What is the maximum speed you can develop on a bicycle and how to do it?

Few of us can perceive a bicycle as a high-speed vehicle. Offhand, if you ask a question about the maximum speed of a trained cyclist, you can call a figure of about 60 km / h. And that, most likely, implying athletes at any prestigious cycling competition. Is this so - we learn from the following article.

There are quite a few different factors that influence the ride speed of a cyclist. But the main ones, according to experts, are fitness and physical abilities of a person driving a bicycle.

In addition to those mentioned (human factor and type of bicycle), other conditions affecting speed should be mentioned. We list and briefly characterize them.

• Type of terrain on which the cyclist moves. Plains, rough terrain (continuous descents, ascents, sharp turns), mountainous area, rural or urban conditions - all these factors affect the average speed of cycling. In urban conditions on paved roads, the average speed cannot be higher than that which can be developed even on a dirt flat road in rural areas. Traffic lights, pedestrians, cars in the city rarely allow to develop an average speed above 10-12 km / h.
• Road surface.This factor is understandable without words - even an ordinary person can accelerate along the highway to a speed of 20 km / h and hold it for a long time, and on a sandy or gravel road it is almost impossible to do this.
• The technical condition of the vehicle. Of course, a brand new bike with fresh grease and amortization is much faster than its counterpart from the last century with a chain periodically falling from the stars and a pedal mechanism creaking from dryness.
• The degree of inflation and wear of the tire. Grip also affects the average speed of the bike. High-quality and optimally inflated tires facilitate and provide faster acceleration of the vehicle both from the place and in the direction of travel, if you need to increase speed. In addition, less effort is spent on the cyclist, he is less tired and therefore will be able to keep good speed longer.
• Compliance of tires to a road surface. On hard surfaces it is best to ride on wheels with narrow tires, and on soft ground with wide tires.
• Windage. With an increase in speed of more than 10 km / h, air resistance increases and the degree of its resistance increases sharply with each subsequent kilometer of speed gained. And if there is also a headwind, then the cyclist has to spend a lot of physical strength on high-speed movement.
• Wheel diameter The fewer the wheels, the weaker the bicycle accelerates with the same physical load on a person as on a bicycle with large wheels.

An unprepared cyclist can be called a person who does not often go out for cycling, or uses it only as a vehicle for short trips, for example, out of town to a garden plot, to work, to a distant store, and so on. That is, this is a person who does not use a bicycle regularly to maintain himself in physical shape.

The ability of such a person with a road bike to develop speed is usually limited to 15-18 kilometers per hourwhich he can hold on a straight road for quite some time. If necessary, a short-term speed of about 22-25 km / h is subject to him on the highway, especially along the slope down.

If an unprepared person sits on a sports bike, then even in the most favorable conditions for dispersal, he is unlikely to even reach a speed of 40 km / h for a short time, a maximum of 32-35. He simply does not have enough knowledge of the technique of high-speed cycling. At the same time, a sports road under an experienced biker has a speed of about 80 km / h.

People tend to be attracted to breaking records in their favorite pastime, especially if it is a sport. So in high-speed cycling, the record holders are primarily cyclists. Most likely, speed records were set at all stages of the history of the development of cycling equipment, but they became registered either at official sports or were set up as part of individual events with the special purpose of setting a record.

Let's consider what speed records on bicycles are known today.

1. Charles Murphy (California, USA) in 1899 set a record for maximum speed on a bicycle. The achievement was a mark at the level of 100.2 km / h. In this case, the cyclist moved behind the train, which ensured a decrease in the effect of air resistance on the result.
2. In Los Angeles in 1937 a record was set for cycling at a speed of 139 km / h. Its author was Albert Marche.He moved behind a car with a special awning at the back (also fleeing from the influence of air resistance).
3. After 5 years (in 1942) after the last record in the same state of California, a new record for the highest speed was set by record holder Alf Leturne, riding an advanced bike behind a racing car. He developed a speed of 175 km / h.
4. Fastest cyclist - Dutchman Fred Rompelberg, who managed to develop a bicycle speed of 268.83 km / h. At the same time, he was behind a race car with a fairing, which provided a sort of airless space for the champion moving behind him. In addition, the bike was redesigned and in ordinary life is unlikely to find application. This happened in 1995.
5. In 2005, the Czech athlete O. Sosenka He developed speed on the cycle track in Krylatskoye to 59.7 km / h and kept this achieved speed for 1 hour (international record for keeping speed). As you can see, along with achieving maximum speed, there are also records for its retention. From this record it becomes clear that for 1 hour no one has been able to keep the cycling speed above 59.7 km / h.
6. Dutchman Sebastian Bowyer in 2013 set a speed record of 133.78 km / h on a bike with a cowl. True, the bike was also not quite ordinary, as was the case with the Fred Rompelberg record.

To get the highest possible speed on the bike, you should follow the recommendations, based on the elementary rules of the content of cycling and the advice of specialists.

• Carry out timely maintenance of your vehicle: lubrication, cleaning from dirt, replacing worn parts and so on.
• Before each departure, check the tire pressure and bring this parameter to the norm specified in the product data sheet.
• Change tires depending on their degree of wear.
• The brakes must always be adjusted.
• Adjust your bike to the optimum fit due to seat height and handlebars.
• With high-speed driving, improve aerodynamics due to the maximum tilt of the body forward and lowering the height of the steering wheel.
• Regularly train your own physical strength and endurance. For this we need daily trips at a distance of at least 20 km one way.
• Learn the technique of high-speed cycling and apply it in practice.

See bicycle speed record stories below.