How much time do the Long course pro’s spend training on there Tri bikes? Do they train on them all year round and do they do (sin of sins) pack rides on them?
If the leading Tour guys are putting in at least one long ride per week on their TT bikes I guess the Tri pros must spend a far amount of time on their’s.
Maybe someone should start producing steep angled winter/training bikes with mudgaurds etc?
As far as I know, Cameron Brown does most of his training on a road bike.
peter reid was riding a mtb, cyclo cross and tt bike during the winter, and as the season approche, we will get more on his TT bike…by july…he was exclusively on his TT bike…
a exception to this is dr tommy…he ride a fix gear, a mtb, cyclo cross with powercrank and a road bike…i would say 80% on the road bike…and once awhile, he will use is TT bike…but most of these times…it happens to be a race!!!
All of the pros I work with do 95% of their training on their tri bike- the exception would be off season riding for enjoyment or if one of them is focusing on some road racing and we get some saddle time on the road setup.
99% for me I bang around on a cyclocross bike now and again. I’m riding a road bike just for a bit right now, and it feels very weird. I would like to get a hardtail MTB, though, to ride once a week for fun and to improve my bike handling. But I’d still do at least 90% of my training on my tribike. You’ll see a very wide array of answers on this. There is no hard and fast rule. There are certainly a number of pros who train on their tribikes 100% of the time, because it is the only bike they own.
Very interesting question, but I am not sure, it is relevant for agegroupers. I think you need a minimum of about 4.000 km each season prior to the main race to get the muscles in shape for a specific setup.
For a Pro (who does >20.000km a year and has a huge carry over effect from one season to the next) this can be done on 20% on the tri bike.
For a typical agegrouper, this is more critical, I do about 10.000km / year, my main race is in July and I start training on my tribike in April. This gives me 3 months to get used to the TT-position, which translates to 3000-4000 km … very critical.
On the other hand, riding my TT bike in Winter is really no good experience, speed is to high and small stones go into the small back wheel cutout, destroying the frame.
So I do a mountainbike, a roadbike, a trackbike and cyclocrosser in winter, ok for general endurance, but not very specific.
I am thinking of getting a custom cyclocrosser in aeroposition 
Very Good to hear as I only have one bike. What pros do you work with?
All of the pros I work with do 95% of their training on their tri bike- the exception would be off season riding for enjoyment or if one of them is focusing on some road racing and we get some saddle time on the road setup.
I’m curious how you come up with that 4000 KM (just shy of 2500 miles) figure? And what makes that distance significant?
Is this number for an age grouper that is just starting out or someone who has been racing/training for a while?
Bjorn Andersson, Ragnar Alne, Jonas Colting (Jonas does like to do some training on his road bike) Clas Bjorling, Kristy Gough, Paul Fritzsche, Chris McDonald and Marilyn MacDonald (both management only).
Sorry to pull up this thread…
I’ve been questioning a lot about power meters and stuff in the last few days and have the problem of owning 2 bikes
(Orbea Ordu tribike and Trek roadbike) and not having the resources for having two power meters. But as many pros seem to train almost exclusively on their tribike could I benefit of power training if I buy an ergomo for my tribike and then try to reduce my training on the roadbike with no power meter. That would mean I can train with a power meter from may to october. Would that be worth it?
Jaakko
I would say yes to that!
Do you pro’s adjust their setup to become more aggressive as they get closer to a race (or for shorter races)?
I find my setup to be a trade-off. Lower on the front end is faster but, in the case of my 40K TT setup, not really very practical or safe for longer training rides. I set up less aggressive for IM racing, and even less than that for the long training prior to IM. Theory being that I’m willing to trade off comfort a lot more in a race than I am in training, and you can ride “head’s down” a lot more in a race due to closed course (hopefully), so neck muscles don’t need that much conditioning for lower position. For me, training is all about getting out as often as possible and staying out as long as possible, and comfort is key to that. I have a road bike set up like a tank that I do 75% of my outdoor rides on.
Probably pro’s have less motivation problems, but do they adjust their setups for training, or do you feel training in race position is too critical?
For the most part, their position is the same throughout the season. They spend so much time on their bikes that they are comfortable in their aero setup and can maintain it comfortably through the base season all the way through the race season. For the pros- “getting out” to train is their job, so they do it day in day out, not much motivational issues usually!
I don’t have a broad statistical base, but I can relate what our sponsored athletes seem to do.
In the off season, they are doing 60-80% of their training on a non tri bike (Road, cross & mtn).
Thanks for the info. Living in the UK I am some what reluctant to ride my race bike though all the winter grime! Not sure I could get my mudgaurds on there either Though I do all my indoor rides on my race bike. I am toying with the idea of getting a new race weapon so I guess I could keep my current frame an fit a chearer groupset for winter riding.
Do the pro’s do many group rides on their tri bikes or do they mainly train alone?
The pros that I work with, we get them 2 bikes/year. One for training on and one for racing on. Sometimes, as in Bjorn’s case who does road racing, the 2nd bike is a road bike. But, pros usually have the ability to flee to warmer weather climates during the winter months to train and stay in shape so they do not have to see the bad weather. That being said, Norwegian Pro, Ragnar Alne only received one bike in 2006 back in Febuary. He trained on the bike in a Norwegian Winter from Febuary to May then raced (and trained on it) the rest of the season and the bike is still going strong!
Well…u can hardly call it winter where he is living:-)
The sissy lives in west Norway…and hardly know what snow is:-)
Try putting him on a pair of skies one day Jason…haha
.
HAHAHAAHA that is actually very funny!!!