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Conference noted::bicycle

Title: Bicycling
Notice:Bicycling for Fun
Moderator:JAMIN::WASSER
Created:Mon Apr 14 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:3214
Total number of notes:31946

2346.0. "Flying Scotsman" by CTHQ3::LANGLOIS (EASYnet) Thu Jul 09 1992 11:55

    Got the August issue of Road & Track the other day (yes, I'm an auto
    enthusiast as well as a biking enthusiast, so sue me! :^)). Anyway,
    they had the following blurb in there:
    
    Two police officers in Scotland were out patrolling some of the back
    roads when something blurred right by them at high speed. The officers
    chased down the vehicle which turned out to be a bicycle! The
    26-year-old rider, coming down a hill with the wind at his back, was
    clocked by the officers at 70 MPH! He was ticketed for exceeding the
    speed limit.
    Hey, Graham Goodman, how old are you?  ;^)
    
    							Thom... 
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2346.1CHECK FOR BIONICS!WMOIS::GIROUARD_CThu Jul 09 1992 16:165
     I have a hard time swallowing 70mph! They must be using the same
    radar guns our Commonwealth troopers use here in the states!!!
    
     Chip_who's_computer_read_55mph_one_time_and_can't_imagine_70mph
      
2346.2JURA::PELAZ::MACFADYENOnly scratching the surfaceThu Jul 09 1992 16:2114
That item made the UK cycling magazines, and I think may already have been
mentioned in cycle_racing. According to the item I read, the cyclist was
on a 25% hill in the far North of Scotland (sounds feasible), was on a 
mountain-bike (less feasible) and the time was 3am (you what!?). I'm a bit
doubtful of the whole thing. How come the police had time to get a radar
fix? Who would do 70mph on a bike at night? 

Of course I'm only jealous since the best I've been able to manage in the past
two years, Alpine cols notwithstanding, was 78.5 kph (~ 49mph) (last Sunday
on the Saleve). But you know how slow to respond the Avocet max speed function
is...


Rod
2346.3MOVIES::WIDDOWSONIts (IO$_ACCESS|IO$M_ACCESS) VMSThu Jul 09 1992 16:432
    Greg hit 70 after puncturing last year (Marie blanque?). 
    
2346.4maybe it was motorized..:-)SALEM::SHAWThu Jul 09 1992 17:5612
    
    Maybe it was 70 kilometeres/hr .
    There is no way that one can go 70miles and hour on a mountain bike 
    and be able to take corners, slow down etc...
    
    I have gone down some pretty steep hills on a mountain bike and 
    did around 45 miles / hr and that was quite a rush. I cannot 
    imagine 70. :-)
    
    Shaw
    
    
2346.570 ???NQOPS::CLELANDYou DON'T wanna know, pal...Thu Jul 09 1992 20:075
2346.63D::ROTHGeometry is the real life!Fri Jul 10 1992 05:4010
    There are lots of tall tales about high speed descents, usually
    from riders with reed switch type speedometers, which are about
    as reliable as the radar guns that clock trees & shrubbery at
    70 miles/hr.

    Re "after puncturing" - this obviously meant after mounting a
    new wheel and chasing the leaders, but I doubt much above 50
    miles/hr.

    - Jim
2346.7MIND ALTERING DRUGS?WMOIS::GIROUARD_CFri Jul 10 1992 10:1313
     Even the world speed records require specially (and I mean manhole
    cover size) chainrings plus an almost nil wind resistance set-up
    (usually drafting a vehicle witha cowl...
    
     70mph? Maybe, if you're riding down the side of the Empire State
    Building or parachuting out of a plane (with your bike strapped
    behind you to lessen aiir friction :-) 
    
     I agree with one of the previous comments - "No friggin' way!"
    
     Someone wtnessing the event had to have been on mind altering drugs.
    
         Chip
2346.8Can't trust anyone over 30, you know.NOVA::FISHERRdb/VMS DinosaurFri Jul 10 1992 11:065
    My usually reliable Cateye Cordless said I hit a max of 73 mph in
    Pennsylvania with panniers.  Not bad, but I know I was keeping it under
    30.
    
    ed
2346.9ScaredyWELLIN::NISBETYou're the Quarterback!Fri Jul 10 1992 12:233
Maybe it's because I'm getting older, and the bones don't knit so well, but
travelling fast downhill now gives me the shivers. I clocked 46MPH once in
Shropshire, but I wasn't happy about it.
2346.1053?NOVA::FISHERRdb/VMS DinosaurFri Jul 10 1992 12:475
    I know I've done 53 on my single but on an open, empty road (Kinsman
    Notch).  Could do faster on the Wachusett downhill but my helmet's not
    big enough to protect me from the possible side-effects.  :-)
    
    ed
2346.11yDANGER::JBELLAleph naught bottles of beer on the wall...Fri Jul 10 1992 15:061
    Average speed for skydivers is 120 MPH.
2346.12Land Speed Bicycle RecordLHOTSE::DAHLCustomers do not buy architecturesFri Jul 10 1992 15:245
As of three or four years ago, the paced speed record for a bicycle (drafting
behind a serious racing car) was 152 miles per hour. Bicycle Guide last year
had a little article on it. I think the gearing was about 400 gear-inches (two
stage transmission), pedalled at 140 RPMs.
						-- Tom
2346.13CHEATERS NEVER PROSPER...WMOIS::GIROUARD_CFri Jul 10 1992 17:011
     Re; speed record: Oh sure... He was drafting :-)
2346.14(yawn)ASDG::SMITHFri Jul 10 1992 21:336
 65 mph  Teton Pass (eastbound with tailwind)
 67 mph  Pso.Marmolada (eastbound, no wind)

