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: 5, Funny) by ikanreed on Wednesday September 19 2018, @04:13PM (5 children)
Human achievement is amazing.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @04:28PM (3 children)
Sad but true. You'd not detect testosterone supplementation so long as it's within natural limits. Anyway; Lance Armstrong should have been an arm wrestler and you should read more.
(Score: 3, Funny) by RS3 on Wednesday September 19 2018, @04:50PM
So you're saying he should maybe reed less?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday September 19 2018, @08:49PM (1 child)
Speaking of that, Serena Williams couldda hit 200 MPH if the world record ref said her bicycling coach was coaching her.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @02:41AM
Is that before or after she throws a tantrum and smashes her bicycle?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @05:10PM
In these uncertain times it is hard to be sure of anything, but I suspect you are attempting humor here.
(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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @05:03PM (12 children)
I haven't dug into any of the print details, but on the radio I heard that this feat is accomplished by being towed by a vehicle up to those speeds, then you ride in the slipstream thereby eliminating the drag forces on you. So your job is to provide the final delta-V. NO doubt one has to be a good rider to pump out that extra bit, and you have to have faith in your equipment that your don't lose a bearing that those speeds, but I still don't get why this is a big deal. You're primarily limited by the vehicle, not your bike. Let's say I get my hands on a new vehicle that can drag me up to 220 mph before letting me go, then I my fat ass would shatter this record.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @05:11PM (5 children)
Talk is cheap. This person actually did it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @05:18PM (3 children)
It is still pretty amazing, but there are a lot of qualifiers that make it immediately less amazing once you learn about them. The OP isn't putting out a bet thus "talk is cheap" isn't really applicable. The point is valid, get towed to 200mph and make it up to 205? WINNER!
Yes I feel like a buzzkill on this story, but as a millenial I can safely say this feels like the ultimate participation trophy!
"Congrats, you got towed over half way and had the heavy lifting done for you by a 1000 hp engine, but you did it!!"
I for one wouldn't have the guts to even get towed up to 100mph on a bicycle.
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @05:23PM
It is akin to being in a pedal-propelled plane, but being towed into the air, let go, you pedal as you glide, and then claim the fastest human-powered flight record.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @06:38PM
"Eddie would tow!" (It's a surfing thing.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @07:44AM
"Talk is cheap" is a valid response when someone talks about doing something really difficult, with no intention of follow through. It has nothing to do with a bet.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Thursday September 20 2018, @12:18PM
So we mustn't talk about it?
Stop talking everyone!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @06:16PM
Quoting NPR's article:
That's a fair bit more impressive than what you said. I agree if the car in front had towed to 188 MPH and Mueller-Korenek had just coasted, it'd be nothing. However, to manually cycle from 100 mph to 184 shows that it was actually her effort providing the major power source to the bike.
It's not as impressive as 0-184, but let's not denigrate or dismiss the achievement here.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bob_super on Wednesday September 19 2018, @06:22PM (2 children)
She was the only power for 3.5 miles. She has to fight bearing friction and tire friction (ground and air) at two hundred mph for a couple minutes, while getting hit by occasional turbulence.
What was interesting to me is how small her tires are, and using spokes. Speed record bikes normally use big tires and filled wheels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPEgG-T3zMI [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Thursday September 20 2018, @12:50PM (1 child)
They must have used smaller wheels to keep the height lower so the dragster's wind shield did not need to be so large. But smaller wheels are a disadvantage otherwise because their rpm will be higher and so more power is needed to turn them against their bearing resistance. That resistance is very low of course (lightly oiled ball bearings I expect) but at such a high speed it becomes a significant power sink.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday September 20 2018, @04:16PM
I found the answer: https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/a23305843/what-went-into-creating-this-record-breaking-bike/ [bicycling.com]
TL; DR: Found a bikish tire they could trust at that speed from "dragster scooters in Thailand", built a bike around it.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday September 19 2018, @10:05PM
If you were primarily limited by the vehicle, the record would be a lot more than 200mph. That's not even close to the motorized land speed record. Heck, even the electric car speed record is around 358mph.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Thursday September 20 2018, @12:33PM
The achievement is in maintaining the stability (I gather there was turbulance to react to) and maintaining the nerve. The physical power output would be within the capacity of any top level racing cyclist. The fact that it was done by a 45 year old woman shows that : no-one is as good an athlete at 45 as they were when younger, and the best women rarely have a power output as high as the best men, although I know of some edge cases.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday September 19 2018, @06:02PM (2 children)
The interesting point to me isn't the bicycling achievement, but how elegantly it demonstrates the power of slipstreaming vehicles. A human's (mechanical) power output on a bicycle is a few hundred watts, and that's enough to not just maintain 200 mph, but accelerate beyond that speed.
