Originally Posted by
alcjphil
You don't suffer because of the bike, rather you suffer because a time trial requires you to ride at your limit throughout the entire race
It's tough to argue that a race ready TT position for a 25mi distance or shorter will be setup equally as comfortable as a long course triathlon setup where one must also run afterwards.
Not painful, obviously, but it is not as pleasant an experience as how triathletes set the bikes up to go 112mi comfortably. For 112mi you probably should be able to almost doze off riding the thing it is so comfortable. Riders willing to endure the unpleasant bike fit of a good TT setup in training hours and the races are rewarded with lower CdA's and faster times. Those who can't, they relax their fits accordingly until they can endure it in training or the event. And suffer the CdA penalty of that.
A TT bike is not a comfort cruiser.