Originally Posted by
carleton
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?
...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.