next summer you have plenty of time to look into a new bike, save some more for tri specific even
As mentioned best upgrade would be clipons for now, having x2 bikes will also benefit you in the long run

Thanks for the info. I think I'll make some adjustments to my bike and keep my eye out for a decent used tri bike.

IMO, trying to get a 'forward and low' position on a road bike is far from optimal. I did this for the first couple of years. Long stem, clip-ons, forward seatpost, etc. The main problems are, a) the head tube on most road bikes is too tall to be able to get low enough in front, b) you totally screw up the handling characteristics of the bike. What you end up with is something that's still not terribly aero because you're still pretty upright even when in the aero bars and doesn't handle like a road bike any more.

My recommendation would be, if you want to stick with the road bike for a bit, do a search on John Cobb's 'big slam' position. This isn't really 'en vogue' any more but I think it's a far better solution on a road bike. Get some shorty clip-ons and dial in a comfortable saddle position and you're good to go. Especially for short course, you won't be losing out on all that much, and you'll still have a good-handling bike. Just my $0.02.