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."

Comments

World Hour Record?

[stjobe]

New World Hour Record - Now With 61 minutes!

Way cool

[drinkypoo]

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.

as alwasy...bikes are still faster than cars..

[Anonymous Coward]

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 us using the english system.

[rmadmin]

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.

Just for comparison

[chanrobi]

World class elite athletes are doing about 31mph ~ 50kph (1 hour, outdoors) in individual time trials on upright bikes (non faired TT/Tri bikes). It's pretty much entirely the aerodynamic efficiency of the low/faired enclosure that is giving the recumbents such a huge speed difference over an hour in these record attempts.

The guys powering these things aren't couch potatoes either.

Re:Wow!

[rolfwind]

Your talking about human power vehicle. It's not like we humans are updated with new engines with a few more horsepower every year:/

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:

Then on 7 July 1933 at a Paris velodrome, Faure rode a Velocar 45.055 km (27.9 miles) in one hour, smashing an almost 20-year-old hour record held by Oscar Egg. Since the one hour record was one of the most important in all of cycling, that accomplishment attracted a great deal of attention. Less than two months later, on 29 August 1933, Maurice Richard, riding an upright bicycle, also bettered Egg's one hour record.

When the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) met in February, 1934, manufacturers of upright bicycles lobbied to have Faure's one-hour record declared invalid. On 1 April 1934, the UCI published a new definition of a (racing) bicycle that specified how high the bottom bracket could be above the ground, how far it could be in front of the seat and how close it could be to the front wheel. The new definition effectively banned recumbents from UCI events and guaranteed that upright bicycles would not have to compete against recumbents. For all intents and purposes, the ban is still in effect.

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.

Re:Wow!

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

For more information about recumbents.

[B5_geek]

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.

Re:Wow!

[smellsofbikes]

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.

OT: Words

[belg4mit]

The pieces are fairings.
The adjective fair means unincumbered.
The verb fair, from ship building, is to make smooth and flowing. ...in a fully fairinged recumbent bicycle. (verbing) ...in a fully fair recumbent bicycle. ...in a fully faired recumbent bicycle. (original)

Re:No F*cking Way

[mpapet]

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.

Re: Groceries

[TheStonepedo]

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?