Fear level disappears somewhere around 58 mph; then you merely
await the tap of The Grim Reaper.   The bicycle shrinks in size
considerably at these speeds
2346.15PAKORA::GGOODMANBorn VictimSat Jul 11 1992 15:149
    
    
    	Hey if I was caught doing 70mph you'd have heard by now. I would
    frame that ticket for prosperity....
    
    	Sounds very dodgy, though. Can you imagine the speed wobble at that
    speed?
    
    Graham. 
2346.16gimme that box of Tide...CTHQ3::LANGLOISEASYnetMon Jul 13 1992 16:367
    I hit 45 mph coming down the hill in front of the Mt Wachusett ski
    lodge once and that was enough for me. I crashed my bike once and I
    think the frame might be a touch out of alignment as the bike started
    vibrating something fierce. I had a definite laundry problem at that
    point!  :^)
    
    							Thom...
2346.17WMOIS::FLYE_NWed Jul 22 1992 00:4121
    
      If the mountain bike had slicks I think that 70mph would be
    attainable.  I have made the upper 50mph range on numerous occasions
    with my road bike.  In our club a tandem team coasted off a hill in 
    Wilbraham Ma. to a speed of 61mph.  I know because I drafted them all
    the way down.  We had three different computers (they carry two
    onboard) Avocet 50, Cateye ATB and a Vetta C300.  All read within 1.5
    mph of each other.
      In a few weeks I will be taking my own tandem to this same hill with
    a 64 or 68 tooth chainring to see if we can hit 70mph.  The above team
    was still accelerating when they reached a section where the pitch 
    slackens.  They came off the top at about 15mph.  They thought that
    if they were faster off the top they would have reached 70mph.  I think
    my partner and I can get to 30-40 mph before the descent starts.  A
    short steep climb just before the descent will scrub off reaching a
    higher approach speed.
      
    
    							Norm
    
      
2346.18HMMMMM... UH - UHWMOIS::GIROUARD_CWed Jul 22 1992 10:2812
     You've been in Wisconsin too long... :-)
    
     Drafting a tandem (indeed a tandem alone) on a descent is whole 
    different story. 
    
     An ATB, sorry. The pros don't hit that stuff in the mountains. Baloney
    skins, 300lb. rider with an aero skull, and a hurrucane force tail
    wind... Maybe? NOT! 
    
     Sorry Norm but I can't support you on that one...
    
        Chip
2346.19NOVA::FISHERRdb/VMS DinosaurWed Jul 22 1992 10:469
    "They thought that if they were faster off the top they would have
    reached 70mph."
    
    But they didn't want to test the theory right away?
    
    Welcome back, Norm.
    
    ed
    
2346.20Try Ayr!IRNBRU::MCNABIt's better to burn out than to fade away...Fri Feb 05 1993 14:278
70mph very possible!

Try coming to Ayr, Scotland and see the wee hill up to the plant.
I've managed just a whisker under 50mph on it (with Specialised Rockcombo 
big chunky tyres).

Other tales from the plant say 63mph is the record! Maybe that's a bit much.
2346.21KICK MY BUTT, PLEASE...WMOIS::GIROUARD_CFri Feb 05 1993 15:425
     I'll go way out on a limb and risk all flame potential and state
    that it is impossible for an stock ATB with a stock "rider" to reach
    70mph... Maybe out of a plane  :-)
    
     Chip
2346.22MOVIES::WIDDOWSONRod, OpenVMS Eng @EDOFri Feb 05 1993 16:284
    >                             -< Try Ayr! >-
    
    I'm on my way.....
    
2346.23JURA::PELAZ::MACFADYENisn't anythingMon Feb 08 1993 08:296
Is that the hill you go up just before the plant when coming from the Ayr
direction? I don't remember that hill as being either steep or long...
shome mishtake shurely.


Rod
2346.24who would know?NOVA::FISHERDEC Rdb/DinosaurMon Feb 08 1993 10:557
    Chip,
    
    If you put enough ti components on it, who can tell whether it's a
    bike or a plane?
    
    
    ed
2346.25ROWLET::AINSLEYLess than 150 kts. is TOO slow!Mon Feb 08 1993 14:073
Lack of wings?  Naw...

Bob
2346.26NOW THERE'S A THOUGHT...WMOIS::GIROUARD_CMon Feb 08 1993 15:473
    Hmmm, wings?
    
     :-)
2346.27A warning from the grave!TIS::GRUHNMon Feb 08 1993 16:404
 Wings, hmmmmmm,   Make sure you use Hi-Temp wax!
    
 Icarus