I agree.

Thanks V

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Formally Horatio...

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington

http://www.triumph-multisport.com

I kind of want to save my results until this is over. In a nutshell though, my TT bike splits were on the average 4-8 minutes faster then my road splits over a 30 mile course. There is one climb on the route and my road bike is the clear favorite on that climb. The run splits were a bit trickier. The problem I was having was maintaining HR on the run. Off the road bike it wasn't a big deal. Off the TT bike, my HR for the run was about 6-8 beats lower and anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute faster for the distance. I did this several times and came up with pretty close to the same results. There were times that showed no improvement for the run yet the HR was lower. On a couple of the later runs, I increased my HR to 5-10 below race pace and increased the distance to 5 miles and that’s where the biggest differences were noted. Off the bike I was quicker in the first couple of K's and was able to hold the pace longer. I am not a great runner though and will never be. It continues to be my weakest event of the 3 and that is something I am ok with.

In three Olympic distance races that I participated in last year my run times managed between a 7:30- 7:50 pace. My bike splits had me off the bike in 5th (70 entrants), 2nd (80), and about 20th (250 entrants). I managed a 13th, 5th and 28th position overall from those races. If it were not for the fresher feeling in my legs I imagine that I would not have been so fortunate to place as well as I did. I do not think I would ever race my road race bike set up like a TT bike in any race.

The first two years of racing had me on a road race bike with clip-ons. After that I have spent the last 12 years on a dedicated steep angled bike. The position feels so much better for me. I was lucky enough to have Slowman fit me when I went through the FIST in 2003. I have kept those numbers and on my new beast I have had my fastest splits ever for the bike (All factors considered).

Michael

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Formally Horatio...

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington

http://www.triumph-multisport.com

I often split riding my road and TT bikes on the same day. Yesterday I did a 75 mile ride in which it was 50/50 road and TT bike. For the record I swap wheels from one bike to the other using a powertap rear with open pro rims and training tires so the wheelset was identical. My road bike is 73.5 degrees and my TT bike is 78 degrees. I do have a low position on the TT/tri bike running a -25 degree stem on a P2 (9cm head tube) and no spacers to put the pads level with the top of the stem. My road bike (CAAD8) has a 12cm head tube and I run a -6 degree stem with no spacers.

On each bike on the same section of flat road I did a 20 minute interval at close to 40K effort (my legs were tired so the watts were down from where they would usually be) and analyzed each using cycling peaks.

On the road bike my watts were actually slightly higher I was resting my forearms on the bars holding onto the hoods that gives me an equally low position as the drops and is more comfortable to me. I averaged 291 and my average heart rate was 165 and my average speed was 25.7mph. On the TT bike I averaged 282 but my average speed was 26.5mph, my heart rate was actually a little lower at 162 average that I attribute to the lower wattage and more horizontal position. So I am getting more speed for less watts and a lower heart rate on the TT bike.

Riding forward and low seems to work well for me (I have short femurs and a longer torso) and this year has certainly been a breakthrough for me time trialing. I have been knocking at the door of the top 10 in 35+ stage race GC whereas I used to be running in the high 20's or 30's. I plan to race a 1/2 IM this fall and it will be interesting to see how the forward translates to running.

In summary I seem to lose a little power by getting forward and down, but I more than make up for it with improved aerodynamics.

KR

Regarding the question of whether the road bike should be tested with clip-on aerobars:

There are at least two differences between road a tri bikes: aerobars are one, effective seat tube angle is the other. A test that tries to determine which of those factors is most important must isolate the factors from each other.

But that's not the question Mike is trying to answer: he's trying to answer "Road bike vs tri bike". And to do that experiment you need to test a road bike, set up exclusively as a road bike, against a tri bike. To add "road bike with clip on aerobars" would really mean testing a third confirguration.

Lee

Thanks for the post W!

I think that is one of the more difficult lessons to learn especially for someone who is directed by power. There is an advantage with aero. I see it daily when I fit road racers to their TT machines. They want the most powerful position possible and they are willing to sacrifice aerodynamics for it. An aero position is more than just aero bars. One of the things that happens in the NW is that the TT for stage races happen in the same day as the road race. One of the arguments I use is if you can TT faster with less effort would that increase your chances in the RR later in the day. I believe it is a delicate balance between power and aerodynamics more of one always costs the other.

Michael

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Formally Horatio...

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington

http://www.triumph-multisport.com

Humor me and leave the clip-ons off...come on you know you want to!

Michael

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Formally Horatio...

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington

http://www.triumph-multisport.com