I tell myself I probably won't ever compete, but given that I can't predict the future, I have given myself room for "just in case".
I have preliminaries from when I was a kid (did not take any USFS tests after that). If I switch to adult track, it only counts as pre-bronze, so competing would mean that even with skating up to bronze, I could only have a 1.5 minute program. However, if I were ever to compete and did standard track, I could skate up to pre-juvenile and get 2.0 minutes of program time. This is important not because I'd want to skate longer (I have asthma...), but because there is a piece of music which I can't help imagining myself skating to when I hear it, but using it would require a lot of cutting; an additional 30 seconds of program time is 30 seconds that wouldn't have to be cut from the music, which in terms of music is a lot. Of course at the moment I am nowhere near my previous abilities, so I'm looking at a couple years in the future. However, that doesn't mean I couldn't start working on a program and fill in elements as I get them back, so I would have to make a decision soon (programs are fun to have even if never done before an audience).
If I wanted to take future tests, it makes more sense to me to do adult track testing, because it would be easier to pass the jumps. But I want to be able to do higher level spins. Any competing would not be for the purpose of winning something over other skaters, but to have that "my moment on ice" experience, so if my jumps aren't so great when going against other group 4 skaters on standard track, I wouldn't really care (I'm assuming adults who skate standard track at that age were skaters before adult track came along, not people who started skating at middle age).
Anyone have thoughts of their own on this topic?