Slashdot Mirror
New Human-Powered World Hour Record
jesterpilot writes "Last weekend, the limit of human propulsion was pushed another kilometer. At the 2006 Dempsey-MacCready One Hour Record Attempts on the Nissan track in Arizona, Fred Markham set a new World Hour Record by cranking 85,4 km in a fully faired recumbent bicycle. This is about 1 km more than Sam Whittinghams 2004 record.
Noting Fred's age of fifty years, it seems the boundaries of human propulsion are not even close yet.
Read a report of the decisive runs on Rob English' diary."
That is one buff old man!
However... only one extra Km/per hour? I'm not sure how newsworthy an event this is.
(end of post)
New World Hour Record - Now With 61 minutes!
"Total destruction the only solution" - Bob Marley
Being a computer bound, lazy geek, this scares the crap out of me!
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
So is this kinda like that street race out in the middle of the desert that we saw in Fast & the Furious? Only with bikes?
I know fast freddy, or at least I've met the guy. I met him at Calfee in Santa Cruz, Calfee makes "the best" carbon fiber diamond-frames. He was getting ready to move over to Easy Racers, whose bikes have set numerous human-powered land speed records. They even sell one of those designs, the Gold Rush, to consumers. It's way sexy for a bicycle. Another friend of mine works for them, designing and prototyping bicycles, and doing side work on electric bicycles. Very cool stuff.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
You kids get off my lawn by cracky!
--
Fred Markham
As I point out to my wife, unless you live more than 12 miles from work or are in tremendously horrible shape... cycling smokes all other forms of transpo...
12 miles seems to be the magic traffic versus bike # from my casual watching...
but when they finally get the aero recombant marketable... maybe that will change to 20.
Cars are wierd... not usre why people use them so much...they make you fat...
Started to read article... low tech.. *snore* Now if they had a small computer running windows media edition with the rider's peddeling powering it - then it would be an interesting read! Still, they are in better shape than I hope to be.
For those of us that are used to the english system: 85.4 kph = 53.0650998 mph
I don't think I average that on my drive to work.
Can all fish swim?
"Fred Markham set a new World Hour Record by cranking 85,4 km in a fully faired recumbent bicycle."
My amazing math and reasoning skills lead me to believe that he therefore had an average speed of 85.4 km/h (~53 mph for those using the imperial system). Rather impressive for a human powered vehicle (and for a one hour time interval).
Uttering logically derived and empirically supported truths to the disciples of the orthodox establishment.
The guys powering these things aren't couch potatoes either.
85,4 km?
Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
Just imagine how fast he could have finished if he was chased by dogs.
The English use SI, as far as I know.
I have freaks! I did something right...
Mods are gonna own you. :D
...I got pulled over for *speeding* in a 45 (IIRC, zogheimerz now) zone on my ten speed, an old varsity I had worked on. Radar gun had me at 70(that I remember), downhill of course. The cop and me were both laffin like crazy, he's like "boy, you know how fast you wuz goin?" I'm like "nope, but it sure was fun passin them cars!". No ticket, I got a "warning"...
Glad to see a boomer break another record! yaaaa US!1!!1leben
"82.4 km" not "82,4 km"
.de domain. (This theory I think would fit in with the use of , as the decimal separator.)
Says you. Some places use commas for the decimal separator you know. For instance Norway, where I happen to be right now. The . that is usually on the keypad is a , here. It's sometimes quite annoying...
(which is about 51.2 miles, something people living in the country that contains Arizona would be more familiar with)
True. The submitter might be Dutch though, as one of the links goes to a
But you're spot on when it comes to the others.
I am a bent (short for recumbent) rider. I ride a longbikes Slipstream. (IMHO the most comfortable long-distance touring bikes on the planet) I would like to clear up some possible misunderstandings that might exist.
Not all Bents are fast, just as all uprights are not fast. The speed you can get on a bent is largely dependant on your engine.
After riding 100+km (62+miles) on a bent nothing hurts. Compare that to an upright.
If you suffer from wrist, neck, bum, or genital pain after spending ANY amount of time on an upright, I strongly suggest you investigate recumbents.
I strongly recommend browsing http://bentrideronline.com/ It is a goldmine of information.
Bring the joy back to cycling, get bent.
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
I used to be able to do 35 on flat ground on my mountain bike, yet somehow that wasn't enough for some drivers. I still got honked at, flipped off, passed, and cut off because I rode in the middle of the right-hand lane like a real vehicle. I always wanted to get pulled over for speeding in a 30mph zone, but alas...
The pieces are fairings. ...in a fully fairinged recumbent bicycle. (verbing) ...in a fully fair recumbent bicycle. ...in a fully faired recumbent bicycle. (original)
The adjective fair means unincumbered.
