Anyone fancy a road TT bike?

This is cool.

I always wondered if, for The Hour...or 24 Hours, riding a wide oval 333M track like Colorado Springs or TTown would be better than a tight 250M. Or even a 400M track like Marymoore (never ridden it).

Yeah, the 333M tracks are outdoors, but there will be far fewer turns to navigate and those turns are relatively subtle when compared to a 250M. Also, COS has a dome for some part of the year.

Thoughts?

mark-beaumont-beats-127-year-old-penny-farthing-record
 

old school style

Scots cyclist Mark Beaumont rode 21.92 miles (35.3km) in an hour on the vintage-style bike to beat the 127-year-old British record at Herne Hill Velodrome.

But the Scottish cyclist was 290 yards short of the world record of 22 miles and 150 yards.

Moscow's Krylatskoye Velodrome is an indoor 333, but it has 42 degree banks, which is a little steep for a 333. Great for trying to set F200 records because it's also 8m wide, but I don't think those traits would be beneficial for riding at long distance cruising speeds.

LOL! As impressive as it is, his penny farthing has a deep dish front wheel, rear disc, and cowhorns.

A 56in (1.42 metres) fixed gear wheel...
and in the geared bike world that is not a very large gear,
(2:1 on a 28" wheel )
so he had to really spin those pedals ..

(cranks looked appropriately short)




....

...it depends...

If you are a GOOD track rider and you have a rock solid position, (that is, you can hug the black line the whole hour) 250m (or maybe even slightly shorter) will be faster because you get a little bit more extra push/slingshot in the corners. As you get worse as a rider, the more likely a slightly longer track will help, since you have less total laps, (to mess up your line) slightly straighter bends, and also less upper body fatigue from pulling less G's in the turns (also true the slower you are going)

The other concerns (with going as far as possible) with outdoor tracks are rolling resistance (slower than nicely kept boards) and the variability you would get from wind/weather conditions. COS has ideal altitude and the bubble that make it a nice spot to make attempts, making it the best candidate in the US. Milton in Canada seems like it would also be a nice track, but it misses the Altitude checkbox.

The rollout works out to a 50x24 equivalent, or 53.4".

Merckx' hour was at altitude on the Olympic track in Mexico City.. so lower air density/ resistance..

Sad news today. Ivor Reid, a real stalwart of the Scottish and international masters cycling scene has passed away. Saw him looking fit at a training session not so long ago, quite the shock.

Sir Chris Hoy

This is tough to hear. I hope it's not very serious and makes a full recovery, soon.

That's horrible.

You would expect that as close together as everyone is on a velodrome, everyone would have the courtesy/common sense to figure out exactly what is happening on the track before just rolling up and on. At the bare minimum a minute or two of watching to see what the dynamic is.

:(

Anybody know what happened? (more detail than what's in the article)

^only that she has been in surgery and that it was a spinal injury. No updates that I've seen. :/

Last update I saw was that further surgery would be required and that she's in a coma. I would guess that is induced, but don't really know that.

Sad times.

This just in. https://www.ridemedia.com.au/product/cycling-australia-ends-relationship-with-bt-bikes/

woah, I'd have guessed AUS cyclists on AUS bike forever. interesting

“At the Sydney Olympic Games, Brett Aitken and I had the confidence of knowing we had the best bikes on the velodrome,” said McGrory. “After the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, we were fortunate to have been gifted our gold medal winning BTs that in my mind sit along with the medals themselves as a symbol of our greatest success.”

Reading between the lines, but that quote tells me Aus. thinks that BT hasn't kept up in terms of design/engineering. Not really a surprising thought, given BT hasn't really updated its design in years.

Apparently they have/had a few brands on their shortlist. Do we think this is because there isn't much difference in the performance between the bikes of these suppliers? Or are they expecting/hoping to do something custom with whoever they choose?

I wonder who the brands were...

FES? Avanti? Dolan? Fuji? Cervelo? Any other obvious contenders?