Hi all
In a moment of madness I have entered a local triathlon after a twenty year gap (mid life crisis probably).
I don’t own a road bike and planned on doing it on my old mountain bike BUT having gone out for a ride yesterday I found that I was disappointing slow (67 mins for 15.5 miles :(). I am not that unfit so I’m thinking that my original plan of using the MTB might be a bad idea…..
I was trying and got back home knowing that I’d worked hard. I am not that unfit so I’m thinking that my original plan of using the MTB might be a bad idea…..
What’s the consensus, should I try and get buy/borrow (if able) a cheap road bike or stick with my old MTB ?
PS
I am doing the triathlon with a roadie from work and I should beat him at the swim and the run but he is so going to spank me on the ride at this rate …..& yes, I do have a small competitive streak.

Maybe try and alter your mountain bike. lower longer stem, flat bars and ends, tri bar attachment thingies, as skinny tyres as you can get away with. Bigger ring at the front.

Riding a roadbike is wierd and you may find you lose the confidence at speed/corners if you’re not used to it.

For what all ^^^^^^^ that cost you can get a second hand road bike.Get a cheap road bike,much quicker.Will be a good thing to have post race too.

Many people complete the cycle section of a triathlon on a MTB. Its still a bike and will get you round the course but its never going to be as quick as a well set up road bike.
You need to think about 3 things to be competitive on the MTB

1. Rolling resistance. Change the MTB tyres for some slicks and pump the presure right up.
2. Aerodynamics. Your MTB will be very upright but comfortable. Try to flip you stem over or swap around some spacers to lower the stem. This will reduce your frontal area.
3. Weight. Take off any unwanted items from the bike. So lights, mudgaurds, bags, racks and the likes to save weight.

Try these 3 things and they should make a difference, but training, training and training will make the biggest difference.

Matt

1″ tyres will help alot, borrowing a road bike would be a lot better though.

Just put some slicks on – that will make up for most of the difference between your MTB and a road bike. I can certainly get a more aero position on my MTB than most on here could on a road bike I reckon (Wilko, who at one point held the national 50,100,12 and 24 records, and the LEJoG record, did lots of his competitive riding on a MTB). You shouldn’t need bigger gears either – even at 20mph you’ll be nowhere near spinning out on normal MTB gears.

I am doing the triathlon with a roadie from work and I should beat him at the swim and the run but he is so going to spank me on the ride at this rate

You should just accept that one – if he’s a roadie then the chances are he is a lot faster on a bike (on the road) than you and most other riders on here.

I did one on my MTB (with slicks) and my second on a cheap (but new) road bike.

Problem first time was the gearing in the end. I was spinning the MTB out.
Apart from that it would have been great (It was pretty old skool Klein so hence lovely and stiff and stretched out).

I felt a whole lot less comfortable on the road bike (A Giant OCR) even after a few month use.

Personally, I would have loved a flat bar road bike – but there weren’t many around at the time.. how things change.

Moral?
Depends on how seriously you want to take it, really.