Subject: RE: Does the Ironman 70.3 allow mountain bikes?? Originally posted by Real D I'm planning on participating in the half Ironman in Orlando next year. I don't really have the money to invest in a road bike and was told that converting mine would be equally as expensive.
Would I look like a total idiot entering the race with a slick tire mountain bike? More importantly, is this even allowed? As mentioned, some races allow MTB and others do not. You got the answer for the FL 70.3 already. The bigger question is why would you want to subject yourself to 56 miles of torture riding a MTB? Nothing about a MTB is built for speed so my guess is that for the same power and effort you would go 5 mph slower (bad body position, wide tires, bad gearing, etc.). You can find some really good used bike deals on ebay, craigslist, Slowtwitch classifieds, BT classifieds, etc. I bought a once ridden and two month old 2014 Specialized Tarmac with 11-speed Ultegra components for $1800 (retail was $3400). So you can undoubtedly find a year old road bike that retailed for $1500 new for $700 or so. |