Ride the new bike or not?

Insufficient data.

Why wouldn't you ride it?

I'm pretty sure my answer would be 'yes', but what's the question exactly?

Hit enter to fast.

Ride the white pony

Edited by mrbbrad 2009-06-17 11:41 AM

I had exactly the same thing happen to me. Ride the bike you already know. You know that's the right thing to do anyway.

A tri bike does alter your position slightly. That "slightly" after 56 miles will make a difference in the run. Right now you're set up to run after riding your other bike, not the tri bike.

Tempting to want to ride the new bike, but with only that short of a long ride under your belt on it, doesn't seem like the better choice for your HIM. (eta: let alone your first HIM)

Even if you have a faster ride on it, not being used to the position on it could cause you problems on the run, and make your overall time slower than it otherwise might have been.

Edited by newleaf 2009-06-17 12:08 PM

I don't know what's best, but I'd ride the old bike.

Eh, I'd go with the old one.

For me, it took me a good 100 miles to get use to riding a tri bike. Aero position is different. Not to mention, just where you go to brake and shift is different.

I know when I first started riding my tri bike there was a situation where I had to slam on my brakes and I immediately dropped down to hit my brakes. OH WAIT! The handlebars are different... and I didn't have drops to go into, to hit my brakes. It terrified me and then I quickly got in the right position to hit the brakes.

For me, and I'm a cautious rider... I wouldn't feel comfortable riding a bike I had no experience on for 56 miles at my first HIM.

If your logs are accurate, it doesn't matter as you haven't spent enough time on either bike to get used to one or the other.

How long ago was that 85-mile ride?

I asked this same question last year after I got my tri bike. I rode the tri bike in a HIM 2 weeks after I got it. My longest ride on it before hand was about 13 miles and I had less then 50 miles on the thing before the race. My bike splits were about the same, but my run was 14 minutes faster.


By the way, enjoy your first HIM on the tri bike. You know that the one you're going to ride anyway. 

Ouch!

The coach and bike fitter/mechanic in me says no, ride your old bike.

The roadie and speed freak in me would not give an F and would ride the faster bike.

I built up the TT bike and got brand new wheels that I glued 2 nights before a race and only was able to get about 10 easy miles on them to scrub off the factory wax and raced it.  But that was only a 12 mile sprint course ......... not a HIM.

Maybe his logs are not up to date?

2009 totals
Bike: 36h 25m 46s - 447.27 Mi
Run: 26h 36m 23s - 130.62 Mi
Swim: 13h 36m 54s - 36228.74 Yd

I'm curious how much "faster" the new bike is...

If you moving from MTB to road, yes, it could be a lot faster...

However, when I moved from a heavy alu tri bike to a uberlight rocket carbon bike, I really didn't see much difference in speed since they were both set up the same.

It's mostly the engine.

I would ride the one that's most comfortable.  That being said, I did an XTERRA race as my second ride on a new bike and was fine....

Yeah, that's why I asked. Those are decent monthly totals for someone approaching a HIM, but not  for six months of training.

Thus also my answer: if you're only averaging <30 miles per week you're not going to see a whole lot of differences between the two bikes.

Yeah, those are really low numbers for the entire year of 2009, with a HIM one week away. Very true.

If those are the numbers... either bike won't matter... since the engine will be a little weak.

Ouch is right. But I knew I'd get that when I asked. Yup, I'm under prepared, there is no getting around that. Such is life.

Last time I rode 85+ was three years ago. But it was on the same setup that I currently run on the cross bike. As far as getting used to where the brake levers/shifters are and riding on the aero bars, that's not an issue for me.

I did do some more tweaking to the fit tonight and I think I've got it dialed. I'm still up in the air, but like the bear says, it doesn't really matter the run is going to be painful regardless.

Edited by graceful_dave 2009-06-17 5:30 PM

ride the new bike.  You didn't spend all that money to be comfortable.  If the goal was to be comfortable I'd be out buying fuzzy slippers, a bag of cheetos and a 2 liter bottle of coke.

Its a race!! Go fast. Go Aero Get 'er done

Better to look good then to feel good.

New bike it is.

Wouldn't have thought you were one to play it safe -- ride the new bike, of course!!

I vote new bike.  Your going to be hurting anyway.  If I were in your shoes and just picked up that bike, I know I wouldn't be able to resist regardless of what would probably yield the best result.  What's the point of buying a nice new tri bike if you can't ride it in your first half IM?

I'd go with the old bike. You rode it 43m recently. Even though (as you said) you're undertrained, your body is probably used to the bike from all your rides over the years.

I rode a new TT bike in a sprint about a month ago. It was my second ride on the bike and even though I thought I had the fit reasonably OK, it pretty much felt terrible at race effort. I think I'd have been faster on the roadie that I've been riding for 1.5 years.

I've got about 12 rides on it now and I'd now confidently ride it in a HIM. But it's taken a lot of fit tweaks. I've been moving my seat 1-2mm at a time trying to narrow my knee angle into a reasonable range while still feeling powerful. Finally yesterday the bike felt good at an effort beyond comfortable. So I'm going to take some new photos today and see where my angles are now.

ETA:
Another reason I'd have not ridden the TT bike so soon in a race if I had it to do over is that I was disappointed with my bike split. After dropping a few thousand on a new bike, being disappointed is not where I'd prefer to be.

Edited by breckview 2009-06-19 7:36 AM

I would go with new. My friend went from a road bike to a tri bike the last week before IM and was fine so I woul say go for it.