Yep. It's not even really the hilly part that matters. It's a matter of are you going to be taking advantage of the aero aspect of the heavier bike. If it's a course like Nice WC 70.3, no, you really are not taking advantage of aero. With a Cat1 climb, and subsequent descent, you are not worried about aero. You need handling ability for the descent and a tri bike simply will never handle as well as a road bike. I would easily have been faster on that descent if I wasn't fighting the handling of a bike made to go fast in a straight line.

I did this on a tri bike and would do it again. It was pretty much up and down.

https://connect.garmin.com/...n/activity/192511781

I've been dying to do Evergreen! My fiance has done it and said it's an absolute blast. Oh well, hope for 2022!

ETA: 1,500+ ft in gain in 7 miles.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Swissman. Full distance rather than Oly. 12,300'+ of gain on the bike course. Incredibly scenic as you traverse three passes in the Swiss Alps.

For destination races, the other thing to think about (if you're not that interested in squeezing out every last second) is how much of the course will you actually see if you're on a tri bike vs a roadie? I tend to soak in a lot more of the sights on my road bike. On the tri bike, I'm usually focused on tarmac a few yards ahead of me.

I've done the course (sprint) and it definitely is a trip bike course. No roadie needed. Try working in some hills with your tri bike and do hill repeats or find rolling hills to practice with.

I've not done the course, but I second this input based on the map and data and all else said in this thread.

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
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You all are killing me now. I'm totally confused and thinking maybe I should say to hell with it all and go with MTB.

(Also, the race is a week from tomorrow, so a bit late for me to start practicing hills unfortunately.)

yep, I ride a road bike for Evergreen.. also for the Lookout Mountain tri in CO, same thing, up and down a mountain with lots of twists and no-where to get in the aero bars.

Rode Lausanne in 2006, in addition to constant climb or descend through tight turns, there was also a section of cobbles, one lap done 4 times. Every time I went through the cobbles, there was a non-European on a tri bike crashed out..

Crashing really slows you down, rather negates the speed advantage of the aero tri bike.. so handling is my #1 criterion for deciding what to ride.


ha !
If in doubt, the road bike.. put the race wheels if any on it.

I randomly was driving over the Grimsel several years ago on the day of the Swissman. The weather was awful around 0ºC, raining, misty/foggy.... safe to say the guys on tri bikes were all over the bloody road and guys with aero helmet visors were steaming up. Was glad to be in my car.

Random useless anecdote: I ride in a metro southern flattish area. Always some time at or over 40mph, curves, etc….. all in aero. Even in Raleigh. I’ll hammer 56/11 down.

Squeeze the butt cheeks and practice it.

I have the exact same question, for the exact same course next week, Isabel! I’m thinking to ride my roadie, simply for the fact that I haven’t ridden my TT bike outside since 2019. Great planning on my part, lol. I’m going just to have fun and knock the rust off :). Maybe I’ll see you there!

Hey Bluefishy! If there's some way to DM around here let me know... Would be cool to say hi in Culpeper.

Re bikes, I have decided to go with the roadie, and that's despite having trained and raced on my tri bike 90% of the time since 2019, and my tri bike being a better specimen than the roadie. So if I were you, having been mostly on the road bike, the choice for Culpeper would be a no-brainer. I've also realized that I'm undertrained for the hills and will be aiming to finish rather than (AG) podium. My other races this season will definitely be on the tri.

I wanted to report to all the helpful commenters on this thread that Blufishy and I both went with our road bikes for Culpeper on Saturday and met up in person during the awards ceremony, where we both collected some bits of hardware (which were actually wooden). :)

Good for you! Congrats to you both.

I did a bit of an experiment on this topic.

I did the new Ironman Canada Penticton bike course on my Cervelo Caledonia 105. It isn't super hilly but is regarded as one of the tougher IM courses.

Pirelli 28s for tyres, ZIPP 303s on the back, Boondocks 5d on the front. Running 73 psi. Vision Tech ITU shortie aerobars.

The quick takeaways.

1 - I was slower than on my QR CD 0.1 with disc/tri-spoke (no surprise).

2 - I enjoyed doing the uphills and downhills much more on the Caledonia, although I was slightly slower on one of the major climbs (Yellow Lake).

3 - I really liked having three comfortable hand positions (drops, hoods, aerobars) during the ride. It was more comfortable and as such, less overall fatigue, and less time "zoned out." As well, since I was riding much more upright, my neck and back were much happier.

4 - Unless the road was very, very smooth, the Vision Tech shortie aerobars are painful on the contact point with the bars, in my case it was my elbows that were suffering. This suffering made me get out of the aero bars a lot more than I would have on my QR.

5 - I'm not sure about cause/effect here but I found my very finicky stomach to be much happier as well with the Caledonia. Maybe it was that spending more time upright, aided in my digestion. (liquid nutri. only).

6 - My transition run went much better than when on my TT bikes. My upper body was looser. My legs were less fatigued and "came around" much more quickly. My 40 minute run was faster than usual based on the same level of effort.

No, I won't be using the Caledonia for the Ironman in September, but if I can replicate some of the positive aspects of the Caledonia on my QR (boost the comfort level, change up hand position more frequently) there may be a net benefit when doing the comfort to aero trade off.

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