Originally Posted by
TricycleTom
Y'all know why folks go to Battle Mountain? It has the elevation for a good aero advantage, but also, it has almost exactly the allowable downslope before the timed section. That slope was enshrined in the rule books because of the 1975 speed championships being run on the long-gone Ontario Motor Speedway, and that's what it had. I would like to see this "boasting" record be made obsolete by a new standard. The venue should be near sea level, and nearly flat. This would make it far easier to compete. Rather than an absolute cap on elevation, we could just require a minimum barometric pressure, so teams would not sit around waiting for freak conditions.
The UCI recognizes high- and low-altitude records; so there's nothing wrong with having a high-altitude record. I suppose if the HRPA were larger they might be able to justify a low-altitude one too; but as it is now, there is a very small core or organizers who essentially finance this out of their own pockets.