Road bike off season. TT bike 2-3 times a week as I approach a race.

If your TT fit is good, ride the road bike.

I'm probably on the extreme.

Road bike this year 116.5 hours.
TT bike this year 2:15.
Which were composed of 2 rides on the trainer + 1 race.

It's much, much, much, much more important to ride a bike, any bike, than it is which bike you ride.

TT bikes look cool, way cooler than road bikes. But TT bikes suck ass when it comes to climbing, descending, group rides, dirt roads really anything but straight line, flat to rolling riding.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

TT bike stays on the trainer except for races, so TT bike all winter 4-5 times a week. Then once spring hits, its two rides a week on the TT/trainer and 2 outdoor rides on the roadie. I'm still getting used to the TT position so I think i'm better served getting most of my miles on the TT bike during the winter.

TT bike gets all my lovin’

+1 This.

My season finished 2 weeks after IMNZ on 2 March. So have done my last ride on TT bike until next September / October. Road bike for 110-150km each Saturday with group through winter and 2 Zwift sessions on the old road bike. Few races on the road bike too. Then coming to September/october the TT bike will got onto the trainer for the indoor sessions. Come October/November with first race Half Ironman in Jan then I'll start doing some odd outdoor sessions on the TT, and then do 1 saturday on TT, one on road etc. From mid Nov the road bike starts gathering dust until March 2020.

Caveat to the above is if I do replace the old TT bike then I'll start doing some earlier / longer trainer stuff to make sure the position is working for me. Note that I also wear tri-shorts even for indoor sessions on the TT bike, road bibs for zwifting on the road bike. I may be really fussy, but the difference in pad shape / thickness is noticable to me and so a critical element of comfort or not, and therefore position adaptation.

I do my key workouts on the TT and recovery and some, maybe 50/50 for longer aerobic rides on the road bike. Why? because I enjoy the road more for recovery and for the longer aerobic rides, I just like being upright.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Always TT bike unless it's in the shop, then road bike in it's place. Mountain bike with my son sometimes to have a totally different and fun style of workout.

I generally ride my tri bike unless keen to ride a nice hilly loop, a group ride with roadies or a recovery ride. I always find Sutto is pretty bang on what I consider to be correct.

https://team.homeoftriathlon.ch/en/teams/home-of-triathlon/blog/do-you-want-to-ride-faster

Tri bike is on the trainer and stays there most of the year.
In winter I'll get out on the road bike for one longer ride (often in a group) most weekends, and use the tri bike on the trainer on 2 or 3 evenings for shorter interval sessions or Zwift group rides.
In summer, the long weekend rides get longer and will usually still be on the road bike, but I'll swap for the tri bike approaching longer distance races. Evening rides will either be indoor on the tri bike or, if outdoor, it will depend on whether I'm solo or with others and doing hills/traffic or flat open roads.

I find the Tri bike more comfortable on the trainer, and it has a PM.
I find the road bike more comfortable, safer and more enjoyable for longer rides, climbing/descending, group rides, urban areas, busy roads.
As long as I'm doing a bit of both and therefore comfortable for long rides on either (on the extensions when riding tri bike!), then I don't worry too much about it.

I'm mostly road bike. I start getting to know the tri bike as a race looms 10-12 weeks out. And, even then, it's tri position just once or twice per week.

I agree with the other comments about use the bike that is appropriate for the setting.

If you are new'ish to the sport, riding in the aero position alot (all the time(?)) to get used to it is advantageous. If you are a triathlete and only one bike is in the budget, then it's not worth buying that road bike and having this conversation until the budget and number of bikes works for the fam/life.

But, after a few minutes in the sport, and with the luxury of a couple of bike options, I get the most bang for the buck in my riding by using the road bike except when dialing into a race mindset only when the race is getting kind of close.

I roadie when....
on trainer with things to watch like Zwift, games, movies, etc
riding with small groups that I know will be very punchy on our medium length steep puchy hills
riding with big groups
big epic climb routes
just chillin' solo with no agenda and just catching some good weather

I tri it when...
I want to start getting used to the position again
I want to start seeing where watts(tri) compare to watts(road)
I'm with a select group of buddies that understand I won't be climbing as fast as they will and we will ride as a unit

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"Outwork your talent." Kevin McHale

I used to have that same mindset and always rode my TT bike vs. my road bike. For awhile it didn't matter because the gearing was essentially the same. Eventually I dropped to shorter cranks on the TT bike which really didn't change anything for a typical triathlon course, but was a PITA for riding outside my front door where I had short climbs or pitches that I'd hit 100-130% ftp. My road bike was way more accommodating on these so now I usually ride that for rides outside my front door or rides where I'll see 80-100ft of elevation per mile. TT bike is on the trainer though. Right now I'm probably 60-40 on the road bike.

Last ride I had on my road bike was in the early fall. I've logged over 3k miles since then on the trainer, and it's all been on the TT bike. I guess I'm the outlier here in that my road bike gets very little use year round.

