Originally Posted by
prooftheory
I was just curious if you would mix the training differently than you do when you have access to the track. Clearly you use the road bike for conditioning now but would you feel compelled to do speed work on the road bike if you were never at the track?
Ahhh...that's a better question.
I wouldn't do actual speed work on the road bike, but I'd train things on the road that contribute to speed work on the track. For example cadence or aerobic power drills.
My road bike is set up more like a "track bike with gears". My crank arm length is as short as my track bike (167.5mm) and the saddle is forward. The riding position is not completely as aggressive as my track bike simply because track bike positioning is only comfortable for a few minutes at a time. There is no way I could ride 2 or 3 hours hunched over with all of that weight on my hands, arms, and shoulders.
I do know guys who do their skill work (standing starts, flying 200s, etc...) on their road bikes. But they admit that it's not 100% the same. I've tried it (with my buddy who did that as his program) and the standing starts felt god-awful. So, you have to make it to the track periodically to train things that you can only train on the track using a track bike.