The verb fair, from ship building, is to make smooth and flowing.
Were that I say, pancakes?
This is less than one Library of Congress per minute.
The recent record was set at a track (in Arizona) that was different from the previous record holder's ride (in Germany). In fact, aren't there bound to be many differences? Like time of day, weather, and especially wind speed and direction? Is a different of ~1-1.5% within a margin of error or a bona-fide new record? Sure it is technically a longer distance, but it seems like it would be impossible to fully normalize against the different conditions. I guess one would have to atleast do it one the same track, with approximately equivalent weather conditions. Considering that these speed bikes are so precision tuned to add seconds here and there to a time trial, such margins of error should be at least be acknowledged.
Now we can put electric generators connected to recumbant bicycles in old peoples homes and use them to generate power.
Give them a small LCD TV and reruns of Matlock (well - maybe just one with alzheimer sufferers) and we can solve the greenhouse problem.
Old people can contribute something afterall
he went 1 km more than 85 km? Almost anybody can do that in a day.
I think you mean km/hr kph or some unit like that.
Because it's News for Nerds, and I'm a nerd, I gotta call you on that.
Please use [ informative / summarizing ] SUBJECT LINES
Flame me here
It is fun going down a hill at 45ish on a bike though. Not quite as much when you start applying brakes and hear this horiffic grinding noise, realizing your brake pads just wore through to the metal bits that hold the rubber. Ah... fifth grade.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
Anything over 50MPH on a road bike is scary, besides not being able to pedal any faster after 45.
Anyone else with any reasonable bike numbers out there for confirmation?
..........FULL STOP.
My grandmother couldn't do that in a day.
But the article is about a guy who rode it in an hour.
Take off every 'sig' !!
I was passing cars *fast*, riding down the center line betwen the two lanes. t-totally completely bonkers nuts. Was going to work, it was around 7 long twisty miles downhill to work (you know, more or less descending), then in the afternoon an terrible 7 mile climb back home when I was already tired from working in an orchard all day. I was laid down over the bars, tucked in for that run, I did it every day but usually I braked some and stayed in my lane, that day I just went for it,you know how you just get feeling *good* ands things are flowing smooth? In the groove? whatever the saying is now. I just went for it zooooom! big fun! It was the cops radar gun, you'd have to question him, he said 70, but I think it was the second fastest I have ridden on a bike. I hit another LONG hill once with little traffic and built up a dang good clip, again, passing cars in the middle. I was a biking fiend back then, and shortly after the radar incident I moved and opened a bicycle shop, were I also built one of the first prototype "mountain bikes", although it wasn't called that then and there weren't any for sale anyplace..
Anyay, it's my story from my youth and I am sticking to it! Got a few more stupid human tricks I fortunately lived through,. another time perhaps...
.de is the country code for Germany...
[All Your Fish Are Belong To Us]
That's pretty good with a fat tired bike! That bike I had at the time wasn't stock, only the frame(real dang heavy compared to today's bikes) because I liked soft metal, regular carbn steel, so I could bend it back to shape if needs be. Everything else was custom/expensive/tweaked. I would tune the wheels so the weight of the stem would make it rock after release from on top (bike in a rack) for around 5 minutes or so. I'd even mike the wheel and crank bearings and choose from a big pile to get balance and size closer.
The bikes you can get now I am *amazed* with, they are outstanding.
If road racing turned to recumbents, such tactics would virtually disappear due to the shelter advantage being reduced to minimal. It would, in essence, become a mass start time trial instead of a road race as we know it today.
There is not a grain of truth in any of this.
1. The UCI has a strong sense of tradition that lead it to quickly ban things that don't look like a bike Lemond, Merckx (sp) Gimondi (keep going back...) rode. Recall that the time trial bars in Lemond's era were a controversy and are strictly limited to time trial efforts. National organizations usually follow the UCI at the national level with regional events offering greater flexibility.
2. Like all competitive events, racing equipment is designed to a specification first. Innovation has a tough time making it through any way. Pick your sport, F1, Nascar, Bicycle racing. They all have detailed equipment specs.
3. Wind resistance is the still there if you are sitting in a canopy or not. It will still be the same style of racing. Relatively flat events usually end in a mass sprint. Hilly events usually end up with a tiny lead group and the rest come straggling in for 1+ hours afterwards. Recumbents would make everything faster on average, but that's about it.
