Related to road surface, are properties of the tires used. The goal is to optimize for rolling resistance. On a long brevet, different tires can shave hours off your time.
Since their requirements for durability are much lower (i.e. they don't need to get days or months of use), they could optimize for tires that are just durable enough for the event and have minimal rolling resistance.
Suspension losses are another area where power is lost. I'm curious if it is possible to perform these tests in a velodrome where gains from better tires suspension would be minimal.
Also check out motor-paced records, where the current record is 166.9mph by Fred Rompelberg.
Since their requirements for durability are much lower (i.e. they don't need to get days or months of use), they could optimize for tires that are just durable enough for the event and have minimal rolling resistance.
Suspension losses are another area where power is lost. I'm curious if it is possible to perform these tests in a velodrome where gains from better tires suspension would be minimal.
Also check out motor-paced records, where the current record is 166.9mph by Fred Rompelberg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_records#History_of_mot...
http://mammajammaride.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Fred.jp... http://fredrompelberg.com/upload/images/site/Wereldrecord_fi...
This is worth a read on the surface of the Bonneville salt flats: http://saltflats.com/traction.html