You can easily qualify for the 70.3 Worlds on a road bike as its a pretty easy race to qualify for. KQ is another story. Generally speaking you have to be very fast to KQ and doing that on a road bike and then running a marathon just sounds painful to me.

70.3 Worlds was won on a road bike...

Find a hilly and technical course and you're golden

I know a guy who KQ'ed on a road bike at a 70.3 back when they offered Kona slots at those races. I believe he also used the same road bike at Kona...but he also was very proficient on the road bike, almost to elite level. So i guess my point is, it can be done!

That will be rare in a typical race, because most of the top competitors will be on TT bikes by default (WC winner not withstanding). But, I bet most would have qualified anyway on a road bike. It is all about the run after all-- if you are a solid runner, then the bike type will not matter much. If you are a so-so runner and on the bubble overall, get faster on the run, and the gains will exceed what you give up on the bike.

It all comes down to ability and who shows up at your qualifying race. To try and have the same bike split on a road bike as a TT bike will require more watts. This will cost you on the run. To have the same finish time overall you will need to make up the lost time on the bike during the run. Most Ironman bike courses over 12 miles favor TT bikes as aerodynamics trump other benefits going up and down hills. Most IM bike courses aren't technical enough to where a road bike favors a TT bike. Courses like Nice are few and few between.

For a strong athlete I say it is possible to do this on a road bike, especially if you put aerobars on it and a FF seatpost. This is what I road for years and some of my PR's still remain while I rode that setup. I had a very good TT fit on the roadie with aerobars.

Even with a pure road bike it's possible, but you'll need to get yourself into great bike shape and have one hell of a run game. Again, depending on who shows up. Maybe pick a race where other athletes may have a tendancy to get out of aero more, i.e. hillier course.

I'm signed up for IM St. George where I can see folks getting out of aero during the uphill sections.

Also, if you do a course with significant descents, maybe learn to get off the saddle and rest on the top tube to shave some seconds off. I remember even seeing Chris Froome pedaling while in that position. Of course if your wife finds out you're doing that sh** you'll be in trouble again.....

Agree on hilly but not sure about technical, if OP doesn’t have the handling skills to ride well on a TT bike, I doubt being on a road bike would change that significantly enough to provide an advantage over other athletes comfortably handling TT bikes

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Ah, could be. I read not comfortable as there being pain associated with being on a tt bike. I know plenty of folks who can’t really get into an aero position due to previous injuries. If it’s comfort as far as bike handling skills, OP just needs to overcome some mental barriers

Answer is yes, but it's more complicated than that.

The top-of-the-line aero road bikes aren't that much slower than a dedicated TT bike (the biggest difference in drag is having the drop bars/brifters instead of bullhorns). The 70.3 WC was won on a "road bike," but it was a very aero road bike.

Let's say a road bike with deep wheels and clipons is 10min slower than a dedicated TT bike in an ironman (that's a VAST overstatement). There are plenty of folks who could have KQ'd going 10min slower.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

I currently rock a Cannondale Caad10 with a TT cockpit and fastforward seatpost. I know I'm not going to KQ at IMFL this year, but I think I have a decent shot at falling in around 9:30-9:45, which isn't all that far off for the M35-39 AG considering I think I can take 10min off my swim, 10 off my run, and 15min off my bike (with my current bike).

And honestly part of me wants to keep putting off a TT bike and in 2021 when I do shoot for a KQ do it on what's technically an un-aero aluminum road bike...but I also want to KQ so I'll probably buy all the speed I can.

Rohan Dennis could probably do it.....as long as he's not on a Merida….

The important point here is that the OP wants to ride a road bike for safety reasons.

If you put clipons on a road bike, and ride in an aero position, it's no safer than a TT bike. If you want it to be safer you need to sit up and keep your hands on the hoods or drops. The loss of speed riding like that will be pretty huge...

Good point.

From a numerical standpoint I think it's still possible. Aerobars are worth ~2.5min. over 40k...so roughly 10min. for an IM. That's a lot of "free speed" to give up, but many folks could lose 10min. and still KQ.

https://www.active.com/...-Benefits.htm?page=2

There are other options; a few races ago I saw a guy racing on the old Scott drop-in road bars. Not sure if the OP would consider then safe enough, but they could shave some of the difference.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Yeh, I qualified for Kona on a road bike at my first IM.

I’m going to offer a slightly different perspective (which is kind of additional/related to rruff’s post). If yours and your wife’s’ issue with your riding of a TT bike is a safety/handling issue, I don’t think this necessarily needs to be a problem (realistically should cue Slowman or Rappstar here). There is a perpetuation of information that TT bikes are a disaster to handle (eg, Froome’s accident, plus me being an avid listener of the Armstrong Move podcast, his relentless moaning about how badly TT bikes handle), and it doesn’t need to be this way. I have a Shiv tri (old one – and Tri, not TT, which are contrasts with respect to what I’m about to say): it has a pretty low BB, long front-centre and appropriate trail (ie, longer than a road bike). All added up, excellent weight distribution and steering characteristics.


I can ride this bike either no hands or on a technical and fast downhill just as easily as my road bike. I often ride with several friends who predominately ride TT bikes of another brand which are generally not designed ‘properly’ in this manner (in short, road bike front end geometry on a TT bike) – I know for certain I could not, and most of them cannot, for example, handle those bikes at speed on a technical descent. Hope this is helpful food for thought….

Thanks for all the great replies so far. It’s all helpful information both from a motivating standpoint and thoughts going forward. To help clarify the handling standpoint issue. I do think it is most mental. I had been riding the bike fine for a while before the crash but afterward I just couldn’t not think about my wife worrying while I rode it. I found this only got worse the more times I rode it afterward. Perhaps , a different Tri bike would be better option in the future, though I did go through the fitting process, took time to adapt to it on the trainer, and then felt decent while on the road before the crash.
For know I at least have some examples of it not being so far fetched. I know it will take maximizing all 3 legs for sure.

Hi, I did Kona twice on a ("good") road bike while I miss half of my right hand.
They said Anything is Possible. Just believe in yourself and keep up the hard work ;-)

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Arnaud Margot
Swiss long-distance triathlete under construction
http://www.margotri.ch

If you feel good on the roadie ride it!

Add some sprint shifters to the lower more aero position :)

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___________________________________________
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2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

Riders sometimes win stages of the tour de France on road bikes, by making solo breakaways and drilling it. So I'm thinking it's possible for a really good bike rider to KQ on a road bike, as long as the swim and run are also really good.

True but other than TT stages they are all on an equal footing. You tend to see more of those long escapes in week 2 and 3 when riders are an hour or more behind on GC and no one cares if they get 10 minutes back.

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___________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)