OT
What's sad is a competitive amateur (Cycling USA ranked racer) can't go near recumbents for fear of being shunned from the amateur/pro sport. Then you'd see some amazing times. I'm not sure how people would take to racing recumbents as an organized sport, but if Nascar can attract viewers maybe recumbents can if they can simplify some of the race formats.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
You can ride what you want of course--but there's a couple of points I'd make:
Firstly--recumbents don't cost that much now. Yes there are some $3K and $4K+ ones, but there are upright bikes that cost that much too and everyone who rides doesn't own one. The cheaper 'bents start at around $500-$600. At that price point a bent is not particularly fast or good for long-distance touring, but it will still be way more comfortable to ride than any upright, at any price. If you can cough up $1200-$1500, there's quite a few choices. -Which is not very expensive, when you consider that 'bents are actually comfortable to ride, and that you might ride them a lot more than you would an "uncomfortable" bike.
How many upright bikes sit gathering dust in people's garages, their tires going flat from dry rot?
People buy these bikes because they "cost less", or because they "look normal".
But of course the bikes make one's butt, neck and hands hurt--so then they never ride them.
What kind of bargain is that?
If you already know that upright bikes are uncomfortable for you to ride, then don't throw your money away on yet another one.
Secondly--when upright bike riders say "it's comfortable", they really mean that "it's not so bad that I can't stand to ride it". With recumbents, normally your butt and neck never hurt, and your hands never go numb. The comfort difference between uprights and recumbents is difficult to overstate.
With recumbents, you don't wear "padded" shorts or padded gloves, because you never need them.
And the thing is--if you have never tried riding a recumbent 50 or 100 or 200 miles, you don't really know the difference. Upright defenders tend to forget that people who spend money on recumbents nearly-always used to spend money on nice upright bikes; we know what it feels like to ride uprights.
I spent $1500-$2000+ each on a series of bikes for twenty years, telling myself "it wasn't that bad".
Then I borrowed a BikeE for an afternoon, and realized--it was that bad. And it had always been "that bad".
Every upright bike I had ever owned had been uncomfortable, in the exact same ways.
It doesn't matter if you spend $200 or $2000 on an upright, they're gonna hurt just the same.
Soon after I bought my first recumbent, I got rid all but one my upright bikes--because I wasn't riding them at all anymore anyway. The last one I kept just in case I wanted to ride it ever.
Two years later I hadn't taken it out even once, so I got rid of it too.
~
Sorry dude, I grew up in a road racing family, and have been racing since 14 myself. (Now 32.) Recumbents would *totally* change road racing.
Sweat:
You will sweat if you leave for work with a ride that takes at least 40 minutes and give yourself 40 minutes to arrive at your destination. If you time your ride such that you don't have to hammer up hills and race between traffic lights and stop signs you can ride in most weather without sweating.
Trunk Space:
Most road bicycles (there's no good reason to ride mountain bike sized wheels and knobby tires on pavement) can be equipped with rear and front racks. With a pannier on each side of the rack, you can add more weight than you'd be willing to carry walking. Add a backpack and you're a big rig. If you don't want to put your 30 inch CRT on the rear rack, you could always pick up a gaming laptop with the money you've saved over a year or two in fuel and car maintenance.
Girlfriend:
Are you sure you're a geek? Diamonds are a girl's best friend, but second best is buying your woman a nice bicycle she can ride next to you. If you're the old-fashioned, dominant type you can get a tandem bicycle and make her ride behind you, serving merely as a means to get more power. If she's the new-fashioned, dominant type you can get a tandem bicycle and let her steer while forcing you to ride stoker.
A/C and Sun:
If you're going to work in the morning, the angle of the Sun in the sky is probably low enough that a little sunscreen will keep you from burning. If you ride outdoors frequently you'll become better accustomed to the heat and humidity and not find the lack of air conditioning to be so awful.
Rain:
It is not easy to bicycle with an umbrella, however the same full-body rainsuits that can be rolled into tiny little bags for backpacking work when cycling. If you can keep your work clothes at work, who is going to care if you arrive a little wet with time to dry and dress?
I'll be your candy shop of infinite deliciousity if you'll be my discotheque of endless rump-shaking.
I'd buy a bent if I lived somwhere flat. As is, I like to climb, and I like to climb fast, that means upgright for me. Also, the though of being that low in city traffic seems pretty scary, but perhaps one gets used to it?
Since you seem to be in tune with the recumbant advocacy movment, do you know of any recumbant recruiting days - activities where you can show up and try one out, get the indoctrination, try the kookaid, first one's free, join the cult, yada yadya yada. Seattle area please.p
XML causes global warming.
otherwise I'd take my classic Japanese bike to work all the time (it doesn't have pedals, it has pegs). But, after going down one cold March at the end of my street, I decided to wait for warmer weather.
As I learned to my very-near-chagrin while driving around in northern Sweden some years ago, ...
Me, in pidgin Swedish: "how far must man drive to get to Jokkmokk?"
