i’ve searched previous posts for discussion on bike selection for st. croix and of the few folks who commented, the slack/road set-up garnered more votes.
is this generally accepted or are there any contrarians who recommend a steep/tri set up?
and if the road votes come through again, is anyone mounting aerobars (shorties or jammers) on your road bars?
btw, there was overwhelming consensus for a more hill-friendly cassette or compact cranks. advice i’ll likely follow.
I did the race twice and would say tri-bike. There are some fast downhills and quite a few sections with a headwind.
I agree. I did it this year and lots of hills and the second half is into a headwind. Be prepared for rough roads. Lots of people got flats or had their pads break of their aero bars.
Road bike with Profile Airstryke clip-on aero bars. The pads are spring loaded and flip up out of the way so you can use the top position on the bars while climbing. But this is my standard tri setup, so I’m a little biased.
If you normally ride a tri bike a lot and you are used to climbing and descending on it, I don’t see why you couldn’t still use it in St. Croix with some lower gearing. If you always ride a road bike and decide to pick up a tri bike just in time for the race, you are probably making a mistake.
Gearing wise I used a regular crank with a 27t rear cog. I was able to make it up the Beast just fine, but it was a little work. If the hills really scare you, put on a MTB cogset and a MTB derailleur to have all the gearing you need, or go with the compact or a triple chainring. It is easy to find the gearing that you need. It is harder to suck it up and admit in front of your buddies that you need the low gearing. grin
Have fun at St. Croix. I did it this year (my first 1/2 IM) and it was fun, but HAARRDD. Humidity gets me though.
any of you recommend flying with vs shipping your bike? i’ve had some success flying with the bike to domestic locations, but still a hassle.
I did Croix for my first half ever this past year. The hills sucked, but I do live in Florida. Some of my buddies I went with wished they had their rode bikes. I dont have one and have never ridden one so…
I put a climbing cassette on my tri bike(dont know the gearing) and still got my ass kicked. Again I have only bridges to train on. I flew with my bike and didnt have much trouble besides scratches from the customs guys.