As Kurt brings home the miles at Flatwood Park, one of the photos posted on Facebook shows in part how he is able to ride 220 mile days after nearly a year of stamina-sapping days in the saddle (Kurt is in the middle in red):
Cycling conditions could not be any better for efficient use of effort. Not in any way a dig at Kurt or a suggestion that knocking out 220 is easy, as this seems like an entirely sensible strategy for him to take the record.
I know there have been plenty of calls here and elsewhere for Steve to find an equivalent environment and adopt a similar strategy. But for me at least, part of the attraction of Steve's attempt is the approach it represents. Riding it audax style is something I can identify with. It represents a way of cycling I admire and is in contrast to a more 'professional' approach that Kurt's world represents. For me it's not a question of which is 'better' or more effective, but which has more emotional resonance.
This isn't a call for business as usual as Steve slips down from the Godwin line, but a recognition that there is more to this than simply riding the most miles in a year.