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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."
Allowing recumbents in road racing would entirely change the nature of the sport. When riding an "upright" bicycle, riding behind close behind another competitor requires about 1/3 less effort. (Sheltering.)
However, nobody is stupid enough just to let everyone else sit on their wheel for a 200Km race. Instead echelons are formed where riders take turn in front, doing their share of the work. Eventually break groups form, and hopefully the smaller group can organize better and gain an advantage.
Of course, if you're in a break group with all your own teammates, organizing isn't a problem. But most of the time you're with competitors. So you have to work *with* your opponents, yet still beat them. This leads to all sorts of interesting tactics.
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.
This is why the UCI does not allow recumbents: It'd be a different sport.
When riding an "upright" bicycle, riding behind close behind another competitor requires about 1/3 less effort. (Sheltering.)
It's called "Drafting" and is known to every racing fan and bicycle enthusiast I have ever met.
As for the recumbents not drafting, that's not true. While the bonus may be reduced slightly, there would still be an incentive to draft. Drafting works no matter what kind of vehicle you are in.
What the UCI could do is set up a different league for recumbent racing. Keep the two seperate, such as NASCAR with trucks and cars.
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
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.
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I think these are mostly misconceptions, arising from what I would guess to be mainly cultural reasons. I live in Japan, and lots of people here ride bikes with none of the above concerns. One problem (from a north american perspective) might be that these bikes aren't remotely "sexy." They're mostly single-speed steel frame beasts with baskets, fender racks and little friction-powered headlights. Here are your concerns addressed:
*You sweat (not good for dating/going to work)
You can change when you get there, or alternatively just deal with it.
*No place to store your groceries (or for the slashdot crowd, taking your rig to a lan party)
Basket.
*No place for the girlfriend to sit
Fender rack.
*No air conditioning
Wind.
*Sun
Good.
*Rain
It's entirely possible to hold an umbrella while you ride. Ahh, I forgot they don't use those in the states, either.
Ok, I know bikes aren't practical in the US, but not necessarily for the reasons you outlined. Mainly I'd be worried about getting killed by a car, or the fact that everything is so damn far apart and products are sold in such bulk quantities. I can guarantee if people rode bikes in the US there'd be no Wal Mart.