Helpful Norra Swede: "ooh, it's a ways off, you know, perhaps about 8 miles."
I'm thinking, "crikey, can't he see my car? does he think I'm gonna walk? I'll be there in 15 minutes." With gas gauge on E, at the Arctic Circle.
Of course, that would be eight Swedish miles, each of which is, of course, 10 km.
I started this project (heh, have yet to finish it, but that is a whole 'nother story) to build an electric vehicle using bicycle parts, and decided to build the machine using a recumbent design. A couple of steel garage sale bikes, a bit of welding, and I had my frame. The seat was a fishing boat seat picked up from Walmart. Since I am planning on attaching an electric motor, there isn't any pedals or chain, but one could easily see how such a system could be attached in place of foot rest.
Do some googling on homemade recumbent bicycles - they are very easy to make, you don't even need to know how to weld or braze to put one together (one of the bents I saw out there was held together with bolts, screws and pipe clamps!). Go around on a bulk trash pickup day (if your city runs them) and you will find many, many bikes simply being thrown away. I used two bikes, a 26" (for the rear) 10 speed, and a 20" for the front fork assembly. Other tubing came from the same bikes as they were cut up. If you wanted a longer frame, steel electrical conduit could be substituted.
I have seen some weird homemade designs out there - including one made out of wood! I would imagine, if you had the skills, workspace, and a bit of money, you could design and build one using aluminum tubing and/or carbon fiber. You could probably JB-Weld and/or pop-rivet the thing together (provided you mixed the 2-part precisely to get the maximum strength bond).
So far, I have spent very little money on my project - I would wager you could build an equivalent steel framed bent (factoring in extra parts and such, not counting tool needs, of course) for under $200.00 (and that is probably too high an estimate). If you needed something lighter, it could be done, but it would take more scrounging and probably a trip to scrap metal yard to get some aluminum tubing cheap enough (unless you got lucky and someone was getting rid of an old aluminum mast antenna). Get the beater bikes and cut off/grind the bearings and such, attach them together using epoxy and kevlar string (think of "lashing an axe head" onto an handle, then liberally applying several coats of epoxy resin to the kevlar lashing).
Once again, do some googling on the subject - many people have successfully built homemade recumbent bicycles for very little or no money involved. You won't likely find a "how-to" guide, but you will find plenty of pictures, advice, and other documentation to get your ideas and creativity flowing toward building your own.
I hope you take this post to heart - good luck!
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Upright defenders tend to forget that people who spend money on recumbents nearly-always used to spend money on nice upright bikes; we know what it feels like to ride uprights.
No, you know what YOU feel like to ride an upright. You don't know what it feels like for ME to ride an upright. I don't get neck pain. I don't get hand pain or numbness. And my butt doesn't hurt (at least after the second ride of the season). And yes, I've spent a lot of time on a bike (my longest day is 130 miles, so I'm not talking about little 15 minute jaunts). You make it sound like it's torture to ride an upright. While I don't disagree that a recumbent is probably more comfortable, I read your post scratching my head thinking "huh... I don't have that problem".
I topped out my dual suspension mountain bike around 44 MPH on a downhill. It was geared for climbing so once I ran out of pedal power I tucked and that's all the faster I went.
I'll be your candy shop of infinite deliciousity if you'll be my discotheque of endless rump-shaking.
Someone wasted a mod point on an on-topic ac post.
When I can human propell myself and fly around without passing out or getting nausia, then the human powered technology will be won.
I can do this in my dreams now, but when I wake up I feel like a 350LB rock.
When can we fly?
How very right you are. But no English-speaking country (of which I am aware, anyway) uses the comma, and most (native) English speakers don't recognize it. And just as a side note, the .de top-level domain is for Germany; the Netherlands uses .nl.
I beat that record in 1990.
I've rode a plain, heavy, 18 speed steel mongoose hilltopper mountain bicycle up to 55 miles per hour on a freeway. I was going downhill north of houston, and I was skimming the updraft from huge convoys of 18 wheelers. It was SCARY, but I was definitely going 55.
The updraft was enough to rock my bike and pull it to the left (since I was on the hwy shoulder).
My last landlord "appropriated" the very same bike against my will. If I'd known I held the world record of human powered motion on that bike I would have been even angrier about it.
Anyhow, I guess that means I hold the world record, even if nobody else recognizes it.
I'm going to reflect on that. =)
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." -Jesus Christ The Lord's Prayer
"...Anyone else with any reasonable bike numbers out there for confirmation?..."
Waalll, If you mosey on over to Analytic Cycling, there's a number of calculators you can use to estimate speed & power given a few parameters.