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
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Off season and bad weather road bike

Season, good weather, and close to races, TT bike

I’m so happy to hear you say that.

This question is for anyone, not just desert dude, but why are TT bike bad at climbing? They are generally light which I would think would be better for climbing. so is it a position thing? I'm not disputing the claim, as I don't know enough to say otherwise, I'm just curious what the reasons are.

They aren't until you get to really steep stuff. It's a misconception. You have to be climbing something like an 8% slope before the aero benefits are outweighed. GCN did a test on it and people can watch it on youtube.

There is a little more to it than that. Most, if not everyone, puts out more power on a road bike than on a TT bike. Even people who train a lot on a TT bike will put out a lower power.

When the road goes up the weight of the system being pushed down (up) the road becomes greater a lot faster than the wind resistance drops. Raw power (Power to weight ratio actually) now becomes the driver, and you have more of that on a road bike. Plus, a road bike allows you to shift your body, and hence your muscle groups while you are climbing. A TT bike does give you that variability (normally).

Now if you look at the climb cycle - the up and the down - then the TT bike wins most of the time, assuming that the decent is not technical and you can stay aero during the decent.

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"...the street finds its own uses for things"

+1. I basically do the northern hemisphere version of this. From end of race reason (mid-Sept) until Jan, I have my nice road bike on the trainer and my full-fender steel winter bike for outdoor riding and split time between indoor/outdoor. In late Jan, I moved the TT bike onto the trainer for 2 indoor rides/week, and ride the road bikes outdoors (winter if rainy, nicer bike if sunny). As races approach in spring, I'll try to do 3-4 longer outdoor rides on the TT bike when weather, maybe 1 every other week. It's a PITA moving it on/off the trainer, but I've found I need a few outdoor rides to readjust to the way the bike handles. TBH, I'm still not as comfortable as I'd like to be on the Zipp 808 front and am thinking maybe I'll do more outdoor riding on the deep wheels this year. But I still prefer to do most of my outdoor riding on the road bike because it's so much more enjoyable and feels much safer around cars.

But anyhow to summarize: road bikes only in late fall - winter. TT indoors and road outdoors early spring - end of race season, with a handful of outdoors rides in the weeks before races.

More than 50% on road bike because I do group rides with road bike racers and the occasional road race. In season I'll do 1-2 solo rides on the TT as I get closer to races etc.

x1000

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Just as an aside, anyone actually spend a lot of offseason or even in season on the roadie and find it difficult to get back to using the tt bike? I could have sworn sanders once said Jen had a hard time getting back to the tt bike before?

[/quote]
This question is for anyone, not just desert dude, but why are TT bike bad at climbing? They are generally light which I would think would be better for climbing. so is it a position thing? I'm not disputing the claim, as I don't know enough to say otherwise, I'm just curious what the reasons are.[/quote]
When it comes to training if I am going to ride hills on the tt bike I choose long hills that aren't too steep to do efforts on in tt position. if I am going out to do a cool climbing loop that has some punchy climbs and steep windy descents and corners I am riding my road bike for more enjoyment and better bike control. Often these rides will be done in a group as well so makes for a more enjoyable ride.

One of my favorite conversations about this was when I was riding with a roadie and he asked me how my TT bike climbed. I responded "it usually does what I tell it to do..." Really, it's about riding and making the rides count, not what you ride. When I'm riding my road bike a lot, I get PRs; when I'm riding my TT/tri bike a lot, I get PRs.

That said, basically 95% of my time on the TT/Tri bike for 2018 (5600 miles, 320 hours, about a 5 hour IM bike). Occasional rides on the road bike for recovery, fun, and maybe an "extreme" climbing day (anything 50+ miles with >1000ft climbing per 10 miles), and thats usually for comfort/ ease of transportation reasons at that stage. The 3 previous years however were 100% road bike and no racing of any kind, but with plenty of general improvement. Last year, I really wanted to spend the year on the new TT bike for it to become second nature and comfortable in any riding condition, having been off a TT for a while.

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Matt Leu, M.S. Kinesiology
San Pedro Fit Works, Los Angeles, CA
Endurance Athlete and Coach
Consistency/time=results

This question is for anyone, not just desert dude, but why are TT bike bad at climbing? They are generally light which I would think would be better for climbing. so is it a position thing? I'm not disputing the claim, as I don't know enough to say otherwise, I'm just curious what the reasons are.[/quote]

When it comes to training if I am going to ride hills on the tt bike I choose long hills that aren't too steep to do efforts on in tt position. if I am going out to do a cool climbing loop that has some punchy climbs and steep windy descents and corners I am riding my road bike for more enjoyment and better bike control. Often these rides will be done in a group as well so makes for a more enjoyable ride.[/quote]
IMO a good climber is a good climber regardless of road or tt bike. What I notice about using a tt bike for steeper and punchier climbs is have just bar end shifters. On my roadie I can easily shift while hammering up hills but that's not the case with the tt bike. But now with DI2/Etap shifting that changes things.