I seem to be slow on my road bike too unless I am down in the drops or riding as low as I can on the hoods. I think that since I train in my tri bike position so much that when I sit up on my road bike I lose all kinds of power.

It may be a seat forward or rearward position issue too for me.

For the record, I was fit for my tri bike by a great tri shop and fit for my road bike by myself.

jaretj

I had the same problem earlier this season. I did most of my late winter/spring training on the Tri bike. Towards the end of spring I start to try and get into gear to do alittle bike racing. For probably over a month, I felt like I had the cardio to go, I just couldn't put down the power on the road bike. After about a month my road bike legs seemed to come back. Now I can go from bike to bike pretty easily (2 days a week on each bike). I say you just need to tough it out and put in some mileage on the road bike it'll be much easier and more comfortable.

Thanks for your reply--- do you think I should bring the seat forward to simulate the position I am used to? I was initially set up by a lbs that seemed to know what they were doing.

Also- do I tough it out now, or wait for the end of the tri season?? I don't want to hurt my current training.

Shouldn't be a problem if both fit right you'd think. I have no problem hopping from one to another. Here's a good url for the basics of road bike fit.

http://www.coloradocyclist.com/BikeFit/index.cfm

Cerveloguy- Are both of your bikes Cervelo?? (do you think that is relavent to the comfort?) I'm on a P3 which seems to have pretty agressive angles.

"do you think I should bring the seat forward to simulate the position I am used to? '

No. Road bikes aren't designed to be rode like tri bikes. Going steeper on a road geometry frame will likely be putting too much weight forward and mess up the handling characteristics. Get it fitted properly as a road bike, especially if you're group riding.

I would leave the seat back maybe five degrees less than your tri bike. You will need to develop your hamstrings more to push the road bike. Stick with it.

"Cerveloguy- Are both of your bikes Cervelo"

Two of my three bikes are road bikes. One is a Giant TCR and the other is component upgraded old classic steel which I just gave to my 15 yr old son.

Is the seat post on the P3 in the turned forward position? If so you'll be riding a fairly aggressive position. I know some people who prefer to ride their Cervelos with the seat post turned the other way to give more of a road style geometry. If you're not used to riding a road bike it could be that your body has to adapt, but that shouldn't take too long, a ride or two I'd guess.

Tom D wrote a good article explaining the differences between a road and tri bike geometry. Also read Dan E's articles in Slowtwitch homepage under the technical section.

http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/bikes/difference.shtml

I'm not sure I would move my seat forward to simulate the Tri position like others have said. On that note though, my saddle is mounted w/ the clamp almost at the back end of the rails. I like a short cockpit on my bikes (next time I'm gonna buy 1 size down on the frame).

Whether you should wait till the end of the season I would say depends on your race schedule. I'm at pretty much the end of my season, tapering for 1/2 Vineman, unless I qualify for Kona (HAHAHAHAHA, about the same odd as me winning (or even finishing) the Tour). If you still got a couple months in your season I don't really think it would hurt to keep putting miles in on the road bike, they are still bike miles after all. I'm definitely in the camp that roadie group rides really help bike fitness, so the faster you get into them the better.

Your post is very timely for me. I just rode for an hour on my P2K this morning and was commenting to a guy here at work (another triathlete) how I feel like I can't get the power cranked up on my tri bike. Just the opposite of your issue. I can crank it up and hold speed much higher on my road bike. I'm guessing it's just some adaptation that both of us need to go through,,, as I ride the road bike for about 80%+ of my mileage.

I would say stick with it and your body will adapt to the tri geometry within a week or so.

I have the privilege of being a yoga instructor. Something one of my master instructors told me that I feel is relevant to triathlon training is this, "Pain is your bodies attempt to communicate something to you". As it relates to you H2...err I mean Tri girl I believe your body is trying to communicate to you; the question is what? It could be this simple: your body is accustomed to your TT bike and quite probably not your road bike as they are set up differently.

As numerous articles (gordoworld, slowtwitch, bikesportmichigan et al) state Tri bikes v. road bikes feel different due to the steep v. slack seat angles. When Dan E. created QR way back in the mid 80's he took Ves Manderic's idea for an Olympic pursuit bike with a VERY steep seat angle and decided to tweak it for this new sport called triathlon. Dan designed a bike around a new fangled invention by Boone Lennon (aerobars) that would be specifically designed to "save" the hamstrings as it was designed for tri and biathlons. It is a bit more difficult to obtain the silky smooth cadence of a pro roadie on a tri bike since you are utilizing, by design, more quad and less hamstring.

With a road set up it is much easier to develop a more "complete" pedal stroke as the, relatively, laid back geometry is much more conducive to using your glutes, hip flexors, and hamstrings in addition to your quads. If you can distribute the workload over more muscles, why isn't everyone on road set ups? Well everybody has a different body and not all of those bodies are going to try to run after they dismount. Look at all the tour riders. The angles are not all that different from their road set ups. Possibly by rider preference but more likely by UCI regulation.

IMHO, there will need to be an adjustment period. Adjustment periods are best done during your off season. I have a 700 road bike and a 650 tri bike and both are nice in different ways. For me it seems that, while comfortable, I am sitting upright on my roadbike whereas my tri bike isn't really as comfy unless I'm in the aero position.

If I were you coach I'd tell you to do the majority of your miles on your P3 and perhaps do some of your easy or recovery rides on your Orbea taking a few allen keys so you can adjust your position when you're out on the road. While it may compromise the handling a bit, if you can get a little closer to your P3's position when you are on your road bike it will probably make the adaptation period go a little easier...at least until you finish training for whatever "A" priority race you happen to be preparing for in late August.

Miguel in the 'No

Vamanos El Tribato :)

"I feel like I can't get the power cranked up on my tri bike. ..... as I ride the road bike for about 80%+ of my mileage."

I'm the same and so is my wife. Our tri bikes are no faster than our road bikes, the qualifier being that the road bikes are laso fitted with aero bars and aero wheels. We spend a lot more time on the road bikes since we group ride three times a week.

The only thing for me is that my legs are fresher going into the run off the tri bike.

I feel uncomfortable all over, and am sloooow as molasses!

Question: Are you actually slower on the road bike, or does it just feel slower? And if you're actually slower, by about how much?

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

Reply to vitus979: I am slower on the road bike- generally average about 17-18 mph on an ez, recovery type ride on my TT. On the road bike I am averaging 14 mph, really humping it. Is this normal then?

El Tribato-- Gracias Master Coach. You trying to blow my cover here? :o)

H2

I'm no expert, but I doubt that's normal. The reason I asked is because I would think that you would be a little slower on the road bike- being more aero on a tri bike. I doubt that this could account for a 3-4 mph difference, though. (I also wouldn't be surprised if one's perception of speed was different on a road bike than on a tri bike- being lower in front might make things seem faster. But this isn't your situation, so disregard.)

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

That's not normal - 14 mph is not real fast - not bagging on your speed, but knowing that you are an experienced rider, it's unlikely that you would be riding that slow without some meaningful biomechanical problem.

Given your options to adjust fit, what you can reasonably do is adjust the nose of the seat so that it's about 2 inches behind the bottom bracket, and of course adjust the height so that it fits your legs correctly. You've probably got the latter all taken care of, so I think its just a question of moving the seat backward to more of a road configuration and allowing it to recruit more muscles into the motion - hamstrings, etc.

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