Which bike did you use on last Wednesday’s epic ride, road or tri? If the answer is that you used your road bike, was it because you were in a group or was it because the ride was especially hilly (or was it another reason entirely)?
For those not on the ride, your hypothetical responses are welcome as well.
The obvious root of my question is that I live in hilly southern california, I virtually always ride solo, and I’m debating on which bike to get.
i rode my road bike, as did julian and ves. pooks was on his tri bike. i chose the road bike because the ride was at a slow pace. had i been in enough shape to do that loop with jurgen’s group, i’d have done it on a tri bike.
I rode my road bike because it was a group ride, and I want to be sitting up straighter, with my hands on the brake hoods. If I’d have done the ride alone, I would have ridden my tri bike because I’m inside that magic 8-week window before an “A” race where I pretty much stick to the tri bike.
FWIW – I climb equally well (or poorly, depending your point of view) on both bikes. I am, without a doubt, faster on the tri bike on flats and moderate grades. I ride very steep/low on the tri bike, but sit up higher than most people on the road bike.
If I could own one bike, I would certainly own a tri bike and ride it all the time. But, I have both so I ride both. When not in “specific prep” mode for a race, I ride the road bike everywhere. The reason is simply that I feel safer on it with the more upright position and my hands near the brakes all the time.
I rode my tri bike because my road bike is currently disassembled on the workstand and I heard Ves was going to be there. I didn’t want to take the chance of having him see me riding my Klein.
Oh yeah, although I love my Yaqui, I would have taken my road bike if it were assembled. I say this because I much prefer riding a road bike in group rides and there was a fair amount of climbing. The main reason is the group ride thing though. I was very rarely in the aerobars on this particular ride.
I rode my road bike for a number of reasons. I knew that I would be sitting up a bunch, thereby making it not a good ride for my tri bike by road bike is set up for climbing, it is lighter than my tri bike I love my road bike
