New Human-Powered World Hour Record 257
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."
World Hour Record? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:World Hour Record? (Score:2)
Re:World Hour Record? (Score:2)
it's a leap second, not a leap minute.
Re:World Hour Record? (Score:2)
Fear! (Score:4, Funny)
Way cool (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Way cool (Score:3, Interesting)
His success in setting this record is a real triumph, and gives me, as another relative codger, hope.
Re:Way cool (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, I wasn't familiar with the extent to which he was involved with calfee. I think it was more than a couple years ago that I saw him there, when he was then supposedly breaking up with 'em. I know he's been involved with easy racers for the lon
Re:Way cool (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.easyracers.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&t
Check our website and forums over the next couple days for more info!
Gabriel DeVault
Easy Racers, Inc.
as alwasy...bikes are still faster than cars.. (Score:5, Informative)
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...
Re:as alwasy...bikes are still faster than cars.. (Score:4, Informative)
Because:
*You sweat (not good for dating/going to work)
*No place to store your groceries (or for the slashdot crowd, taking your rig to a lan party)
*No place for the girlfriend to sit
*No air conditioning
*Sun
*Rain
Need i say more?
Re: Groceries (Score:4, Interesting)
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?
Re:as alwasy...bikes are still faster than cars.. (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, please. What is this "dating" and "girlfriend" of which you speak?
Re:as alwasy...bikes are still faster than cars.. (Score:3, Insightful)
*You sweat (not good for dating/going to work)
You can change when you
Re:as alwasy...bikes are still faster than cars.. (Score:3, Interesting)
I think a big part of it is social stigma. I had considered biking to work before, but didn't really take the plunge until after a move when my new cycling enthusiast neighbor suggested it. My commute is about six miles and five or ten minutes slower than by car; I'm lucky to live close and have a low traffic route to work. I'm also lucky to have a shower and a locker at work, and the weather here is fairly nice year round (summers are a cool 70 in the morning even if 85-95 by midday; winters don't often
Re:as alwasy...bikes are still faster than cars.. (Score:2)
They are much stiffer than cycling clothing. They have no padding. They do have heavy seems that chafe. They are hot and don't dry well.
If you are riding 8-20 miles, these things matter. If you are only doing 2-3 miles at a liesurely pace, it doesn't. In my college days, I always wore jeans except when I wore non-cycling shorts. It was fine and saved the hassle and expense of dedicated clothing.
Working professionals, though, have the money to pay for dedicated clothin
Re:as alwasy...bikes are still faster than cars.. (Score:2)
Re:as alwasy...bikes are still faster than cars.. (Score:2)
Re:as alwasy...bikes are still faster than cars.. (Score:2)
For us using the english system. (Score:5, Informative)
I don't think I average that on my drive to work.
You mean the American/Imperial system (Score:2, Informative)
Re:You mean the American/Imperial system (Score:2)
Re:You mean the American/Imperial system (Score:3, Informative)
Re:For us using the english system. (Score:3, Interesting)
(note I was a pretty serious bike racer and wasn't
Re:For us using the english system. (Score:2)
Note that for the vast majority of the population, 15 or 18mph on a bike is about 10 mph faster than "dawdling"
Re:For us using the english system. (Score:2)
You're right, of course. I just don't always remember it.
and for those using the popular press system: (Score:2)
Re:For us using the english system. (Score:3, Informative)
Some quick pictures here.
http://www.easyracers.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&t
Weird Phrasing (Score:2)
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).
Re:Weird Phrasing (Score:3, Interesting)
i wonder if this one is standing start or flying start.
Re:Weird Phrasing (Score:3, Informative)
"The world's fastest bicycles, known as "Speedbikes" will converge at the Nissan Technical Center North America outside Casa Grande, Arizona June 30 and July 1-2, 2006 to compete for the $25,000 Dempsey-MacCready Prize, for the first Speedbike to travel 56 miles (90 K) in one hour from a standing start." from http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/racing2006/dempsey 2006.htm [recumbents.com] :)
Re:Weird Phrasing (Score:2)
Re:Weird Phrasing (Score:2)
P.S. I grew up using the metric system, and through formal education am well versed in the SI system, so I hardly need lecturing on the matter.
Re:Weird Phrasing (Score:2)
Re:Weird Phrasing (Score:2)
Re:Weird Phrasing (Score:2)
Impressive, true, but I'd be even more impressed by a human-powered aircraft competition. What's the one-hour distance record for that?
Just for comparison (Score:5, Interesting)
The guys powering these things aren't couch potatoes either.
What? (Score:2)
Re:What? (Score:2, Informative)
And if that's not the answer to your question, could you provide more information next time?
Re:What? (Score:4, Informative)
in teh 70s..... (Score:2, Funny)
Glad to see a boomer break another record! yaaaa US!1!!1leben
Re:in teh 70s..... (Score:2)
Not sure I believe that -50 MPH maybe, 70 - no way (Score:2)
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?
70MPH (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Not sure I believe that -50 MPH maybe, 70 - no (Score:2)
"...Anyone else with any reasonable bike numbers out there for confirmation?..."
Waalll, If you mosey on over to Analytic Cycling [analyticcycling.com], 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 un
Re:in the late 90s..... (Score:2)
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
For more information about recumbents. (Score:5, Informative)
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/ [bentrideronline.com] It is a goldmine of information.
Bring the joy back to cycling, get bent.
Re:For more information about recumbents. (Score:4, Interesting)
Also as you spoke to various physical pains I experienced little or no pain, there was rather almost a daily endorphine high.
