Doing my first ironman at Lake placid. 42 year old male. I have a nice carbon fiber trek tri bike. I like it for flat courses but feel unstable at speeds over 35 mph. I come from a bike racing background and am comfortable going 50 downhill on my road bike. From what i have read LP is very hilly and i am thinking that I would be better off on my road bike without the weight of a clip-on during the climbs. I just never really liked clip-ons . I am aiming to go a little under six hours on the course
I think i might make up more time on the climbs and descents than I would lose on the flats.
Does anyone do the course on a road bike without clip-ons or am i just crazy?
I’ve done LP 4x, road bike no bars. I’m not fast though. And I did not wish I had the bars. Then again, my splits were btwn 620 and 715. But, I actually ran the run fwiw.
After doing IMLP a few years back, I also came to the conclusion that aerobars might have been unneccessary for me. First, I also have a road bike and am not all that comfortable while riding on them. Second, I wasn’t on them all that much when I thought about it. Basically only in the flatter middle section of the course starting after Jay.
BTW, you might be comfortable going 50 downhill, but you aren’t going to be alone on the one hill where you can get that kind of speed. Someting to consider…
I have done about 300 bike races in huge packs over the years on all kinds of courses road, crit ect.
Of course I was young then . Maybe I will keep it about 40
FWIW the Profile design Sonic CSX are only about 330g. Depending on how your roadie is set up they are pretty low stack and coudl give you the option if heading into a nice headwind on the flats.
LP is really not that hilly it just feels that way on the second loop if you ride too hard on the first. If you are aiming to go under 6 hours it is just plain stupid to not use your tri bike. Actually, I think it would would be stupid regardless. Only way I would ride it with a road bike is if that is all I had.
You are really not going to gain any time by going 10-15 mph faster for about 6 minutes per loop BTW.
Reads to me like a wheel sucker waiting to happen. There’s plenty of relatively flat road on that course where aero bars are beneficial. I don’t think it is worth giving up the aero advantages to go faster on the descent to Keene.
My friend Mike, who is a very solid cyclist, but not a total superstar (i.e., every once in a while I can hang with him for a mile or) did IMLP in 5:30 in 2004 on a road bike sans aerobars. He still had a very good sub-4:00 run.
I am doing IM LP this summer as my first IM. I was wondering this same thing. Looking at the course elevation profile it seemed as if there are not that many flat sections to spend in the aerobars. As others here stated, and from friends that have done the race, I am going to use my tri bike. For me, it is that darn elevation profile that keeps putting doubt in my head.
There is a tonne of road to be in the aero position. The only places you aren’t likely to be aero are the hills going out of town, the steep hills coming back into town and the hill on the out and back. Everything else is easily rideable in the aero position. And this coming from a slouch on the bike.
Maybe your buddy that went 5:30 with a road bike no aerobars, would have gone 5:15. Or maybe he would have gone 5:30 and then run 3:30 instead of 4:00.
Sure there are guys that push more wind than they need to, and we could certainly hold them up as examples of why one does not need to ride this course in the aerobars, but pretty well all those guys would be faster with aerobars.
Roadies used to questions aerobars and the question was finally settled once and for all with Lemond beat Fignon in the 1989 Tour de France.
That was 20 years ago.
Don’t ask yourself the same question 20 years later. The proof is there a zillion times over that riding aerobars will be faster in everything but: pack ride uphill time trial
Since you are not supposed to do 1 and since you are not doing 2, the answer is aerobars
I would not recommend my friend’s approach - I’m just saying that he did it. My wife also did IMLP on a road bike with no aerobars, but she got off the bike at 5:29 p.m - one minute before the cut-off.
Roadies used to questions aerobars and the question was finally settled once and for all with Lemond beat Fignon in the 1989 Tour de France.
I thought the only thing that TT settled was that ponytails are evil?
To the OP: If you don’t like aerobars and aren’t going to use them- don’t put them on your bike.
I think a lot of aerobars on roadies aren’t set up well. And since they aren’t comfortable people don’t use them. Do a search on the “Big Slam” position and see if this works better for you.
Thanks for the replies everyone. Hopefully I can talk my wife into me preriding the course (maybe try to disguise it as a romantic weekend getaway), and try out both bikes on the course. I will probably go with the tri-bike due to the consensus of the board.
Yes, take your wife and spend a weekend to do some riding - I love that place
I ride a road bike also, but with clip-ons. Lots of opportunities to go aero, and if nothing else the change of position has to be a benefit on a long ride.
Done LP 4 times…once with a road bike and clip-ons and three times with a tri bike. If you use your tri bike just make sure you have practiced climbing on it and made adjustments accordingly with bike set-up. I am 47 and ride a slacker set up for that very purpose.
There’s plenty of relatively flat road on that course where aero bars are beneficial. I don’t think it is worth giving up the aero advantages to go faster on the descent to Keene.