Originally Posted by
Racer Ex
Granted that there is a lot of helium in the Internet numbers balloons but for perspective:
The most badass folks on the planet do 37mph for 4 minutes indoors on a pursuit bike. That's a fact Jack (Bobridge). Hitting 36 or 37 isn't a huge deal on the track for me and I'm not a wattage machine. At the last NRC race I did (Tulsa Tough) we averaged 32 for 45 minutes, and the 50-54 US 40k record is 30.5.
So I would say if your leadout in an NRC race wasn't even 35 either it was a tight course, you were rolling onto a head wind, or you were still doing you leadout while Sagan was grabbing some girl's butt.
Or you are a women.
In which case Sarah Hammer owns you.
Sarah is very badass.
And I think that perspective really shows how absurd claims for crit races are for 4s and even 1s,2s, and 3s
A 40+ mile NRC crit isn't anything like a 4k track race. The difference between 32 and 35 is very significant, but the difference between 35 and 40 is stratospheric. And a time trial isn't comparable to a criterium.
And yes about Sarah Hammer.