I used the "speed given power" calculator taking the default values for most of the parameters, which all looked sensible enough. I set the input power to zero, as I doubt that the rider had the gearing to do anything worthwhile at the pedals and messed around with the slope until I got an output speed around 30m/s (~= 70mph).
Turns out - according to this calculator - that our lad would need to be going down a dead-straight 1 in 4 with no cross or headwinds.
I don't believe it, myself.
Political language
"... I was going downhill north of houston, and I was skimming the updraft from huge convoys of 18 wheelers...."
If you're getting dragged along by a bunch of 18 wheelers, then you're really only in the running for an assisted human-powered land speed record. Currently held by John Howard at around 152mph.
Political language
Recumbent bikes are cool and faster than regular bikes because the legs are set up near the chest if you look at it horizontally (the long way) and cut down on wind resistance dramatically even without wind flairs and all that.
Recumbents are awkward bikes, from a balance point of view, because the wheelbase is too long (think chopper vs regular motorcycle), and you do not have good hand leverage to control them. I think they go faster because more power can be delivered to the crank -- I can only apply 170 pounds maximum (my body weight) with an upright bike (i.e. I stand on a pedal). Compare that to 750 to 1,000+ pounds of force (my Universal Gym leg press ability in high school was 750 pounds) when you are "recumbant" _and_ your feet are pushing against something, i.e. the back of your chair/seat. No contest. In addition, while recumbant only your feet move. When upright you have to lift your body up and down to get that 170 pounds of force, otherwise it is even less than this. In short, the recumbant advantage is huge and there should be two separate records IMO.
I come here for the love
Trunk Space and racks:
Yeah, they're great - if you go to one store. Go to two stores and you're f*cked. What are you going to do with the stuff from the first store? Leave it on the bike on the street? Bring the racks into the store?
Before I got my car I went home after each store, spending half of every saturday shopping. With my car I'm done in an hour or so. I can even do it friday after work.
A/C and Sun:
If you're going to work in the morning, the angle of the Sun... I don't know about you, but I also go home from work. And at that time the sun is very strong, very hot, and I really really prefer not to do hard work in it right after work.
A bike is great when it's practical. It just rarely is. Even if everything else works, the bike (my bike) is regularly flat, vandalised or stolen. I've had no such problems with my car.
I want to know how fast the guy was.. his average speed for 1km and his instantaneous speed.
If he did 87 kilometers in an hour.. OMG that guy rocks, I couldn't imagine a person being able to go that fast for more than a few minutes.
He probably went only went a few kilometers at any sort of record speed.
*** Yes I'm an engineer type nerd ***
Hehe.. I hate it when people get their facts all screwed up because of not knowing units for speed.
Please use [ informative / summarizing ] SUBJECT LINES
Flame me here
I don't think you have done many recumbent races. I ride many races a year on my Challenge lowracer. Stayering and coöperation with competitors are fundamental as well. The only difference is you have smaller groups due to the greater differences in speed. A rowing bike is much slower than a velomobile, so it's two groups of rowing bikes, five groups of lowracers, three groups of tail-faired lowracers and four groups of velomobiles, for instance. But you have to use tactics or you lose. I blew many of my races this way when i just started.
A tactical very interesting part of recumbent racing is the go-kart circuit: in every corner it's a hard fight to get through first, but if you try to block your competitor too hard, you lose speed or may even crash. Fast acceleration, hefty but controlled braking is essential. With 14 corners every 38 seconds (my last race on a go-kart circuit), that's quite exciting.
Trust me, I work for the government.
...No, you know what YOU feel like to ride an upright. You don't know what it feels like for ME to ride an upright....
How many pairs of padded riding shorts do you own?
~
... has another meaning in the UK. I'll give you a hint - it rhymes with hay and used to denote a state of lighthearted abandon. Capiche?
Nah... I've heard of fish riding bicycles, but not dogs. That's just crazy talk, man.
The present-day record for car pacing is held by Fred Rompelberg of Holland, who reached 268.831 km/h (167.043 mph) on a bicycle following a car at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, on October 3, 1995.
Interestingly, he set the record 27 days shy of his 50th birthday, so there does seem to be a trend here....
A quick Googleing came up these two links:
http://www.cascade.org/EandR/expo/index.cfm
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/BentPacNW/
I'd call around to your local bike shops. They will know.
