QUESTION: SHOULD ONE TRAIN ONLY ON TT BIKES FOR IM?

Juan Vergara

I have two bikes: (1) my "old" Ridley Noah, a road bike converted into a TT bike (currently sitting on the roller); and (2) my new P5 (mean machine!!!). 

I´ve been wondering if I should convert my Ridley back to its original road configuration and use it for specific sessions (which?) or if I´m better off just doing all the training on TT bike.

Importantly (or not?) all of my racing through mid 2014 will be on "flat" courses (thus most of my training will be on flat terrain).

Suggestions? Advice? Tks!!!!

Robert Sabo

I love my road bike for outdoor outseason rides, riding with roadies/group rides, technical or epic climbing. During the 12 week build to my A race, it's all tri bike.

Scott Alexander

X2 with Rob.

Road bike for big groups, climbing, fast descents, epic adventures and FUN! TT bike when getting serious.

Joe Matchette

x3.

Take the road bike back to its original state and have fun with it.

Nemo Brauch

X4 Turn the road bike back into it's awesome road bike ways. Ride the TT exclusively during the final 12 weeks before IM so you are dialed into that fit. There may be a small handful of rides when you will use the roadie instead (like the week before the race because your TT has been shipped ahead of you- or a group ride that you just can't miss out on which would be inappropriate to be on a TT), but those should really be a small exception.

Peter Wick

x51 Your primary bike should be your P5.

You need to get your back and hips and core and quads and pretty much everything from your earlobes on down used to the TT bike posture. You're going to want those 5-6+ hours to go by with a minimum of things bugging you. Get those neck muscles used to it. Get those legs used to the different angles of exertion. The shoulders and elbows. You want it to be no big thing because when you step off that bike do you really want to be having to pause to get the kinks out before you start trying to run? Get those kinks out at least 3 months before the IM instead of 3 weeks.

MattAaronson

I love my road bike but I only ride it in the "off season" (aka "pre-season"). Starting with the "OutSeason" I'm back on the tri bike and ride it exclusively until I'm done with tris for the year. Over the past few years this has meant only using the road bike from mid September through December. Then back on the tri bike for the JOS. I do all workouts in the aerobars with the exception of the warmup and recovery intervals (or maybe for a 1 minute respite halfway into the second of a 2x20' !!). Although I swap my Quarq over to my road bike for that offseason period I've never tested my FTP on the road bike because, hey, who wants to do an FTP test in the offseason?? Instead I make the assumption that my last-tested tri bike FTP is around the same as my road bike FTP, since my fitness is lower but the riding position of the road bike should yield a higher FTP at a given fitness level. Not exactly a scientific way to go about it but the offseason/preseason is the one time of year where I'm not totally OCD about all the workout data.

The only time I've ridden my road bike in-season was last year for a week when I went on vacation to Colorado and did a bunch of rides in the mountains. However, this was right after 70.3 Kansas and before I started the training plan for 70.3 Vegas so it was really a 3-week break in the season where I did all unstructured workouts. Interestingly 3 weeks after that trip I raced 70.3 Racine as the kickoff to the Vegas training and ended up with a ~10 minute PB! However, I think that had a lot to do with a few hundred miles of riding in the mountains as opposed to the physiological impact of training on a particular bike geometry.

Overall my road bike is a lot of fun but really for triathlon training I don't use it at all.

JeremyBehler

See rule # 12 http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/

You need another bike

Coach Rich

X whatever. For me, it's about riding the bike that gives me the most enjoyment, makes the work less like work, for as long as possible. This means the road bike until about 12wks out because the mental cost of riding the road bike is much lower than the tri bike. When I strap into the tri bike I feel like I'm going to work and I don't want / need my head in that space until 12wks out.

John Withrow

Posted By Rich Strauss on 22 Aug 2013 03:29 PM


X whatever. For me, it's about riding the bike that gives me the most enjoyment, makes the work less like work, for as long as possible.

I 100% agree with Coach Rich, but it drives me to a different bike than for him.  For me this means riding my tri bike pretty much yr round except for the month or so that I will be doing road bike races.  I am simply faster and WAY more comfortable on my tri bike and I do 95% of my riding alone or with a few other tri peeps, so for me it's tri bike yr round and road bike every once in a while...

If you don't have local groups of people to do roadie rides with, you don't need a road bike as far as I am concerned.

 

Coach Rich

Posted By John Withrow on 22 Aug 2013 04:53 PM

Posted By Rich Strauss on 22 Aug 2013 03:29 PM


X whatever. For me, it's about riding the bike that gives me the most enjoyment, makes the work less like work, for as long as possible.

I 100% agree with Coach Rich, but it drives me to a different bike than for him.  For me this means riding my tri bike pretty much yr round except for the month or so that I will be doing road bike races.  I am simply faster and WAY more comfortable on my tri bike and I do 95% of my riding alone or with a few other tri peeps, so for me it's tri bike yr round and road bike every once in a while...

If you don't have local groups of people to do roadie rides with, you don't need a road bike as far as I am concerned.

 

Since you obviously don't want your road bike I'll be happy to take it off your hands....

Cary Blanco

Change it back to road bike, you'll be glad once you've ridden it once.

cgres123

Jw must have a lot of bikes can I have 1?

Eric Rueppel

I'm in with the change back crowd and want to be on the waiting list if your giving it away.