I'm presently rebuilding my mountain bike. I'd rather build the drive chain myself from quality parts then buy a bike new.
There are very few recumbent bikes on the west coast but I hope their numbers grow as I'd like to buy one.
cheers
Re:For more information about recumbents. (Score:2)
Re:For more information about recumbents. (Score:2)
Sorry for the ambiguity. I meant that the price was high relative to my commitment to owning a recumbent bike. I'm thinking or touring Canada again next year and I've given some thought to a trailer.
My understanding from idle chatter is that recumbent bikes outperform standard bikes except when challenging hills. As a tour of Canada starting out from Vancouver means crossing the Rockies I can't see touring on a re
Re:For more information about recumbents. (Score:2)
I was mostly making a joke about how 6000km constitutes a pretty big commitment to me, and probably to most people.
Although strictly speaking you could avoid the Rockies by heading North through the Peace River region... I have heard conflicting reports about recumbents and hills: some have told me that climbing is hard, and some have told me that climbing is easier since you can push the pedal with more force than just your body weight by pushing back against the seat and through main force of your quads
The comfort difference between bents and uprights (Score:2, Insightful)
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
Re:The comfort difference between bents and uprigh (Score:2)
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
Re:The comfort difference between bents and uprigh (Score:2)
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 tal
Re:For more information about recumbents. (Score:2)
A recumbent isn't difficult to build... (Score:2)
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
Re:For more information about recumbents. (Score:2)
OT: Words (Score:5, Informative)
The adjective fair means unincumbered.
The verb fair, from ship building, is to make smooth and flowing.
Different tracks--difficult to compare? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Different tracks--difficult to compare? (Score:2)
Easiest way to find out. Compare the average speeds of Formula1 racing from various tracks. I say Formula1 instead of NASCAR as Formula1 has tracks all over the world instead of just in the US.
However, more to the point, you are right in that there are many conditions that can make the difference. Aside from the weather and the p
Re:Different tracks--difficult to compare? (Score:2)
Re:Different tracks--difficult to compare? (Score:2)
Re:Different tracks--difficult to compare? (Score:3, Insightful)
The point isn't to pit one racer against the other in a perfectly "fair" way, it's to asymptotically approach the limits of human capability, so adding a couple miles to the record is significant.
Re:Different tracks--difficult to compare? (Score:2)
If you read the hpva rules you'll see there are very specific rules regarding wind and weather. There will always be a track that is fastest.
52 miles per hour. I've beat that myself!!! (Score:2)
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
55 mph? Pah! (Score:2)
"... 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 [canosoarus.com] at around 152mph.
This just in... (Score:3, Informative)
Interestingly, he set the record 27 days shy of his 50th birthday, so there does seem to be a trend here....
Re:Wow! (Score:5, Informative)
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 [wikipedia.org]
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 [rbr.info]
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! (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Wow! (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
What about in space ship?
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
Yup, even works for space ships... although you'll find the effect is more pronounced if you are in an atmosphere, or flying at relativistic speeds.
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
That's fine - who's for setting up a URCI?
Re:Wow! (Score:3, Insightful)
-- n
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
http://www.easyracers.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&t
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
The guy breaks away, and then gets fucking reeled in on the climb. The only reason h
Re:No F*cking Way (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Probably you are not into recumbent racing... (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:Wow! (Score:5, Informative)
Take a look at Atomic Zombie's [atomiczombie.com] 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 [amazon.co.uk] 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.
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
The book is worth the price.
And let me tell you what: you have never felt so cool as the first time you take out a strange, obviously custom bike you buil
Re:Wow! (Score:3, Insightful)
The reason I tend to recommend atomic zombie [atomiczombie.com] is that rather than buying a bunch of 4130 and jigging up a gorgeous replica Greenspeed, complete with machining and tapping details for wheel mounts, the Zombie takes a BMX, welds
Re:Wow! (Score:3, Interesting)
Why not a short wheel based? They are lighter, faster and especially the dutch ones like Challenge [challengebikes.com] or Optima [optima-cycles.nl] don't particulary look funny.
Re:Wow! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
Fast Freddy just destroyed the competition at a local velodrome on one of our "body sock" equipped bikes. He clocked almost 39 mph in the 200 meters compared to 34 mph for the next closest competitor riding a low racer.
Re:Wow! (Score:2, Insightful)
What's the problem?
Re:Wow! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
In the great victorian bike ride recumbents seem to do v
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
-- n
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
For one thing: you can push *far* more than your body weight on a recumbent because you can push against the seat. I legpress something like 500 pounds and I can put that all into a recumbent's pedals -- so that's not the reason 'bents are slower on the climbs.
Secondly, the climbs are slow, but the downhills, well, there's just no comparison. In the Tour de France, you're cornering-limited on many of the descents, but on longer more open descents a 'bent can double
Re:Wow! (Score:2, Interesting)
Unlikely, even if you had a clone of Armstrong riding the recumbent. Road races take place on rolling terrain, and involve acceleration tactics. Recumbants lose their efficiency uphill because you can't change positi
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
Usually, you will want to ride around at least 25-30 miles a day. It's harder if you go straight down a long road, it's more fun and you deve
Re:Wow! (Score:2)
Re:Spice it up (Score:2)
Re:"Real" world record (Score:2)
At that speed, no dog could have followed him.
Re:"Real" world record (Score:2)
Re:What is with the formatting? (Score:2)
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.