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
In Texas we build roads straight. Which usually works just fine since most of Texas is flat. Of course when there's a hill, the construction crews don't know (at least they don't seem to know) about winding the road to reduce the grade, they build them straight up the hill. Which results in some mean roads to ride up, and fast roads to ride down. I regularly hit 60-65 mph (96 - 104 km/h) on one road that feeds into a highway. When I was in college, before I could afford a cycle computer, I once had a car ride alongside me as I was going down a hill. The passenger rolled down his window, held up seven fingers, then held up five fingers, then flashed two thumbs up (120 km/h). However, that road has too much traffic on it these days so I can't go back and attempt to measure it for myself. So, I would say that I have no problem accepting someone going over 55mph, you just need a straight, steep hill and confidence that you can handle a blowout - which does happen, don't try this if your bike or your bike handling skills are not up for the test.
..much of it out on country roads.
34 miles on country roads for somebody who's a fast rider is no problem at all...I have an 8.5 mile commute which I rode once on my day off, just to see...it takes me ~25 minutes by car, a little over an hour by bike. Why? Of the eight&a half miles, about seven is on city streets, block-by-block, and NOBODY around here even SEES bikes, let alone gives them the right-of-way. When I was growing up, school was about two miles away, took me about seven minutes ride, and if I lived in the country it would be great (gf lives out of town, takes me ~10 minutes to ride the three miles and change from her house to work but she refuses...), but for us urbanites it just doesn't work. Whew...rant over.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
...for an hour. Without drafting. Big difference.
As a bicyclist I need to point out that bicyclists are legal vehicles of the road in every state (USA) and Europe too. Though there are traffic laws that apply to bicycles only, that doesn't change your status to unreal vehicle. Even if you were traveling below the posted speed limit you have the right to take up an entire lane if you have to (because of debris/hazards on the shoulder, because the lane is too narrow to safely share with a car, etc). I have enough trouble with cars that if I can get one driver to realize that I belong on the road just as much as he does then this is not a waste of slashdot space. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now...
There is not a grain of truth in any of this.
On the contrary, the GP post is accurate and all of your points are wrong.
The type of faired recumbent that sets these speed records has a very low drag coefficient, much lower than a modern automobile, for instance, and yet has lower top speeds than a car. Not only is there no benefit to drafting, there is a positive disadvantage to riding in the residual turbulence. Also, these vehicles are very unwieldy compared to diamond-frame bikes; following closely is much more dangerous.
This last point is an important one which do not seem to have considered. The fininshing sprints of pro races are already very dangerous, with speeds of about 70km/h and masses of riders packed together jostling each other. The combination of even higher speeds and lower manouverability would make things even worse than they already are (a pro rider has about a one in four chance of spending time in hospital in a racing season.)
Contrary to your assertion, the UCI continually allows innovations in equipment. Your example of aerobars is a good one that proves you wrong: they are in fact allowed but not on mass start stages. The reason is safety, not conservativism; they were allowed at one point but again, the reduction in handling caused too many crashes.
Finally, the UCI doesn't have a monopoly on racing bicycles, you know. There's nothing stopping you from making your own rules and holding your own races. In fact, there are already recumbent bicycle races - they're just not very popular with fans.
"The good reader is a rarer swan than the good writer."
How many pairs of padded riding shorts do you own?
I'm not entirely sure why that's relevant. I never said it was comfortable to ride without padded shorts. With them, I don't have pain or discomfort.
Look, all I'm saying is that your post made it sound as though riding an upright is the most uncomfortable thing in the world, that it's torture. Either you're exaggerating, or your experiences don't match mine.
I bicycle home from school in the afternoon when it is hot, but I can see how after a long day of real work that would get old. I find that time of day to be right for exercise anywho, so I don't mind breaking a bit of a sweat before changing and going to work out.
Regarding flat/vandalized/stolen:
There are "Mr. Tuffy" strips you can put in your tires to prevent some little punctures as well as nice rim strips to prevent spokes from getting you from the other side. Other than that, adequate pressure will keep you from pinching flat.
Vandalism and theft will ruin your day, but it's easy to avoid some of the simpler problems. Get a nice U-lock and remove your front wheel then lock through your front wheel, rear wheel, and rear triangle to prevent frame/wheel theft. Go by a bike shop and ask them to fasten your seat to your frame above the rear brakes; no more riding the no-seat bike for you. Actual vandalism can only be avoided by putting your bicycle in an area with high visibility and pedestrian traffic. Sometimes you must rely on the goodness of strangers to stop other bad strangers who want to mess with your stuff. As an alternative to all of these, see if the building where you work has a storage closet. Your bicycle somewhat disassembled and locked together will take up only a little space inside while avoiding getting rained on parked outside.
I'll be your candy shop of infinite deliciousity if you'll be my discotheque of endless rump-shaking.
Racks are only use for a few small items, and only if the weather is clement, and you're not run off the road by a car. Also it's very easy to steal from them. Try taking your TV back from repair on the back of a bike. Or twenty bags of shopping. Or a nine gallon barrel of beer.
