There's a love/hate relationship with triathletes out here. Some people see them as the ultimate roadie, an elitist bunch of pricks that think they own the road, own the area, and shut down the entire community for an ENTIRE DAY (OMG) to serve their own interests (we host an Ironman). Others are pretty welcoming. Some people just don't know how to handle cyclists in general.

The one thing Ironman has done is make people aware of cyclists, whether they hate them or not. Most of the people that live along the courses are actually pretty decent. It's the people who DON'T that are meanies. I also see a pretty strong "don't you people have bike paths!?" attitude in some areas, especially where you can travel close enough to the speed limit in traffic that they have to think to go around you.

I get snark on the trails from a lot of casual riders about riding too fast, passing too closely, whatever. Usually from the crowd that doesn't wear helmets and rides bicycles at the same time they have dogs on leashes.

I honestly haven't rode my road bike in a while on the roads though, so I can't say I've compared recently.