Alright, I will complete my only MTB race this weekend and the focus shifts to a tri in August. I having been spreading my time between my MTB and Tri bike on the weekends. Time to focus on the tri bike.
The question is going forward is there any specific reason not to alternate between road bike and tri bike?
The plan is to ride the road bike during the longer weekend rides (3hours) and the tri bike during the shorter rides, with the intensity performed on the tri bike.
Personally I am of the opinion that you should train on what you race on but that is just my opinion… I personally do all my outside riding on my tri-bike…
For me it depends on where I am riding. If I am doing a long outdoor ride that requires me to cut through the local streets and bike path to get to some open roads I ride the road bike- too much of a hassle to navigate the tri bike around cars and people on the trail. Long trainer rides I use the tri bike or if I am driving out to some open roses
I owned a road bike once. It never road it because I liked my tri bikes so much better. To me its more comfortable to ride 100 miles on a tri bike compared to a road bike. But others will feel the opposite.
The plan is to ride the road bike during the longer weekend rides (3hours) and the tri bike during the shorter rides, with the intensity performed on the tri bike.
I do exactly the opposite. The only reason I ride the tri bike is to get used to long rides in that position. All my other riding is chasing roadies’s around that faster than me.
For years I was ‘all tt all the time’ and I attribute that to having radically different positions on the respective bikes and not wanting to lose the feel of the tt bike at race effort. Once I got my road and tt set up with the same hip angle I honestly couldn’t tell the difference. My position on the road bike with hands on hoods was within 1 degree of my tt position. At that point it became 90% road.
Last year was my first year really riding A LOT and I did it all on my Tri bike. I wasn’t getting the argument as it seemed irrelevant to me. Then at the end of season I ponied up for a road bike under the assumption this year I’d be joining a cycling club. In the end I bought 2 new bikes, a Road bike and a new Tri bike. All winter long I trained on the Road bike and up until 3 weeks ago my Tribike had gotten in maybe a half dozen trainer rides before I ventured outside with it. With that I then understood the debate between Road vs Tri bike. I felt so sketchy on my tribike out on the roads, in the cross winds in a full aero tuck. To me that gave a new dimension to the argument. Position on the two bikes play a huge factor. I also assume the Tri bike you’re riding will be a factor as some of the newer stuff have really steep seat tube angle.
In the end if you adapt quickly to the position on the tri bike it shouldn’t matter but if you’re unable spend the time in the saddle you need to adapt!
I do any strenuous riding on the tri-bike UNLESS I’m mixing it up with the group. For any zone 2-3 stuff, I will use the road bike. Also keep the tri-bike on the kickr for quick interval sessions throughout the week.
Q: Do 5,000 and 10,000 meter Track runners only train around 400 meter ovals upon slightly beveled synthetic surfaces? Why not?
A: Because uphills and downhills and straights and flats and random curves and grass and trails and packed dirt not only make the body stronger with the same amount of training time and effort through variation. Variation also helps to avoid overuse injuries. Also: boredom and enjoyment for those that are training a lot more than Age Groupers.
The Triathlon non-draft racing bicycle position is not so good on one’s back and neck no matter how perfectly positioned. If one rides less than five hours per week, then overuse would rarely be a factor unless very poorly positioned on the TT bike.
Riding a road bike (even a mountain bike) motivates to ride more miles or kilos–so mix it up!
Depends on your goals? Racing a 70.3 or Ironman? You’re going to want todo more longer rides on the TT bike. Racing sprints/olympics, you can get with the opposite.
I don’t really do “long rides” and prefer riding a drop bar bike these days so my week gets broken up like so:
Easy rides: Road or Cross/Gravel bike.
Threshold rides: TT bike.
Vo2max/Group rides: Road bike.
I usually do three hard and three or four easy rides.
For me it depends on the terrain. I ride my tri bike for 210-240km per week; a rolling out and back route along the north coast of Taiwan. Strong winds many days and about 800m elevation over 100km…which counts as pretty flat.
But for the rest of my riding…give me some road bike! Climbing over 1500m per ride on a road bike is just so much more fun than a tri bike, never mind how much safer/quicker they are descending.
Love tri, my P5 is a fast bike, but it feels like riding in the office. My Scott Addict is my baby…free to roam the hills and enjoy being outside.
Tri bike lives on the turbo, road bike goes out in the rain.
As I get into race season I’ll do a couple of rides outside on the Tri bike just to remind myself how it handles, but, frankly that seems like a load of old bollocks to me (even though I just said it) because it takes me about, ooh, twenty seconds or so to get the hang of it again. Actually, I think the reason I do that is to check that all of my winter bike tweaks aren’t going to fall apart and my new disc won’t rub etc. If I am going long I will do some 50-100 mile rides to check out race setup and whatnot.
Not a massive believer in the need for tri bike specificity, pedalling seems like pedalling to me. Others will have a perfectly valid different view on that I expect. But if I can get comfortable in aero on my turbo for <= 90 mins I’ll be alright for several hours outside. What is it with riding on the turbo that makes it so uncomfortable, even on my KK Rock n Roll?!
Also, it is bloody hilly where I live, but there again my tri bike is just as capable of going uphill if I pedal appropriately, and it has parts attached to it that I can still hold with my hands even if I’m going upwards, amazing that.
In fact, after all of that rambling I think I can summarise the real reasons why I mainly ride my road bike outside…
I don’t look as much of a berk on my road bike.
It is a little bit nicer on the big climbs around here, sometimes it is nice to just sit up with my hands on the tops and admire the view.
I’m not as worried about getting hit and damaging my aluminium Spesh Allez vs my beautiful modified Cervelo P3C.
I like to keep my race bike in nice condition with a lovely clean chain to keep friction down on race day.
If I’m going to ride the tri bike it will have to have the disc on it, and see 1).
Maybe if I lived in California and not in hilly, rainy, windy, bumpy-roaded West Yorkshire I’d feel different.
I’ve got a beautiful new P3 that I’ve had since March. I’ve ridden* it exactly 3 times for a total of 37 miles all in races. All my other riding is done on my road bike.
Here’s my 3-step process:
Step 1: Get ready to ride.
Step 2: Stare at both and think “today I wanna ride…that one”
Step 3: Go ride.
Sure you will have some specific tt workouts on the tri bike and always use the roadie for large group rides but most of the time what you ride is less important than that you ride. No need to overthink it and variety is good…
If you are racing HIM or IM it is advisable to do most of the long rides on the tri bike to simply be accustomed to the position. I’ve done two 5+ hr rides the past two weekends and one thing I had somewhat forgotten about was the muscles in the upper back/neck that really need to relearn to hold that aero position for so long.
I enjoy my road bike, but the only time I really ride it is with my wife or if the weather is somewhat nasty.
I owned a road bike once. It never road it because I liked my tri bikes so much better. To me its more comfortable to ride 100 miles on a tri bike compared to a road bike. But others will feel the opposite.
This happened to me too. I had a P3, said I wanted a road bike, built up an SLC-SL. I’ve ridden it once. Going to be selling it. For me it boiled down to, everytime I look in my garage before heading out in a ride, my eyes will automatically just go to the P3. I just love that bike.
That being said, which do you have more fun on? You’ll get fitness out of either, and so you may as well have fun.
I train mostly solo. So I ride my road bike on the trainer (3x a week) and my tri bike outside (1x a week). If for some reason I end up riding in a group I will take my road bike off the trainer, takes 10 mins to set up.
