Is anyone training with a road bike and race with a triathlon bike?
I live in Maine and the triathlons a compete is here, pretty much sprint and olympic distance with a lot of hills, seems so harder on the hills with the triathlon bike makes me want to just use the road.
Should I just training on my tt?
Is it make much different on time between road and tt bikes in short distance triathlon races for anyone?
Thank you.
I don’t have a TT bike, so all my training and races are with a carbon road bike. I’ve found it is more than adequate in sprints and olympics. You’ll notice that most ITU races are done on road bikes, some using those stubby aero bars. In a half distance, a TT bike would come in handy. Maybe in a year or two.
The length of the race does not affect the relative speed of the bikes…You will gain less time on a shorter course with a TT bike over a road bike, but the chances of a few seconds making a difference in a shorter race are greater.
Why don’t you time yourself on a hilly loop on both bikes? Unless is the course is very technical, you will more than gain back any time you lose going up when you start going down.
Personally, I never saw much difference in climbing speed between my TT or road bike. Way faster on the TT bike on the downs and flats though.
A lot of folks have three or four bikes and only ride the TT bikes enough to be ready to read their distance. For me I don’t race it more than an hour, so one or two times a week is enough for me. The rest of the time I am on road, big-tire road/gravel, or suspended gravel bike.
However, there is no question in my mind that the tri bike is way faster. If your climbing position on the tri bike does not work for you, you need to figure out why. Other than being a little heavier, there is no reason you should not climb fast on a tri bike and then when you go downhill, the advantage is going to be huge over a road bike.