Red -- I'll jump in the boiling oil with you. George's surfing in "CV" is not too inspiring. It's the board: smaller and narrower with a different bottom. According to Flexman, at this point he was experimenting with the edge board concept. Personal opinion: the basic velo design is "it."(Oops! Did I just attack a sacred cow?)
I think GG lived his own advice: nothing ventured, nothing gained. He ventured a lot and gained a lot, but not always. Wasn't it the brilliant Edison who had 1000 light bulb failures before coming across tungsten--but then the party was on! The same Edison who said, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." I think Greenough's comment later on that if it wasn't for the crowds he probably would have been back on velo is revealing. Sometimes venturing is venturing back.