Triathlon - using a touring bike for my first sprint tri?

As you can see from my username, I have experience with touring and I'm about to train for my first tri. I don't plan on buying a road bike (yet) because my hybrid ish touring bike is really set up more for the road. Any suggestions for what changes to make on my bike before the race? I was just going to get some foot straps, remove my rack, and install some road handlebars...can that be done?

My bike is a...2003 I think Specialized crossroads (sans cushy seat) and the tri I'm doing only has a 9 mile bike portion. Thanks

You'll be ok. Its not uncommon to see Mountain bikes in alot of sprint tri's - people doing the same as you - trying a tri for the first time before they take the plunge and buy a new bike.

You seem to be right on the mark: remove as much as the excess weight as possible. It sounds like you already have a pair of road tires on the bike - you'd be surprised how many people on mountain bikes in sprints are riding with their knobbies, when they can easily get a pair of 26x1.0 slicks for $20 a pair at any of the online retailers.

I dont know if the road bars are such a good idea. I really dont think the cost of the bars, new shifter and brake levers is going to get you any real gains. On that hyrbid, your in such an upright position, that I think going to the drops on road bars would be uncomfortable. Additionally, I dont think going to the drops will make you any more "aero."

I's say save your money. If you like tri's enough, take the $200 you'd spend on the road bar setup an spend it on a new roa bike.

You can pick up a brand new Trek 1000 for less then $700 these days. Bicycling Mag just calle it the best sub-$1000 road bike they have ever tested. Slap on a pair of clip-on aero bars (get them fit by your LBS) and you'll be in much better shape then the hyrbrid with road bars.

thanks! Good advice...if not changing to road bars, would I benefit from putting on some of those handlebar extention things, just to get a bit lower? I don't think I'm going to get clipless pedals because I don't want to deal with the shoes during transitions and I figure that's another thing that would be easier to do if and when I decide to do a total upgrade.

For 9 miles, I am not sure that you'd really get any benefit from a different position. I would recommend bar extensions just to give you another hand position - thats the beauty of road bars; you have three hand positions to choose from: drops, hoods, and the top of the bar. Additionally, bar extensions tend to stretch you out, which opens up your chest and allows you to breath a bit better. Just make sure you have them pointed out (slight tilt up) not straight up. Not only is it useless to have them pointing straight up in the air, it looks ridiculous and you should get DQ'd for looking like a tool. I am kidding.

I am one of the minority of people that do not use clipless pedals in multi-sport (I use them for road training and mountain biking). I like to have a super-quick transition, and I typically only do duathlon, not triathlon. I run in a pair in Nike Waffle flats, that are superlight & great for the 2 mile and 3 mile runs in a sprint duathlon event. For Olympic distance, I use my normal training shoes, because the flats offer very little support.

Anyway, I typically have 30 second transitions (both T1 and T2) without using clipless. This past year, I didnt even use toe straps (which I think I am going to use this year coming up for at least some added power transfer). Even without clipless or straps I average 20-21 mph on the bike. Its not great but its not horrible (the guys winning the duathlons in my area are averaging +23 mph).

+1 on saving your money for now. Get the handlebars on that bike lower if you can.

If you decide you like it, look for a real tri bike. Lots of people reccomend to just get a road bike and use it for tris, but IMHO that's a compromise that's not worthwhile if you're serious about tris/dus/TT'ing. Plus, there are TONS of used tri bikes on ebay and other outlets for dirt cheap - they're typically a much better buy than used road bikes, IMHO. Lots of people buy them, do a few events, and ditch them - or you'll find a roadie who bought one to time trial, used it a few times a year, and decided he doesn't want it - the point is that they typically have low miles and are usually great buys.

Yeah I am going with everyone else on this just use your current set up. This will help you gauge if you actually like the sport. While I love it, it's not for everyone and I would hate to see some one waste money on it. On my first tri I rode a mountain bike with front suspension and knobbies... Yeah I got SLAUGHTERED on that one. But I at least learned I liked it and knew what to change the next time out.

You can pick up a brand new Trek 1000 for less then $700 these days. Bicycling Mag just calle it the best sub-$1000 road bike they have ever tested. Slap on a pair of clip-on aero bars (get them fit by your LBS) and you'll be in much better shape then the hyrbrid with road bars.

I just bought a 2006 model Trek 1000 for like $620 for my first road bike, and it rides great. I'm going to jump into a couple of sprint triathalons this summer, and probably add some aero bars. But definitely save that money for a possible new bike.

First tri? You might hate it (doubt it though)... strip the tourer right down to its bones, fit your slickest, skinniest tyres pumped up hard, and go for it.

Just make sure you bring your flat repair stuff. No sense getting a flat tire and having to walk back to T2 from 5 miles out... :)

"(the guys winning the duathlons in my area are averaging +23 mph)"

seriously? that seems pretty slow to me. how long is the cycling leg? now, i've never done a tri before... but i don't have much trouble averaging around 25mph for 12 miles (two laps around central park) and averaged 22mph on a 90-miler on a track bike with relatively easy gearing. i'd imagine the folks winning would have a higher average considering their top placing and the availability to multiple gears. i understanding the running component though...

seriously? that seems pretty slow to me. how long is the cycling leg? now, i've never done a tri before... but i don't have much trouble averaging around 25mph for 12 miles (two laps around central park) and averaged 22mph on a 90-miler on a track bike with relatively easy gearing. i'd imagine the folks winning would have a higher average considering their top placing and the availability to multiple gears. i understanding the running component though...

Do a duathlon this summer and tell us how fast you go.

Do a duathlon this summer and tell us how fast you go.

Try biking as hard as you can with rubber legs after just sprinting two miles, which is what your essentially doing in a duathlon.

And like I said, the locals are winning at PLUS 23 mph (thats means the third or fourth place guy is doing a minimum 23 mph). The top three are banging out at least a 25 mph average over the course of 12 miles, but I did three du's last summer and all three had different bike lengths - one was 12, one was 15 and one was 17. And none of them were flat. I saw a wide range of results.

But the bottom line is you cannot take what you have done on fresh legs and compare it to what someone has done after coming off the run.

It would be like trying to set a 5k PR time on the last 5k of a duathlon. My duathlon 5k time is about two minutes slower as (~24 minutes) compared to my "normal" 5k time (~22 minutes).

i wasn't tryin to talk trash folks! at ease!

i wasn't tryin to talk trash folks! at ease!

No offense taken, but it would be interesting to see what you would bike after running and knowing you had a run still to do, wouldn't it? Peace.

No offense taken, but it would be interesting to see what you would bike after running and knowing you had a run still to do, wouldn't it? Peace.

oh, it would be terrible! no doubt. i know that everyone's riding would be slower in a duathlon than simply on a ride, but i wasn't sure of how much slower. i wasn't saying i thought i could do better, just that the top finishers would be faster.this of course is due to my newb status and not knowing much about duathlon and tri times. like i said, i only have longer distance bike rides to compare to. maybe i'll tri a duathlon style brick this week and see how i do.

I think part of the misconception stems from the fact that one takes for granted how much effort one can save by sitting on someone's wheel and drafting. Not only does running takes it toll, but in a tri/ du, its just you and the road and no one to help oull you up a hill, or help shelter you from the wind. Thats the killer part.