Yes I can climb on either bike but my point it is more enjoyable climbing some of my hillier loops and certainly safer on a road bike. Riding brakes the hard on down hills into intersections or tighter bends I know what bike I would rather be on. The climbs are done on the hoods and not on the extensions generally so you may as well be on the road bike.

I can only really comment on the road and TT bikes I've ridden. However, as they all broadly did the same then I'm prepared to offer as a generalisation.

For climbing up then I tend to move my weight forward on the roadie, both seated and standing. Especially when standing. And whilst I keep the bike pretty stable upright there is some sway that happens on really steep bits of the climb. However, on the TT bike there's not a lot of space to move forward as my knees get close to the arm pads, and the bars are both lower and further back than the hoods which I'll ride on if on the road bike. The weight of the TT bike is higher than the road bike, so I find it harder to get a high cadence when out the saddle.

Descending then it's all sorts of reasons, but the wheels, the twitchy steering, the poorer braking (modulation and power) and even the feeling of slipping off the front of the base bars on really steep descents.

Finally the stiffness of the TT bike means that the rear wheel seems to skip a bit more compared to the road bikes. Having said that my road bikes aren't full on sprinting machines, so this could just be more specific to my bike choices.

I prefer road bike outside as I feel more in control. I do fine in aero on TT but road bike is nicer. Closer I get to races I make sure to get some more time on TT but as long I keep on it enough to still feel normal on it, I don’t really think about it too much. I do tend to do my critical BRICK workouts on my TT bike.

If the roads are dry, I usually prefer my TT bike, even for hilly routes. I have no problem climbing on my TT bike (e.g., rides with 5-10k ft elevation gain over 60-100 miles). I am comfortable, and it's faster/more-fun on the flatter/rolling parts for me. I agree that which bike you ride for training is less important, but I prefer my TT bike -- not for specificity of training -- but because I find it more fun. I may be an outlier in that regard I guess 🤷‍♂️.

Another factor in favour of the roadie is that its slightly safer with respect to car drivers than the TT bike. Both from the perspective of being able to start brakng sooner, but also I feel that I get a lot more SMIDSY near misses on the TT bike. Drivers just dont process the sight of me on my TT bike as being a cyclist when they pull out of side roads or roundabouts.

This is a factor for me for sure. Even though I often ride on a large multi use path, so no traffic, I’m more in control on a road bike if I somehow happen to hit the edge of the path or hit some bigger bump, etc. on a road bike vs in aero on TT. I will say I’m probably more comfortable on TT. I feel like I get a little more rest I’m aero

I will go out on a limb here but the shape of the bike matters when going up hill especially if it gets steep. You're center of gravity is pushed back on a road bike instead to pushed forward on a TT bike.

This is a huge factor for me as well, living near a major city with lots of distracted tech-bros texting and driving and poor quality roads. While it's fun to hammer along in the aerobars, I've just had too many close calls with cars and potholes to really enjoy it.

One of the biggest things I struggle with is getting enough "long" rides in on the TT bike. I think you can leave the TT bike almost entirely on the trainer if you're an OLY distance racer where your indoor rides are equal to your 40K TT, but for long-course it just seems like you need to spend some long rides in aero if you expect to be comfortable in the position on race day. And I've always struggled with when and how long and where (so as to not get killed) to do these rides.

I fall into this category. I'm a roadie only these days, but still do stage races with TT's or stand alone TT's. It's almost like my muscles forget how to fire in TT position if I've been off that bike for a while. It comes back relatively quickly, but my n=1 experience says that spending all your time on a road bike and switching over to the TT just for a race is a bad idea.

Look who the cat dragged in. ;)

How do you think the split ROAD/TT has been in training for those who ride the last two hours of an IM bikeleg with the hands on the basebar.

Two double centuries, a triple century and an Everest on my TT bike... YOLO!

---

"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

I'd actually be willing to bet a lot of them did all or most of their training on the TT bike, but on their longer training rides they were in/out of aero a lot due to traffic, etc. but in the race tried to stay in aero the whole first 4 hours until they could no longer manage. It was one of those guys in my first IM and that's how it went down.

Everesting on a TT bike? Haha, that is awesome 👍.

Tri bikes are generally significantly heavier than an equivalent level road bike due to more complex cockpit and more prioritisation of aerodynamics. However, a tri bike can still be the fastest on a suitable climb, but I'd still rather be on my road bike. Most people will have their tri bike equipped with a smaller gear range, although that's easily changed. Those aside I still have several reasons for preferring my road bike on the hills as follows:

• More comfortable position for climbing and with a variety of hand positions which provide easy access to the gear levers.
• Less steep saddle position is more comfortable for me while climbing for long periods, especially when sitting up, which I'll do when going slow on a steep climb
• Better handling in high winds (often encountered in the mountains)
• Better handling in the corners (often encountered in the mountains)
• Better stability, control and access to both gears and brakes from normal high speed riding position which is essential for confident descending. I've done over 85km/h on my road bike and felt fine about it. I've done 75km/h on my tri bike and felt rather nervous, even on the basebar.
• Better braking stability on a road bike due to further aft saddle position
• Road bikes are safer, more sociable and more acceptable in a group ride context, which will often be the case in the hills