Track Speed.... a bust

[XP Summit]

After many years on this forum and other's, I am starting to give less and less credit to track speed. What I feel is such a useful tool with a group out riding or as a baseline comparison for yourself. I feel it is a horrible judgement of a sled's performance on a forum. The common quote I often here from many on here is "what track speed are you getting" and then going about comparing track speed among forum members. What I feel people fail to take into consideration are ALLLLLLL the variables, outside of the sled. Almost to many variables to mention.
- Elevation
- Snowpack
- Line
- Slop Angle
- Rider
- Point of which you observe the measurement
etc, etc,

Am I missing something? I love it as a tool for me, to compare against me as I have a good measurement variables...... and it's decent for guys riding together to compare too, but for us to compare on here, seems like arguing "my dad is stronger than yours on the school bus in 1st grade"

Basically I think it is a poor measurement of performance on a forum

 

[joshkoltes]

i see one thing your missing is an e in slope haha just messin with ya

teperature for sure

 

[sledsrock]

i see one thing your missing is an e in slope haha just messin with ya

teperature for sure

....and you're missing the m in temperature....lol.

 

[MORSNO]

...it's a Minnesota thing.

 

[AdrenalineAddict]

It becomes a valuable tool when everyone is on the same page, unfortunately alot of folks think ground speed and track speed are synonymous. Elevation plays a huge factor in the argument, but many times elevation doesn't even come in to play in the conversation. My Pro 155 for instance will spin it 42 MPH at 6,000', 41 MPH at 8,000, 39 MPH at 10,000'. I agree with you that the conversation is rather useless especially in a forum setting, it's hard to get a group of control freaks on the same page when you're all running the same slope in the mountains. Throw a few guys into the argument who aren't sure what day of the week it is and you really get some worthless information.