Which Bike for Sat/Sun Rides?

pgiesin

I am in Week 11 of the Race Prep plan leading up to IM CdA. I am a proud owner of a new Orbea Ordu. At some point I know I need to make the switch from road bike to tri bike exclusively. However, in about 5 weeks I will be headed out west to test my fitness against the ToC. Obviously this will be done on the road bike. My plan is until ToC to split the weekend rides between the two bikes. My question is which bike on which day? 

I figured I would use the road bike on Saturday's longer, heaveir ride. I will most likely build in more climbing sections in these days just to try and be ready for ToC. Then on Sunday, the steady-state rides I would use the tri bike. I can work on getting adjusted to the aero position and simply ride smooth. Does this make sense, or is there some other options?

Thanks,

Pete

Coach Rich

Pete,

You should be riding the tri bike all the time, with the exception of ToC. Don't sweat ToC. It's a just a fun bike ride on a great courses, day after day. No "special" fitness required, you'll be more than fine!

Paul Hough

I've been doing all my long rides this year on my road bike up to last weekend. The road bike is now in the shop for overhaul and then mostly storage until tri-season is over. Time to get down in the aerobars!

jwpicciotto

@Peter - x2 on what Rich said. Changing to the geometry on the Tri bike takes your body some time to adapt. Once you get into the race preperation period, you will want to focus all of your workouts to get ready for the event. Since you are going to ride the tri bike in the race, focus your training at this point on the tri bike.

Coach Patrick

What Rich said. I personally would ride the road bike on weekdays, tri bike on weekends for a bit, but that's b/c I really love riding my road bike. But no way you should be "training" for TOC!