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Member Question: Which Bike to Ride?
I own both a road bike and a tri bike. I am wondering which bike I should be riding during off season training, or does it matter?
Question from Cindaroo
I own both a road bike and a tri bike. I am wondering which bike I should be riding during off season training, or does it matter? I am much more comfortable on my road bike but faster on my tri bike.
Answer from Dean
During the off-season, it’s fine to do some or even all of your training on the road bike. There are many triathletes that own both road and tri bikes for this reason. How much off-season time you spend on the road bike depends on what you prefer. Some triathletes are just fine riding year round on their tri bikes, while others look forward to the road bike in the fall and winter.
Some of the benefits to spending more time on the road bike in the off-season are:
Joining up with a local cycling group where road bikes are typically recommended.
A change of pace from all that time in the aerobars. In your case if you’re more comfortable on the road bike this will be a welcome break
The road bike is safer to ride in adverse conditions as your hands are right on the brake levers at all time. This allows for the quickest reaction time when you hit that unexpected patch of sand/snow/ice.
When you’re bundled up in cold weather clothing the aerobars won’t be as comfortable where a road setup is more relaxed.
There are plenty of triathletes that still ride their road bikes during the season, for some of the reasons mentioned above. As the season approaches, I recommend spending at least 1 ride per week on the tri bike, and then transition to more or all riding on the tri bike once the season arrives. The tri bike recruits a different range of your cycling muscles, so it’s important to give those muscles time to fully adapt before your racing begins.
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