Training w/ my race wheels?

I normally use my road bike for training rides. However, I often have the urge to take my tri bike out. It has a Zipp disc rear wheel and a 404 front. My question is - how much damage could I be doing using these wheels to train with, under normal conditions. Are they really that fragile? Or should I just have fun with my wheel set? Thanks.

I would think that the wheels are strong enough to train on, but I still wouldn’t do it. Two reasons, first, you hit that big pot hole, which would you rather ding up, a $500 race wheel or a $100 training wheel? Second, if you ride your race wheels in training all the time, you take away that mental edge that you give yourself on race day of switching wheels to your “race only” wheels.

Get some training wheels for your race bike. You get to ride your race bike, in your race postition, but not risking death to your expensive race wheels. Just don’t ride it all the time. Only on special speed days, or for IM training - long race sim days.

I rode Zipp 404 clinchers full time, all the time, all of last year. There was never a problem, even with a crash that schredded the front tire going up the curb and into the flower bed. The wheels stayed round and true. Like you I have a road bike (with Heliums) and a tri bike. Last year the tri was new so I road it all the time. This year I hope to do some riding with a fast road group over here on Long Island so I’ll be getting back on the road bike. Only problem right now is that I’ve been working six or seven days a week for the past month with at least another month to go, maybe two to finish this project. It looks like a slow start to the tri season. Hopefully it will be a good finish.