nslckevin said:
UncleChainwhip said:
Of the dozen pro riders who have done the 'new' hour mark in the last couple yniears, only Decker went to Mexico. As Kevin stated, the cost of a record attempt there is less than half the cost of 1 of their road bikes! This fact makes the riders, support crews and pro teams involved seem very irrational. What is the reason for NOT going there?
Perhaps Alex could talk some sense into Dowsett, Wiggins, et al.
I kind of like Mexico.......
One caveat to the pricing is that our costs were spread out amongst I think 11 athletes. There are no UCI commasaires in Mexico so we had to fly in Randy Schaefer from Colorado. Mexican officials and anti doping traveled from Mexico City, etc. we had three days of record attempts. Generally a morning and then evening hour attempt when conditions were right. Then shorter attempts mid day when it was hot and fast. Chris Schmidt wanted $2500 for a turnkey hour record attempt including officials USADA. If a pro wanted to go to Aguascalientes alone for an attempt it would cost a lot more. Much cheaper to do it somewhere else. On the other hand, if you can get a group together it can be as cheap or chaper and faster.
In addition to this is the time and cost required for altitude adaptation.
Not everyone lives/trains at altitude, so to prepare correctly for it you need to also allow for several weeks away from home base, with all the extra costs that involves.
It's also a physiological risk in the sense that for those who are experiencing the greatest change in altitude from their home base, the initial week or so is likely to resulting in some detraining since intensity of effort will need to be dialled back.
It really helps to have had previous experience of the acclimation process to understand the individual's response to such an altitude and to develop a plan for the optimal duration of stay and training in the lead up to an attempt. So that means several weeks away and done at least twice, preferably more than twice.
Given the time investment alone to do it properly, that's why it's more something for retiring pros to consider than for someone in the middle of their racing career.