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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."
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...
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?
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.
And they have been setting records for years but unfortunately they have been banned by the UIC (they define the standard bike as a bike). It is said a mediocre (professional) cyclist could beat someone like Armstrong in a normal one day race due to the inherent advantages of the recumbent.
According to the wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recumbent_bicycle
I wanted a recumbent for years (long wheel base) but because of their low production, they tend to be more expensive, are also heavier, and most look funny.
There are some damn fine looking ones but they cost $$$$, like the Calfee Stiletto, which incidently was codesigned by Calfee and the guy in the article Freddy Markham before the two had a falling out:
http://www.rbr.info/calfee.html
BTW, Markham is known as the Armstrong of recumbents. Getting a record at his age is a surprise, but will add to his legend.
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 don't know how handy you are, but you could consider making a 'bent.
Take a look at Atomic Zombie's webpages: everything from reasonable recumbents to front-wheel-drive pure-racing designs, all made from scrap bikes and electrical conduit, welded with a cheap arcwelder. If you're willing to invest more time and energy you can build some superb designs. With my projects, I buy reasonable low-end bikes (shimano exage-level components) from local thrift stores, usually for under $40 for a complete bike, and use those partskits to outfit frames. (You do have to buy lots and lots of bike chain, usually new, since splicing used chain rarely works very well.)
Anyway, Atomic Zombie also has a book in which he goes into considerable detail about the design/construction of thirty or so different bikes. I have friends that have built most of them, and several of the people had never welded before building their first strange bikes. You can get a cheap AC welder from the likes of Harbor Freight & Salvage for way under $100.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
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?
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.