Sometimes you need to make the leap of faith to get the numbers
From what we found with my mates bike this year and seeing others speeds i think speeds in general were down due to the soft salt
there was nearly 2" of soft ,so soft that if you rubbed your foot in some places you could displace the salt , a shovel could have dug a hole
moisture has nowhere to go , out at the sandbar near the entry point the thin salt felt better , but was mud underneath
Dirt under the Bonneville salt does not let this happen , makes for a much better chance of running with the exception of last years continual showers and storms
Your gearing may not have been as bad as you think
Doc think seriously about planning the trip,
Organise a dyno in SLC and tune at the altitude before the meet with the fuel you want to run
you will gain several Aussie years of experiance in one meeting , and no doubt get a lot of help
Its the sort of thing where you make the decision and do it, waiting till you achieve certain goals could take another 10 yrs
The spirit could stay more than one year and save transport costs