I’m going to be getting a new bike (titanflex) a week before Timberman (1/2 ironman) and getting a good fit in New York. Would I be completely nuts to race on it so soon?
I have a good fit on my current bike, but I’m flying from Borneo and bringing two bikes back would be near impossible on the weight allowance.
I’m using most of the components on the current bike for the new one, so would bring what I need, have it built up and fitted then have a week to ride it. My thinking was that a good fit would put me in the same sort of position I’m in now, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to ride the distance well.
If Timberman is not your “A” race, ride it. If it is your “A” race have it in the back of your mind that your cables will probably stretch a little and it might not shift smoothly…so be prepared to have that happen.
Personally, I would not swap out bikes this close to a race. Regardless of how close the fit will end up being to your current ride. It strikes me (and I am not an expert,but have carefully watched and listened to experts) that a seemingly insignificant change in geometry could cause a muscle imbalance or impingement that would only come to light under heavy loading e.g. racing.
In the final analysis the decision is yours and yours alone. I wish you a successful race.
Me - I would not do it. Just a mm or two of position change is enough to make me sore for weeks, and thats only in training. My bod is extremely sensitive to position change. To change for a single 56 mile hard effort would do two things to me - screw me up for the run and make me too sore to work out for a week.
if it is a B race, no big deal. Take it out for an hour the day before and tool around and try and dial her in as close as possible. You can expect that your “firing pattern” will be off even with a few mm of difference.
If you change bikes often within a week (ex: commuter bike, mtn bike, tribike etc), then this impact will be less of an issue. If you ride teh same bike all the time, then it will be more of an issue. I am not sure what you are doing in Borneo with respect to training on a variety of bikes.