RTL: fastest speed reached

[Smilymarco]

Originally Posted by chuckaeronut

Since I was on longer cranks, I never really hit the same obscenely high speeds as the Germans (especially Ana (spelling?), who is a crazy beast on descents), but I did hit 26.0mph a few times like Corbin. Generally on the downhills I was between 22 and 25 mph, spinning as fast as I could on my long cranks. Short cranks could have made my descents faster, but...

I think youre talking about Arne. He said something about he reached a new personal speedrecord with over 45 kph, but dont quote me on that

[Klaas Bil]

It sounds like if someone of the fast bunch sets up the officialities (paperwork, organisation), the World Hour Record is not safe. Currently it's 27.180 km, set by Patrick Schmid on 26 July 2006.

[steveyo]

Originally Posted by Smilymarco

I think youre talking about Arne. He said something about he reached a new personal speedrecord with over 45 kph, but dont quote me on that

Yes, Arne was the fastest of the German Speeders.

[mscalisi]

That's just under 17mph. I'm sure that was broken with any given hour of Chuck riding.

Originally Posted by Klaas Bil

It sounds like if someone of the fast bunch sets up the officialities (paperwork, organisation), the World Hour Record is not safe. Currently it's 27.180 km, set by Patrick Schmid on 26 July 2006.

[Kiwi in Vermont]

I saw several times during RTL just how fast the geared 36'ers could go with the right rider.

As far as I can find the world uni record for a mile is 17.45mph.

I'm not very fast but I managed a 3 mile stint during RTL on the flat of just over 14mph. Couldn't you fast guys on the geared 36'ers destroy that world record?

[joemarshall]

Originally Posted by Klaas Bil

It sounds like if someone of the fast bunch sets up the officialities (paperwork, organisation), the World Hour Record is not safe. Currently it's 27.180 km, set by Patrick Schmid on 26 July 2006.

The time trial winning speed was 26.9 km/h, and that was on a rolling course with some hills. On a decent sized flat out and back / oval course there should be no problems beating that record for any of the top 10 or so riders.

Joe

[corbin]

Originally Posted by Kiwi in Vermont

I saw several times during RTL just how fast the geared 36'ers could go with the right rider.

As far as I can find the world uni record for a mile is 17.45mph.

I'm not very fast but I managed a 3 mile stint during RTL on the flat of just over 14mph. Couldn't you fast guys on the geared 36'ers destroy that world record?

Yes...Chuck and I had discussed making attempts on the record after RTL. Now is the perfect time; we are both really strong. Chuck could *easily* beat me. We were talking about doing it together to encourage each other.

corbin

[Kiwi in Vermont]

Corbin,

I think you or Chuck could probably beat the record by simply getting on and riding full speed.

I guess what I'm curious about is what's the limiting factors. On a bicycle (sorry) it's primarily wind resistance and through streamlining the record speed on the flat is over 81 mph.
Could similar ideas be applied to unicycling? How about reducing rolling resistance (thin light wheels/tires) or does that bring in too much instability? Is it a problem of just not pedaling fast enough, so maybe build a geared hub into a bigger uni (semcycle?)?
I think by bringing all the right pieces together certain records could be blown out of the water!

[siafirede]

If the Criterium was 3 miles, and if my math was correct I was averaging about 19.11mph for a little under 9.5 minutes.

I know I couldn't keep that up for an hour, but I think with a little training and a little nicer course, I could keep a very fast pace for an hour and beat 17.45 mph on the geared 29er.

I am not sure what my top speed was for the race, but I know where I reached it and that was on the descent of the second steep hill on Thursday (I think) right before the sharp turn and the U-turn that needed to be made for the checkpoint. I had no brake and was spinning almost out of control, I had to put a lot of muscle into the pedals to make the sharp turn to the checkpoint.

[siafirede]

Originally Posted by chuckaeronut

Since I was on longer cranks, I never really hit the same obscenely high speeds as the Germans (especially Ana (spelling?), who is a crazy beast on descents), but I did hit 26.0mph a few times like Corbin. Generally on the downhills I was between 22 and 25 mph, spinning as fast as I could on my long cranks. Short cranks could have made my descents faster, but...

I think long cranks are the way to make a geared 36 go fast over a long distance. You get to use more of your legs' range of motion (lots more) and your legs don't wear out nearly as fast. Going down isn't quite as fast, but I barely ever shifted into first gear for hills, and when I did, it was a rest because my cranks were so long (and I was still able to "push" 10-12mph up the way-steeper hills). With my 150s, I was probably in my high gear 98% of the time, just pushing up the hills. It hurt, but at least it was possible. I think that first gear on 125s would've been much slower, and I know I'd have been in first gear had I been on 125mm cranks.

On the flats I'd usually go between 19.5 and 21.0 mph, but that's without wind. With heavy winds I'd usually get knocked down to the 18-19.5 range, leaning way over my T7 to make things easier. These speeds are actually a good 2mph faster than my previous cruising speeds. On Tuesday I learned how to lean over, and it made my 150mm spin much "cheaper" to maintain as well as keeping me out of the wind. (at 20+mph, the wind is huge... about 2-3mph of difference between sitting straight up and leaning down.)