Do you live in the same universe as the rest of us?
Rainsuits don't keep all the water out, only light drizzle. Absolutely no use in a storm. And that still means more time getting changed, adding onto the already lengthy travel times. You also have to predict the weather, i.e. if sun suddenly turns into rain or vice versa. It also assumes you've got somewhere to get changed at work.
* This actually happened on Sunday when I was at work. One minute boiling hot, the next a thunderstorm and torrential rain. If I was cycling I would have to stop and get changed roadside. Not an issue at all in a car.
A forty minute bike ride is at most a ten minute car ride. Leaving time to go at a snail's pace means you're taking even longer, and also cancelling out any exercise benefits. And you'll sweat at any speed when the temperature gets into the hundreds. Especially when you're wearing work clothes or waterproofs incase a storm breaks out*.
That's funny. A forty minute ride for me is a 25 minute car ride. Or do you not get traffic where you live? And yes, I sweat. A *lot*. But I dry out fast, and I bring a full change, so who really cares? Only an idiot would cycle in his work clothes.
BTW, I'm not sure what you mean by "cancelling out any exercise benefits". ENOPARSE.
Racks are only use for a few small items, and only if the weather is clement, and you're not run off the road by a car. Also it's very easy to steal from them. Try taking your TV back from repair on the back of a bike. Or twenty bags of shopping. Or a nine gallon barrel of beer.
You don't strap everything to a rack. You put your items in one or two panniers, and attach them to the rack. And a good set of panniers will be water proof, durable, and have a decent carrying capacity. Heck, you can even get ones that will act as a backpack, so you can carry them around with you when you need to stop in somewhere.
Incidentally, if you do want to move a TV, groceries, etc, by bike, just buy or build a trailer. I did just this (it cost me about 100$ in materials), and it works great for moving large items. You can even build a box with a nice locking lid if you're worried about theft.
Rainsuits don't keep all the water out, only light drizzle. Absolutely no use in a storm. And that still means more time getting changed, adding onto the already lengthy travel times. You also have to predict the weather, i.e. if sun suddenly turns into rain or vice versa.
Bah, if the weather's like that, I just let myself get wet. It's water, people, it won't hurt you.
If it's regular rain, you'd be surprised at the rain gear you can get these days. You can get a nice waterproof suit that will keep all but your feet, hands, and face pretty dry.
It also assumes you've got somewhere to get changed at work.
Ever heard of a bathroom stall?
But, in the end, no, a bike isn't perfect for everyone. Some people don't like to sweat, or get rained on. Heck, some don't even mind driving in rush-hour traffic (though how that can be, I'll never know). As for me, I much prefer to cycle commute. It keeps my body and my wallet happy (not spending money on gas and car repairs is a great way to save a few bucks), and it's a great break from the 9-5 office lifestyle.
Oh well. Dang.
For just a day I was the fastest cyclist in the world. =\
It was still pretty darn fast.
=D
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." -Jesus Christ The Lord's Prayer
2 weeks ago at Hellyer velodrome Freddy was "getting too old for this" and now he sets a new record. This is a 1 hour record. Hitting mid 50's on a diamond frame bike takes a good hill. The drafting bicycle speed record is somewhere around 150mph. The non-drafting, pedal up to speed record no tailwind, no hills is at 82mph in a similar bike that Freddy used. Recumbents.com , Battel Mountain have info on the top speed runs. Freddy did something like 76mph last year. These bikes are more HPV's as they are fully faired. Aerodynamics and power are a cool combination.
For the street, one of the best performing recumbents are the Bacchetta's. Bacchetta has been giving a good showing around the country for the past few years. They did the Hotter-N-Hell century as a team (drafting) in 3:56 passing the bicycle race that was part of the event. John Schlitter won the Race Across Florida on a Bacchetta this year, and Bacchetta took 1,3-5 overall. They were used for a 3rd place finish last year in the Race Across America 4 man team. They also had a rider up to third this year before he dnf'd. Cycling News Results with Jim Kern in 3rd on a Bacchetta . Later this month, there will be quite a few recumbent and HPV teams competing in the Race Across Oregon including a 4 man team, and 2 man team from Bacchetta.
Of course, to give credit where credit is due. One of the slickest bikes out there is the Velokraft NoCom low racer bike. This bike is more track/pure race oriented, and is quite fast.
If you want to increase your cycling speed by a few mph. Check out a recumbent. For more info, there's the wildly popular recumbent site Bentrider Online which has a very informative forum section.
I'm not entirely sure why that's relevant. I never said it was comfortable to ride without padded shorts. With them, I don't have pain or discomfort.
