Still procrastinating about getting new tri bike. Went on very hilly ride this last weekend with friend on tri bike and it seemed very awkward for him to change gears on the really steep hills on the tri bike, whereas on my road bike it was much smoother.
Is Lake Placid so hilly I’d be better off on a road bike - or is it rolling enough to where the tri bike is hte better choice?
Tri Bike.
I don’t think it matters. I’ve always ridden a tri-bike but I just got a brand new road bike (Cyfac) and i’m thinking of riding it at Lake Placid, just because.
But go with whatever you’re most comfortable with…the course isn’t hilly enough to worry about it, either way you’ll be fine.
Road bike with clip ons. Get a good fitting to try to optimize both positions, don’t just use your road position and then lay down on the clip-ons.
If you’re choosing your bike based on LP, the tri bike is fine. It’s not “very hilly ride” and there are no sustained “really steep hills” so you don’t have to worry about fumbling for the gears.
A road bike w/ clip ons (in a tri position) will do you just fine though. Not a huge downside. Saw a couple of the really fast people up front doing this, so I doubt it’s a bad idea.
Tribike, you’ll be thankful for it during the majority of the flat riding.
I’d go for the tribike. Rode the course last year the day after Tupper with a friend who brought a road bike just for that ride. He can be a silly roadie with charging up the hills. No big difference on the climbs, the flats (and the course is mainly flats, or false flats that should be done in the bars anyways) he couldn’t hold the draft. It is hilly, but the hills are fairly constant pitch and you only have to switch gears once or twice for each and then you can just spin up in the same gear. Key for that course is that even on the long climb, it is a series of small climbs with flats in between. Save some energy for the top of the climb to get going fast again for the flat and get aero.
Was your friend new to his tri-bike? I find that either you are in the bars climbing and it is no problem shifting or you are sitting up
and reaching up with one hand and clicking the bar end is no problem. The only drawback would be standing and shifting,
but I’m not sure you want to be doing that in an IM anyways.
Now, I’m working on my standing while in the aerobars technique…
So far everyone is focused upon the bike leg of the race. The tri geometry will be more forgiving on your hamstrings and therefore set you up for running over a hilly marathon. The road bike uses more hamstring in all positions and you will be more run fatigued.
For what it’s worth my friend Tony won IM Lake Placid this year on a road bike with 4:43 bke split. This was the third fastest split behind Larsen and Helriegel. I’m planning on doing Placid with a road bike too. If you climb better on a road bike I’d go with that. Also a lot of people are more comfortable/stable going 45-50 mph on a downhill than on a tribike.
I wouldn’t buy a bike based on one race course, but I’ve done that course on both - a Softride and a Calfee Tetra (road). My bike ride was 90 minutes faster on the Calfee, but it was me and my training (lots less for the faster time), not the bike.
Still, I’m doing it again this year and I’ll be choosing the road bike simply because it is more comfortable for a long ride.
The course isn’t straight up and down and there are long long stretches where you’ll be happy to have a nice aero tri bike. The climbs aren’t fast and technical enough to worry about hand coordination issues.