Weight Weenies

@lippy prend is correct, asterisk for emphasis. 2 seconds off the WR is massive. Hell, anything under 60sec is awesome.

crazy! the American record is something like 1:01? saw Baranowski get within half a second of the US record this fall at collegiate track nats, closest behind him was a 1:04/5 I think

also got to race against baranowski in match sprints, got totally played, but it was cool to see how a world class racer does it

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Keep in mind, if ever there was a place to beat it Mexico City would be up there (pun somewhat intended).

Is it simply the elevation of Mexico, D.F.* that lends it to be one of the fastest tracks in the world?
Or are there other factors, like wood or design, that are also part of the equation?


*official name of the city, by the way... or simply D.F.

^ the altitude is probably the biggest factor. The design on the velodrome and the wood used would be factors (some velodromes are known to be faster) as would the temperature and relative humidity inside the velodrome - the hotter and more humid the faster apparently.

Still, a massive slaying of the WR!

trychle: Wikipedia lists Jon Izagirre as also being a cyclocross rider Haven't really noticed him before in the races..

Tapeworm wrote:@lippy prend is correct, asterisk for emphasis. 2 seconds off the WR is massive. Hell, anything under 60sec is awesome.

Oh yeah, sorry mate should have been wearing my glasses

Another thing worth mentioning is that 4 other people also broke the record so it was clearly a fast track that day.

From what I remember reading the altitude of the track plays a big factor, but the length and banking also help riders carry speed through the turns better. This was a translation by my fiancee while watching an old Spanish documentary about Merckx's hour record.

Two seconds at those speeds is insane. Surely there is an effect from the altitude, Aguascalientes is at ~1880 m (?) but I'm not sure if that alone would give such an astonishing effect on such a short, albeit fast effort.

Air is less dense at higher altitudes
Hot air is less dense than cold air
Humid air is less dense than dry air

Riding a bike through a less dense medium means the riding is "pushing" less heavy air molecules out of the way

How 'bout that 'less dense' air at Overrijse?

nathanong87: I'm aware of the effects. Just trying to point out that it might be a better performance than the old kilo record.

Comparing with the best lowland speedskating times for a 1500m it appears one of the fastest ones belong to Shani Davis (USA) - the lowland one set at Thialf in Heerenveen at 1:44.48 and his best at altitude set at Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City at 1:41.04, both in 2009. A difference of 3 and 44/100 of a second.

Thialf is at sea level whereas the Utah Olympic Oval 1425 metres. The Aguascalientes velodrome is at around 1800 m(?).

When compared to the old kilo record Pervis' time is 4.56 percent faster, whereas Davis' highland record is 3.03 percent faster if my maths are correct (I suck
at maths!)

Addition; old one was set by Arnaud Tournant in La Paz, Bolivia which is at almost twice the elevation of Aguascalientes. That should compensate for difference in quality of the track surface, if any?

Greipel now on Gaerne shoes

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Willier wrote:Greipel now on Gaerne shoes

... and without teeth