I think the stretch of road that was a true testament to the Schlumpfed up 36 was the last 10 kilometers of the Friday stage. The hills were rolling, and there was an insane tailwind, and for that 10K I averaged 19.7 miles per hour, and that even included shifting down once. On the big descent that immediately preceded that last 10K stretch, I was descending at a constant 23mph for 3 or 4K... (averaged 36km/h!) which is as fast as I could spin for that length of time. 125s would have been better than 150s for that descent, but for any situation where power input is required, I think that 150s and a good healthy spin are the way to go for long term averages (like the time trial - 21K of rollers with a few short evil climbs thrown in there). I don't think I'm strong enough to push 125s or even 137s over "average" flat/rolly terrain for much longer than 10K or so.

After trying out 125s and 150s on your 36, I definitely think the 150s are better as well, however, I think that when I finally set up a geared 36 I would like to try out 137-140s. The 150s seemed rather long to me on the flats and downhill, but then again I am a lot shorter than you.

I also heard that you passed a bicycle on a downhill section during that one descent I spoke about in my previous post, going 26+ mph. Ridiculous!

P.S. Thanks again for letting me try out your uni.

[Klaas Bil]

Originally Posted by siafirede

I think with a little training and a little nicer course, I could keep a very fast pace for an hour and beat 17.45 mph on the geared 29er.

Just to avoid any confusion: The 17.45 mph was mentioned by Kiwi in Vermont as the ONE-MILE record speed. I don't know where he got that but I don't dispute it. However, while it might be the official record, there are probably a hundred riders in the world who could break that. The speed of 27.18 km/h that I mentioned, OTOH, and that equates to about 16.89 mph, is the HOUR record. I'm sure there are riders who can beat that too now. One should realise however, that for setting/breaking an official world record, it is as much riding hard as it is arranging the paperwork, organising witnesses, a suitable track or course etc.

[mscalisi]

I'm sure I've broken the record for one mile, at probably at least 15 other people at RTL have too.

Chuck's speed in the time-trial was over 17mph. I'm sure he shifted at least twice for hill-climbs. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him maintain 18mph for an hour on flat terrain.

Originally Posted by Klaas Bil

Just to avoid any confusion: The 17.45 mph was mentioned by Kiwi in Vermont as the ONE-MILE record speed. I don't know where he got that but I don't dispute it. However, while it might be the official record, there are probably a hundred riders in the world who could break that. The speed of 27.18 km/h that I mentioned, OTOH, and that equates to about 16.89 mph, is the HOUR record. I'm sure there are riders who can beat that too now. One should realise however, that for setting/breaking an official world record, it is as much riding hard as it is arranging the paperwork, organising witnesses, a suitable track or course etc.

[GizmoDuck]

Originally Posted by Klaas Bil

Just to avoid any confusion: The 17.45 mph was mentioned by Kiwi in Vermont as the ONE-MILE record speed. I don't know where he got that but I don't dispute it. However, while it might be the official record, there are probably a hundred riders in the world who could break that. The speed of 27.18 km/h that I mentioned, OTOH, and that equates to about 16.89 mph, is the HOUR record. I'm sure there are riders who can beat that too now. One should realise however, that for setting/breaking an official world record, it is as much riding hard as it is arranging the paperwork, organising witnesses, a suitable track or course etc.

*sigh*

I was hoping to see the Hour Record broken on a fixed wheel unicycle. Or at least two separate records...fixed and geared.

Looks like the next few attempts will be on geared unis, which should quite easily beat that record. My 29" Schlumpf get's around the course I used for the 24hr/hour record about 5% faster than the Coker/102's when I timed it a couple of years ago.

Time for me to dust the cobwebs off my Schlumpf I guess

[chuckaeronut]

Hey Mike, gotta correct you on the time trial there, sorry - my average speed was 16.7mph, and I definitely downshifted more than twice... maybe three or four times.

I could see doing 18mph for an hour on flat terrain. I'd need to have a very light headwind at worst, but preferably no wind at all. I think I've beaten the hour record of 16.89 in the past sometime or another, but I'm not sure because I never really "did it right" and pedaled for a straight hour. The mile record, though, is easy to try out... just go blast for a few minutes and see what your average is. I've done over 20 for a mile on flat ground without wind, but I don't think I could go any faster.

Also, to whoever said they were averaging 19.1 miles per hour for 3 minutes... I don't think that's right. The fastest I ever hit in the crit was maybe 19 or 20mph, but slowing for the turns eats the average alive. I remember my time being somewhere in the 8-high minutes range, though, and a 4.8k ride in 9 minutes is like a 20mph average, so it couldn't have possibly been 4.8k total. I'll try to do some figuring out on that to see what really happened with the numbers. I know nobody could've averaged anywhere close to 19mph in the crit... the turns were too slow.

[siafirede]

Originally Posted by chuckaeronut

Also, to whoever said they were averaging 19.1 miles per hour for 3 minutes... I don't think that's right. The fastest I ever hit in the crit was maybe 19 or 20mph, but slowing for the turns eats the average alive. I remember my time being somewhere in the 8-high minutes range, though, and a 4.8k ride in 9 minutes is like a 20mph average, so it couldn't have possibly been 4.8k total. I'll try to do some figuring out on that to see what really happened with the numbers. I know nobody could've averaged anywhere close to 19mph in the crit... the turns were too slow.

I am sure I did the math wrong then (it really didn't feel like I was going that fast, so I wouldn't be surprised).

My time was 9:25 I think. I'll recalculate, it has been a long day =]

Edit: I am guessing the course wasn't 4.8km.