I wonder how much impact a professional track cyclist would have. Im sure the current pilot is a strong rider, but if you got a world record sprinter into the world record bike, how fast could they go?
A professional track cyclist would be quite inferior to these riders. These aren't some average Joe riding here: they're they best high-performance cyclists in the world. For example, this particular record was long held by Sam Whittingham: I invite you to see his Wikipedia entry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Whittingham
He's obviously very very strong. I'm sure the riders all the teams select are amazingly strong riders. They aren't, however, gold medal caliber track cyclists. The men with the strongest legs in the world. There is much more prestige and money in winning a track cycling medal than setting a record in human powered vehicles.
Im simply wondering, what happens if they get the best of the best. With proper time to adapt to the vehicle, its probably worth a few mph. Not too significant, but enough to reset the record.
> They aren't, however, gold medal caliber track cyclists.
Correspondingly, gold medal track cyclists aren't world record setting performance cyclists.
These tasks demand somewhat different skill sets, and at this level, "somewhat" is a big deal. There's a reason why the "top" track cyclists don't hold any of these records.
What I'm saying is that that reason most likely isn't lack of physical ability, but lack of ever trying. Why would they when they are chasing olympic medals and making way more money than would earn setting these obscure records?