Look, all I'm saying is that your post made it sound as though riding an upright is the most uncomfortable thing in the world, that it's torture. Either you're exaggerating, or your experiences don't match mine.
If you don't see the connection between {needing padded shorts} and {upright bikes being uncomfortable to ride} then there's not a lot left that I can argue I guess.
And yes--compared to riding most recumbents--riding an upright bike is torture. Most of the pain that an upright causes you will not ever happen on a recumbent.
~
Amusing.
This is the start and end points of my commute last winter. I have since moved, but I used to average 35 minutes. Certainly less than 40. I would be amazed if anyone could make it in 10 minutes by any method other than aircraft. My experience biking in the city is that cycling tends to take about 50% longer than driving for given start and end points. I would estimate that a 10 minute drive is a 15 minute bike ride. Although in rare cases, I can beat cars across the city when traffic is heavy.
The rest of your points have been debunked already I see, but I just needed to comment on that one since it is especially ridiculous.
I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants
That's funny. A forty minute ride for me is a 25 minute car ride. Or do you not get traffic where you live?
Traffic to me is the one reason why I wouldn't commute via bike. I just don't trust all the cars on the road. A car coming around a bend would be my worst fear.
So you think it would be a good idea to allow aero bars in mass start stages/events?
They would make the climbing slower. I have seen this effect in person. Anecdotes to the contrary don't make this untrue. And they would reduce the importance of drafting, although it wouldn't disappear.
I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants
Well it doesn't seem unreasonable.. downhill skiiers hit speeds in excess of 80MPH.. granted there's less friction and a smaller footprint, but they're rarely going straight either. Also there's another helpful option besides no wind: tailwind.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
If you don't see the connection between {needing padded shorts} and {upright bikes being uncomfortable to ride} then there's not a lot left that I can argue I guess.
I don't care if an upright is uncomfortable without padded shorts. I wear padded shorts and it's comfortable. The fact that it's uncomfortable without the shorts isn't all that telling - grabbing a hot pan is uncomfortable without using a potholder, but is perfectly fine with one. Likewise an upright for me.
And yes--compared to riding most recumbents--riding an upright bike is torture
Since you're using the word torture, your experiences don't match mine. Based on my experience, I wouldn't call riding an upright torture compared to anything. Again, I don't doubt a recumbent is more comfortable. But torture? Not for me.
I went to the site. I didn't read it very well...
I'm wrong, sorry.
I also bicycle, and I remember the 1km speed record being not that much higher... that was at a sprint of course...
I know that wind resistance is significant.
Bye bye Karma! still... my confusion should have been interesting to you guys?!
Please use [ informative / summarizing ] SUBJECT LINES
Flame me here
Some of us actually don't like standing around in soaking wet clothes, or having to get changed and hang everything in front of the fire when we get home. Maybe you're some sort of masochist freak, but don't expect anyone else to join your cult. Imagine you're going on a date at a posh restaurant and turn up soaked to the skin.
Absolutely disgusting.
Absolutely disgusting.
LOL. You're willing to sit your ass down on a public toilet, but you're not willing to change there? No offense, but that's just bizarre. Are you one of those people who doesn't like to touch doorknobs, too?
What has also been missed is that recumbants don't perform very well in the mountains.
Please sign petition to restore sanity to our banking system!!!
http://financialpetition.org/
Cycling instead of driving is not for pussies. If you're a pussy, feel free to ride. If you're not, deal with the few curveballs nature may throw at you and understand that not all things you can do while driving are possible while riding; there are still times for cars.
I'll be your candy shop of infinite deliciousity if you'll be my discotheque of endless rump-shaking.
Using candles instead of lightbulbs is not for pussies. If you're a pussy, feel free to have electricity. If you're not, deal with the few curveballs nature may throw at you and understand that not all things you can do with a lightbulb are possible with a candle; there are still times for lightbulbs.
There are certain start and end places of a trip, for which you must drive more with a car that you must ride a bycicle. To go 20m up a street, I need to drive down, change the direction using an underground crossing, go up to a round intersection, and go down again some 200m. With bike? 20m up, on the pedestrian way. I get to work in 25+ minutes by foot, in some 15 with the bike (not quite 5km round trip), and close to 10 minutes by car. If I take into account extra time to warm engine, some traffic, finding a parking space at work, driving the car is about as fast. As for going from work to home, you really don't care you are sweaty when you reach home. As for sudden weather changes, they don't happen so sudden, and usually you are prepared. Also, some of my colleagues come by foot, and they won't be much less wet. If worst came to worst, I have an umbrella with me :D
I went downhill once at about 65km/h (40mph) on a good road. I don't know about race bikes, but on mountain bikes the handlebar starts to harden, and you have to force it one side or the other in order to steer.