I’m going into my second Tri season using a Giant Defy Advanced 2 bike for Oly distance. I know it’s not an ideal bike for racing but I purchased it prior to discovering Tri’s. It works for now, especially at the shorter distances. My dilemma, and why I’m coming here for input, is the difficult choice of what to upgrade too moving forward. After this 2020 season I am planning on dropping $3-5k on a new bike, ideally disc with di2. The big issue is do I go Aero road w/clip on bars or straight Tri bike? I live and compete in a very hilly/mountainous region so the events I race in have difficult climbs (2000-3000ft elevation gains over 25mile course). For this reason I lean toward an aero bike w/ clip on aero bars because theoretically it should be a better climber. HOWEVER, almost every article or forum discussion I read recommends a legit Tri bike in almost every scenario, hills or not. I plan on moving up to 70.3 in 2021 and full IM after that eventually and those courses will probably be a lot less climbing since I’ll have to travel for those due to lack of longer distances locally. This will also be my only bike as I do not plan to keep my Defy, I’ll sell it when I get the new one to offset some of the cost. Another reason to lean Aero so I can use it for other rides besides training/racing.

This is the long-winded way of asking: is anyone in a similar situation? What route did you go and how did it work out? Buying 2 bikes is out of my budget so I’m gathering intel to make the right decision on the best option to be able to compete. If a Tri bike is still the faster option and climbing is doable with it then I’m ok with that choice.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!