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Biking @ 80 MPH
sadclown writes "Saturday marked the conclusion of the World Human Powered Speed Challenge in Battle Mountain Nevada. Canadian Sam Wittingham now holds the world record for human powered speed on land, 80.55 mph, on the Varna Diablo, a fully enclosed 60 pound recumbent bicycle. Other competitors included Matt Weaver, with his video-camera-navigated bike (no windows)the Kyle Edge, World (conventional bike) Sprint Champion Jason Queally, with his bike the Blue Yonder Challenge, designed by the formula one race car designer Reynard, and the UC Berkeley team, The Bearacuda, in which two riders pedal back to back. Wittingham's new record is nearly 8 mph more than his record last year. Hopefully some of the aerodynamic technology can be applied to commercially available vehicles (cars, maybe?)."
top speed: 129.7 km/h
weight of bike: 27.3 kg
A word can paint a thousand pictures
the reason we use imperial is because it requires the users to be smarter than those of the metric system.
Converting square inches into Acres takes MUCH MORE intelligence than mm^3 -> km^3.
By practicing these conversions, we are constantly honing our math skills, while you lazy europeans (french) just relax in your afterglow of 1000mm=100cm=...0.001km and your tasty fine british wine and your superb french autos. LOL.
And, for what it is worth, if you aren't smart enough to be able to figure it out, you're probably not smart enough to ride a bike either, so go back to your Big Wheel and wear your helmet to school...
oh, and PS, should we have metric time & calendars? If Imperial measurements bug you, then you just must hate 3600 sec = 60 minutes = 1 hr = 1/24 day = 1/365 year (except leap) and so on...
plus some months have 30 days, others 31, and one has either 28 or 29, depending....
...just get over it.
The US is JUST DOMINANT ENOUGH to keep Imperial measurements around about as long as they want. Like it or not.
These auto paced records aren't really human powered. The current world record holder is Fred Rompleberg with 166.94 mph. If you look at the photo at his site, you can see how the bike is partway covered by a fairing behind the dragster that's pacing him. The force of the air rushing in to fill the vacuum behind the fairing creates a suction effect that pulls the bike along. Almost all of the power is comming from the dragster's engine, not the rider. He might as well just use a rope.
7.95MPH faster and a bolt of lightning, and we'll see the world's first time-travelling bicycle!
Years ago, when recumbent cycle 'technology' wasn't as well known as it is now, I had the opportunity to ride both recumbent bicyles and tricycles created by a company called Greenspeed here in Melbourne, Australia.
My experience with the bicycles was less than perfect - it takes a slightly different balancing technique to ride with your centre of gravity lower than the centre of the wheels. The handlebars are also beneath the seat, rather than up in front. I'm told a couple of weeks experience would be plenty to feel at home though.
On the other hand, the trike is a joy to ride. Not quite as fast (if you're going for the speed record) but fantastic for cornering. I hit a corner a lot faster than I'd dare on a 2 wheel device, and it swung around without even lifting a wheel. Truly a fantastic piece of machinery.
At AU$ 3,750 for the economy model, these things aren't cheap - but hey, I can drool.