I appreciate the responses. I'm definitely someone that likes to tinker and see what does what. It's hard for me to get to a track though, so that's a tricky bit. For example, I never got to do a 500 until 2021 Nationals, so that was the first 500 I ever did (and the first time I used that gear, etc). The second one was late last year, 2022. I'm still very green in attacking the 500.
Honestly, I think the last thing I'd do is the pursuit. When I did one in 2009 my time was poor enough that I'd have gotten lapped at least once by the winner, if not twice (333m track, 2km pursuit). If things seem reasonable for me I'd love to do the sprint and maybe the scratch race, although I'd have to be flying to be good for either of those.
I suspect that because my power drops off so rapidly, having an aero position may help me sustain speed in the last third of the event. That's been my thought so I've wanted to experiment to see if that is anywhere close to reality. Of course a narrow bar like the narrow sprint bars would be close to that kind of position, without the hand position change move thrown in there.
I do plan on going down to RH at some point this year. First, I need to get some kind of certification so I can race the track, and I figure I can get it there. And the second is I'd like to do at least one recon trip to get a feel for the lay of the land. I did manage to do that for TTown, as the last time I'd been there before 2021 was 1992. My recon trip included checking out the hotel, finding a place to eat, getting used to the drive (in addition to the overnight I also went there and back for one night of racing - that was long, returning home at 2 am or something). It was good and my wife and son joined me for the second recon trip. Unfortunately Nationals conflicted with stuff at home so I went to Nationals on my own.
A good friend (he was my leadout man and my race day bro for about 5 years), his folks live in the area ("20 minutes away"), and his wife thinks it's a great idea for us to go down there and be bike racers for a bit (lol). So that's another reason to head down.
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"...during the Lance years, being fit became the No. 1 thing. Totally the only thing. It’s a big part of what we do, but fitness is not the only thing. There’s skills, there’s tactics … there’s all kinds of stuff..." Tim Johnson