Slashdot Mirror

Just pointing out that the focus of this attempt, and thus the record category, is explicitly the human-powered aspect; they set their sights on the human-powered land speed record because it aligns with their ambitions and mission statement. To them, the speed is really just a metric to measure the efficiency of their design. AeroVelo is all about what we can achieve using the power output of the human body, which is why their world-first human-powered ornithopter and human-powered helicopter were also Big Deals(TM).

Slip-streaming would take away from the human-powered aspect; to them, it's about a lot more than just the speed. That's not to take away from other record categories, which are all impressive in their own right; I'm just trying to explain why AeroVelo targeted this one specifically and why the fact that it is unpaced (and even the very low limits on legal wind) is part of their identity.

Just pointing out that the focus of this attempt, and thus the record category, is explicitly the human-powered aspect; they set their sights on the human-powered land speed record because it aligns with their ambitions and mission statement. To them, the speed is really just a metric to measure the efficiency of their design. AeroVelo is all about what we can achieve using the power output of the human body, which is why their world-first human-powered ornithopter and human-powered helicopter were also Big Deals(TM).

Slip-streaming would take away from the human-powered aspect; to them, it's about a lot more than just the speed. That's not to take away from other record categories, which are all impressive in their own right; I'm just trying to explain why AeroVelo targeted this one specifically and why the fact that it is unpaced (and even the very low limits on legal wind) is part of their identity.

Just pointing out that the focus of this attempt, and thus the record category, is explicitly the human-powered aspect; they set their sights on the human-powered land speed record because it aligns with their ambitions and mission statement. To them, the speed is really just a metric to measure the efficiency of their design. AeroVelo is all about what we can achieve using the power output of the human body, which is why their world-first human-powered ornithopter and human-powered helicopter were also Big Deals(TM).

Slip-streaming would take away from the human-powered aspect; to them, it's about a lot more than just the speed. That's not to take away from other record categories, which are all impressive in their own right; I'm just trying to explain why AeroVelo targeted this one specifically and why the fact that it is unpaced (and even the very low limits on legal wind) is part of their identity.

As someone who has started learning about power and cycling - this was a job for an cat 1 / "elite" racer, or at least someone significantly lighter than the guy in the video. I ride pretty regularly but not competitively, and I'm able to do about 300W for a minute.

I can't find it now but a girl was the first to make a record - linked from the end of the video; also from those links 3 different guys 1 crash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emK-qIbuJ-k so a lot of peddlers (?).

I'm wondering how much of a warmup he did - in order to do an effort like that, you really do need to be properly warmed up.

Not an answer but an indication (also linked from the end of the http://www.aerovelo.com/ video)
From the description http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q2Njtel-Es0#at=177 [youtube.com]

"The one-minute power test is meant to simulate the flight of the Atlas helicopter, which starts at a relatively high power during the climb and then drops down to a more reasonable 500-600 Watt range for the remainder of the flight.

The test were performed on October 5th and 6th, 2012, following an intense taper, weight loss program and peak at the end of August, and then a 2 week recovery phase. The results were lower than Todd's personal best (1 minute into the 460 Watt stage, and 773 Watt average for the minute power test), but as expected given the training phase."