Interesting question, and one which will ignite the flames!

My take on this is as follows:
Flat(ish) course -> steep angle (76+) with bar end shiters
Hilly course -> mid range angle (75) with drop bars and clip ons
Mountains -> road bike with clip ons

LP is a hilly course, a mid range bike will offer some advantages assuming you know how to take advantage of them! First, the bike will enable you to take some of the descents and corners better than a full on tri-bike. Second, there are quite a few short ups and downs on the out and back section, drop bars will enable you to move in and out of the saddle with quick gear changes so that you can take advantage of your momentum. Finally, the key feature of this course is the long climb back into town. Here a more relaxed position will a strong hood and top bar position should allow for a relaxed and smooth climb.

Having said that, Larson rode it the fastest using bar end shifters and he could have ridden it using drop bars if that would have been to his advantage. I just don't think one can extrapolate from elites as mush as one can from sound principles.

Fire away...
SteveMc

Wow, this is a great question well stated rebo. Specific bike for a specific course? Sometimes, absolutely. For St. Kitts and Alcatraz a road bike with shorty clip-ons may be more appropriate (subject to your body dimensions)because these races have courses with a lot of tight cornering and short, steep climbs. The races are also short (18 miles and 40 KM) so the advantage of a 78ish degree seat tube angle bike don't really have time to manifest themselves. For Lake Placid? Hmmm. I can only offer a vicarious opinion based on anecdotal and observational analysis. Having said that, I noticed the first LPIM was won by Thomas Hellriegel using drop bars with STi shifters but off the top of my head I don't recall his seat tube angle (was it 76 degrees on a Principia or was he on a Cannondale by then?). Paula Newby Fraser also won that year on drop bars and STi shifters. Maybe the best recommendation is your standard tri set-up from the stem back but with drop bars (optimized for your base bar position on the hoods of your STi levers, not the drop [bottom] section of the drop bars, which is utterly useless since it is too low and too short)and STi. Conversly, for IMFLA a person (again, contingent on body measurements, these are sloppy generalizations)may want a steeper seat angle orientation to facilitate a protracted stay in the aero position and slightly lower bars with a nice open orientation from femur to torso at the 2'O'Clock position of the pedal stroke and a very padded saddle at the nose such as an Azoto Triathlon (or the new Vision Tech version) with a neoprene saddle pad like Dan Empfield uses (I think?). Anyway, food for thought.... Good luck!

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

"My take on this is as follows:
Flat(ish) course -> steep angle (76+) with bar end shiters
Hilly course -> mid range angle (75) with drop bars and clip ons
Mountains -> road bike with clip ons "

No flames from me. I agree 100%.

Tom what do you think you need in a race like Lanzarote? That beautiful course has "only" a couple of real nasty hills (Mirador del Rio and Mirador del haria), plus just a couple of tight, narrow descents where a road bike would come handy, whereas the wind and the other not so nasty hills and drops justify in my humble opinion a medium seat angle and bar end shifters. This year I rode a road bike with clip ons and got hammered by the wind and by my not so comfy aero position. Next year I plan to bring a tri bike, what's your take on that?
Filippo

Lanzarote is a hilly course with many aerobar friendly sections. It's very easy to get your pace wrong and take it out far too hard. You've no idea how strong the wind will be nor when it will strike. Also, you're up against the best age-group cyclists in the sport (this is *their* Hawaii slot race). I think the greatest mistake you can make is to believe that a different seat angle will dramatically alter your race performance (training, training, training). However, there is a good chance that I'll be there on a 75ish bike with drops and clip-ons assuming I'm happy with my bike strength (otherwise it's just too demoralising puffing up Mirador del Haria, with 70km more of hard cycling..)
SteveMc

Say that mid range with drop bars and clip ons is the answer. Is this best achieved by making a tri bike less steep or making a road bike more steep?

Steve I couldn't agree more with you. I'm a bad swimmer, a decent runner, but I consider myself to be a pretty decent cyclist, and yes I too consider that "my Hawaii slot race," assuming I'll ever get it. That's why I wanna do it right next year. I mean, this year it was a lot of fun passing hundreds of better swimmers, but like I said there were parts where a better fitting, a more comfortable aero position and a steeper seat angle would have made a world of difference, especially given the real strong winds we had last May (even the locals were impressed). That's why I plan to bring a tri bike next year, with a not so steep seat angle and bar end shifters. Plus I think I'll have a 54/39 in front and 28/13 in the rear wheel, so that I'll be able to climb while seated even Mirador del Haria (whose last 2 km are in my opinion much tougher than Mirador del Rio, although not as tough as some parts of Nice). You see, the area where I train has much nastier hills than lanzarote, plus very strong winds all year round. The only thing that's missing is the heat, so I have the "dream" terrain where to train, I just don't wanna push too hard at the beginning, before entering the Timanfaya (which is a little tricky), and risk being spent when the race really starts.
I hope to see you next May
Filippo

I'm being quite specific here having done both IMLP and IM Lanza on a Calfee luna tri (76) with drop bars and clip ons. Other courses such as Hawaii, Austria, Frederika, Roth are better suited to a full time trial set up (i.e. bar end shifters and position best suited for you to use them). Lanzarote has some tough climbing and desending. Lake Placid has the long climb back into town plus the lumps which can benefit someone who uses their gears to maintain momentum over short undulations (I guess Larson can do this on the aerobars but I'd find it difficult to stay low).
So back to your question, what frame is best? Well I think there is a great choice these days. Both the Kestrel Talon and the Cervelo Soloist allow you to play extensively in the shallow to mid range. The dual would do the same for the mid to steeper range (the p2k and p3 should only be ridden with bar end shifters due to their aero-claims). Otherwise, quite a few companies make 76 bikes that can be made a bit more shallow (you might need to get a shorter stem to compensate) without any loss of stability (Calfee, QR, Principia, Cube etc). Road bikes made steeper tend to be a bit twitchy.
I hope that helps,
SteveMc

Filippo, your assesment of the course mirrors my own. However, I'll be trying to hold back until the climb out of La Santa. I'll have a 53-25 to get me up that nasty climb inbetween Haria and Rio...
Good luck with your training.
SteveMc

I had two races that were going to be my "A" races. One at Lake Pleasant in Peoria AZ, and the other Ironman Wisconsin. Both are hilly courses, although i dont feel the Lake Pleasant course really lived up to its "hilly" course billing. Anyway this spring, with these courses in mind, I had a custom frame built for me. Logic being that a slacker seat angle would perform better on the hills.

I went with a 74 degree seat angle, 58cm tt, and 58cm st. This bike was built out of easton ultralite aero tubing. Outfitted it with an ultegra kit and threw on some syntace C2 aero bars.

I ended up pulling out of IM wisconsin but the bike performed wonderfully in all my other races. Comfort is better than the 78 degree frame I was riding, especially on the long rides.

Pictures of the bike are at
http://www.trinewbies.com/phorum2/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=123

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