SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
VeloNews reports: Mueller-Korenek rides 183.9mph, smashing world record
On the Bonneville Salt Flats, tucked in behind a 1,000-horsepower drag race car, Denise Mueller-Korenek hit 183.932 miles per hour, smashing a 23-year-old world record.
"It was a crazy wild ride to 183.9 mph, but so worth the sacrifice and years of focus on becoming the fastest human on a bicycle in the world," said Mueller-Korenek after breaking the record on September 16.
She hit the record speed on her second attempt, breaking Fred Rompelberg's 1995 Paced Bicycle Speed Record, 167mph.
Mueller-Korenek, 45, is familiar to top speeds on Utah's salt flats. She previously set a women's world record of 147.75mph in 2016. This Sunday, the mother of two took the world record outright, paced by an overhauled version of the dragster that paced Rompelberg to his record speed.
Also at NPR.
(Score: 3, Informative) by tangomargarine on Wednesday September 19 2018, @04:59PM (5 children)
I was expecting this to be some kind of stunt stretching the definitions of the event, like the bike actually was motorized, or the cyclist wasn't pedaling but actually being towed, or something...but apparently that's not the case. Nice.
Can only imagine what falling off the bike at that sort of speed would do to you.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @05:13PM
Death most likely. Personally I still feel that the drag racer in front kinda limits this achievement. Like saying the ISS doesn't even sweat breaking Mach 15.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday September 19 2018, @06:19PM (1 child)
I would like to see more about the bike. How many gears and how is it driven? Looking at the picture it appears to have two chains in series, but there is not enough definition to see any additional gearing.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Thursday September 20 2018, @12:42PM
In cycling terminology it had a single gear, ie there was only one ratio for the rider to use. It had two chainwheel and sprocket drives in series to get up to the high drive ratio needed.
(Score: 2) by DrkShadow on Wednesday September 19 2018, @09:19PM (1 child)
Indeed. I bike a fair bit (ten+ miles a week, mostly at nearly a sprint), but that dragster in front is basically using a very strong tailwind to pull you up to speed. The only thing that's left it to use your own power to overcome the compressive forces of the tires against the salt flats.
Make a steel track and put steel wheels on the bike. Make it ten miles long, get me a drag racer in front, and by the end of that track, I'll break 400mph. Without the rolling resistance of the rubber tires, the sky's the limit. How much acceleration can you maintain vs zero deceleration? Why are they limiting themselves to rubber tires? Why are they accepting a lack of wind resistance? I could accept a wind speed of zero relative to the ground, but not a wind speed of zero relative to the bike.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @09:54PM
Steel on steel is low rolling resistance (like a train), but also low friction for cornering. If you watch the video, she is being tossed sideways constantly by turbulence and I strongly suspect that steel wheels would slide and that would be the end of the run (when you crash). Previous paced cycling record holder Rompelberg https://fredrompelberg.com/nl/fred-268km [fredrompelberg.com] crashed on the salt and broke many bones...
Rubber tires have been used at Bonneville Salt Flats at well over 400 mph (on wheel-driven cars). The rocket/jet powered cars that get up around the speed of sound use solid wheels and have a lot of problems with handling/steering.