Triathlon - Can a tri bike go very long distance?

I want to ride a 24 hour race next year. There doesn't seem to be a bike designed around this event. Should I consider using a tri bike, or would you prefer a road bike for this ride?

What is the furthest any of you have been on a tri bike, and does it present any special problems, risk of injury, etc.? Thanks for any advice.

I personally would go with a long wheel base touring type for comfort. Or a LWB "racing" bike along the lines of a Specialized Roubaix.

But every IM finisher who rode on a tri bike raced it for 112 miles.

What kind of race is this? 24 hours on the bike? That sounds crazy! But an interesting challenge.

What kind of race is this? 24 hours on the bike? That sounds crazy! But an interesting challenge.

It's go as far as you can in 24 hours. I have ridden 24 hours already. But, on my prior rides, the goal was simply getting a given distance in a generous allowed time, like 375 miles in 40 hours. For the race, I'd want something more like 400 miles in 24 hours. So, I need to be much faster, and I'm not quite sure how to get there.

My Tri bike is very comfortable except for getting a sore neck after an extended period of riding. It is not natural to ride for long periods of time with you neck extended backward so that you can look forward while down on the aerobars. I would rather ride my road bike for a very long ride. I am sure I could train my neck to handle it with lots of long rides though.

I want to ride a 24 hour race next year. There doesn't seem to be a bike designed around this event. Should I consider using a tri bike, or would you prefer a road bike for this ride?

What is the furthest any of you have been on a tri bike, and does it present any special problems, risk of injury, etc.? Thanks for any advice.

The big question is can you ride in groups and is drafting legal. If drafting is legal then I'd definitely opt for a road bike because the aerodynamic advantage of a tri-bike wouldn't be as important.

Further a road bike with standard drop bars is going to give you more riding positions which I think would be extremely helpful in a long race like this.

Even if drafting is legal you may find yourself riding alone for a spell since it's such a long race. Given that, some clip-on aero bars might be useful and they'll add another riding position that will be comfortable at least for awhile.

I have ridden several centuries on a fixed tri. not a smart idea, but keep yourself fueled and hydrated. and get over talking to yourself after a bit.

I'm pretty sure that most of the ultracycling participants (RAAM, Furnace Creek 508, etc) ride bikes with aero bars. Given that, a tri bike is probably better suited since the geometry supports the aero position better.

In the end, it probably varies from person to person. As an aside, I don't agree that road bars offer more riding positions as there are several positions on bullhorns, arm-rests, and aero bars.

I have done many ultracycling events on my zipp's with no issues. I use them as daily rides, and do alot of climbing with them. I think alot of it comes down to what each person is comfortable with. I've been living on tri bike's for over 16 years, and enjoy the ride very much.

I am tentatively planning on racing a no-drafting 12-hour in a couple of months and I will likely use my tri-bike. I think the longest I have actually ridden my tri-bike is about 120 miles but back before there were tri-bikes, I once rode 200 miles on a road bike with clip-on aerobars.

have ya heard of an Ironman???

i've never ridden 24 hours or anything but i've done ironman's and plenty 50+mile rides on my p3. make sure you have a nice saddle (fizik arione is great) and that you are fitted properly and you should be ok. check out the aero water bottles that fit between your bars, they would prob come in very handy for you. 400miles in 24 hours is quite a feat.