New Human-Powered World Hour Record

cy

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Dec 20, 2003
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New Human-Powered World Hour Record

"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."

http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/06/07/03/1846203.shtml
 

cobb

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Sep 26, 2004
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I loved my recumbent bicycle before I broke the petal off of it. Man, I could really worked my legs with that model. Then my arms were free to lift weights.
 

jtr1962

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Nov 22, 2003
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I've been following the developments in HPVs for quite some time and I think the field is wide open. If we can ever get a vehicle with full laminar flow I'm guessing we'll do a measured mile at 125 mph to 150 mph and the hour record will be over 100 miles. If 50 year old Fred Markham could do 85.4 km, then Lance Armstrong could probably have broken 100 km in the same vehicle. One of my dreams is to one day have ultra efficient HPVs mass produced and running in their own dedicated lanes along Interstate highways. It may even be eminently practical. A vehicle which is slippery enough to go 125 mph+ in the hands of a powerful rider can be pedaled by a person of average strength at 65 mph for an hour or two. This makes it as fast as driving, plus a good deal cheaper.
 

Mike Painter

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Sep 16, 2002
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Think where we might be today had the 'bent been allowed to race.

Shortly after it was invented in the 1920's talented amateurs riding them started beating the pros in road races. So the orginazation changed the rules and said a bicycle had to look like essentially what they run today to compete.
 
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