I have read Jordans opinions about this and when considering that the position is set so that it is similar to the tri bike, other than supposed safety reasons, I still don't understand why it can be more "beneficial" from a training point of view. Maybe I need to go back and read his posts again, but I don't get it. I do, however switch back and forth from my own road bike and my tri bike, but only based on what I am feeling, nothing scientific.

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"i’m the one guy who says don’t force the stupid people to be quiet — i want to know who the morons are." -- mark cuban

- Typically 12-14hrs during Ironman-specific training and 10-12 during 70.3 specific

- I have. I think it is valuable. Whenever I do "big gear," I do it at pretty high intensity. Typically, my cadence is 50-60rpm, and I try to push big watts (threshold -> VO2max).

- Typically, yes.

Before IMAZ, I did less of both of big gear and high intensity, just because Joel wanted to rebuild the foundation. But we will incorporate both before I race IMTX now that I seem to have rebuilt that foundation.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Let's assume that the hip angle and leg extension is the same on road bike and tri bike, I would assume that the only reason the road bike may be more beneficial is that it allows you to train on a greater variety of terrain that you may not want to be riding in on your tri bike mainly for safety reasons.

Right, I think the message is - if you ever find yourself NOT riding your bike because of your TT bike (too uncomfy at low power, don't want to do the local group ride on it, don't want to do the super hilly route on it, whatever) then get a cheap road bike, ride more, and get faster.

If you are perfectly happy and comfy doing all your training on a TT bike, and the routes are safe, then keep on with that.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

See, I can understand that Dev, but Jordan, based on his comment above, is asserting that riding a rode bike over a tri bike in training will make you a stronger overall rider, and I have a hard time seeing any logic in that assertion.

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"i’m the one guy who says don’t force the stupid people to be quiet — i want to know who the morons are." -- mark cuban

Hi Jordan,

How does your road bike fit compare with your tri-bike fit?

Or, said another way, what are the keys to translating a tri-bike fit to the road bike in order to optimize training on the road bike for purposes of triathlon?

Scott

Any time you're not in aero on the tt bike, you'd be better off on a road bike. So depending on where you live and ride - that's going to vary person to person. I probably do 75% of my riding on my road bike, which includes long rides. The remaining 25% being threshold or tempo work. I don't do any easy riding on my tt bike.

Sitting up on a tt bike is a horrible position. So if you find yourself coming out of aero a lot during your rides because you're climbing, descending, turning, battling traffic, or riding with other people - then ride your road bike.

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Twitter | Kancman | Blog

Why?
I understand this could be the case for some people, given certain saddle or aerobar constraints perhaps. But I don't think it is generally true.

If you race in a way that you have to sit up a lot, you can usually set up your cockpit in way to make that no worse than being on a road bike.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Can't recall my source now and I know he's not a triathlete, but from what I've heard Froome mostly just does easy spinning on his TT bike.

To paraphrase that insightful triathlon coach, Napoleon, "Quantity has, in and of itself, a certain amount of quality." He was speaking of artillery, but I always thought that quote was great.

Ride your bike. A lot.

that is a fantastic quote, but seems like maybe Napolean never said it, but maybe Stalin did, but maybe it was Lenin, but some guy named Clausewitz wrote it, probably.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

I guess it just seems obvious to me that riding on the pursuit bars is drastically inferior to riding on drop bars. I find it difficult to imagine anyone would argue in favor of sitting upright on a tt bike? When you sit up on a tt bike, it does not look like you're on a road bike - unless you bend your arms and scoot way back on the saddle. I sometimes do that when climbing. But that's not really a sustainable or comfortable position. Long technical descents and riding in traffic are exhausting on the tt bike - for the simple reason that more weight is on your arms because you're further forward. Electronic shifting might make riding upright marginally less annoying, but it doesn't change the fact that you're more upright and further forward, and therefore less stable than you would be on a road bike. If sitting upright on the tt bike feels the same or better than riding a road bike for someone, then one of the two positions needs to be fixed.

I'm not saying anyone needs to ride a road bike, but I think there are distinct advantages to doing so with little detriment to how well you ride your tt bike in a race.

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___________________
Twitter | Kancman | Blog

I think it has more to do with pedaling efficiency. Most people stop pedaling when they get out of aero and coast for a bit. For a road bike you can stay in the same position as long as you want.

To me it is all about how you train that determines what kind of bike you ride. I always ride the TT bike on the trainer, rides with fewer stops, and during builds. I ride the roadie with groups, city riding, or when I feel like hitting the hills/corners harder. To me I get a much better hamstring workout on my roadie as well which is nice during base season. But I have ridden my TT bike enough I can grab water from any position, stand up, and look back all in aero. I think many people lack these abilities on the TT bike.

Call me lazy but I prefer to ride in aero so I can relax my upper body, well that and go faster.

I ride my road bike in a very normal road bike position - 73ish deg of seat angle, etc. I set up my road bike like it's a road bike. I never consider the fact that I am a triathlete when setting up a road bike.

Cycling is basically all the same. You can see this going to other way - roadies should not ride their TT bikes like their road bikes. This has taken a long time to drill into them (and many are still learning it).

There is a range of correct fit positions on a road bike. And a range of correct fit positions on a TT bike. The common denominator is really body angles. My hip angle is pretty much the same on both bikes. But you can intuit this by feel. That's actually how you should intuit it.

Read this - http://blog.rappstar.com/...-need-road-bike.html

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

So for your the issue is being too far forward and too upright.
Too upright is easy enough to fix with the right right cockpit setup (or, not easy if you are married to an integrated cockpit that can't do it)

As for too far forward, I suppose yes some people will have saddles that don't let them scoot back comfortably. But many of us, it isn't an issue to scoot back a couple inches.

I dunno I never gave this much thought and did plenty of sitting up at Savageman and never felt uncomfortable. Descents were a bit tiring on my triceps but the same happens when I travel somewhere with real mountains on my road bike too.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

As for too far forward, I suppose yes some people will have saddles that don't let them scoot back comfortably. But many of us, it isn't an issue to scoot back a couple inches.

If you scoot back, that increases the leg extension. In my case I need the TT saddle higher already to get the same leg extension I have on the road bike, and scooting back just makes it worse.

And if you don't slide back quite a bit, then you will have too much weight on your arms to feel comfortable with bent arms on the basebar. So riding "low" on the basebar won't happen much... unless you have the basebar super low, making it impossible to sit up.

You guys are delicate flowers =)

I guess I have my own delicate flower issues, like TT saddle.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

It was actually Napoleon Dynamite