When we get autonomy up to the point that you can have long caravans of robotic vehicles traveling in slipstreams like this you'll have amazing fuel/battery economy. (Like trains.)
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RS3 on Wednesday September 19 2018, @07:40PM (1 child)
I shouldn't admit this, but many years ago while driving my girlfriend's very small car (and her) on a very flat portion of a major highway, I got within a few feet of the back of an 18-wheeler (lorry for some of you) and depressed the clutch and found I needed to touch the brakes to prevent being pulled into the back of the trailer. I've always been an experimenter. Books and math are great, but I had to try these things for myself, and to report it so that others don't need to try it.
In racing, esp. NASCAR "restrictor-plate" races, cars will pair up and ride bumper-to-bumper, getting more speed and better gas mileage (yes, it matters). Even the lead car gets a boost from reduced aerodynamic drag: the air falling behind the front car, which would otherwise create somewhat of a vacuum, doesn't fall as much because there's a 2nd car right there.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday September 20 2018, @03:19AM
In Nascar, ever the hotbed of innovation, it isn't uncommon for a team of drivers to work together like this on restrictor plate tracks. The car in the back isn't just drafting, but will in fact bumper-to-bumper push the car in the front. That lets them go significantly faster (10-15mph) as a pair.
Clever.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 19 2018, @07:21PM (3 children)
The mention i saw yesterday mentioned a "double drivetrain." Does anyone know more about how that works?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Informative) by pipedwho on Wednesday September 19 2018, @07:31PM (2 children)
It’s two chains in series with the middle cogs joined together to get the drive ratio high enough to achieve those speeds.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @09:15PM (1 child)
Correct, the intermediate shaft is called a "jack shaft" and this is a two stage speed-up chain drive (normal bike has a one-stage speed-up drive). Also, from the video, it appears she had a freewheel (allows coasting with pedals stationary). Most of the paced records have been set with track bikes (no freewheel, pedals rotate with the rear wheel).
Video embedded in this article, https://www.bicycling.com/news/a23281242/denise-mueller-korenek-breaks-bicycle-speed-record/ [bicycling.com]
I believe the last time that a single speed-up drive was used was Dr. Alan Abbott, MD -- ~140 mph in 1973 and his bike had a fixed gear, like a track bike:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUmabVbz0ys [youtube.com]
The front sprocket, shown at the start of the video is something like 100 teeth (classic 10-speed road bike is 52 teeth)--this explains why higher speeds required a two-stage drive. Note that Abbott used one hand to hold onto the car at the start, and he didn't have to hold very long before he could start pedaling.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Thursday September 20 2018, @01:15PM
I think I know what you are saying, but practically all bikes use a "speed-up drive", ie the wheels turn at a higher rpm than the pedals. The exceptions to that are some children's bikes/trikes and the antique "ordinary" types ("Penny Farthings" and "Boneshakers") which have pedals directly on the front wheel axle.
Also exceptions are some modern bikes that I have seen with about a hundred different gear ratios, some of which by the looks of it involve a smallest chainring (the pedal cog) with fewer teeth than the largest sprocket (the one on the back wheel) - a pointless arrangement really because if you are going that slow you might as well get off and walk it. This is especially so as these bikes often also have small wheels and their owners pedal painfully slowly even at the best of times. I notice from the video that Mueller-Korenek was pedalling at about 120 rpm or more, typical of a short distance effort; a long distance racing cyclist will pedal at typically 90 rpm on the flat, varying with individuals.
(Score: 4, Informative) by MostCynical on Wednesday September 19 2018, @08:19PM
and suspension on the seat post.
https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/a23305843/what-went-into-creating-this-record-breaking-bike/ [bicycling.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Gaaark on Thursday September 20 2018, @03:15AM (3 children)
My wife used a vibrator to get her just to the point of ALMOST orgasming and then I finished her off in the last 2 seconds!
ME BIG MAN! GIVE ME FRONT PAGE NEWS!
PR0N AT 11!
Shit... Is this REALLY an accomplishment when you get THAT much help?
It may be cool, but impress me by doing it unaided.
"Denise Mueller-Korenek Sets New Paced Cycling Speed Record" should be:
"Denise Mueller-Korenek Sets New Paced Cycling Speed Record with aid of wind break and tow rope" to be more 'honest'.
Put an asterisk beside her name in the record books.
***Breaking news: Wil E Coyote sets speed record by falling off cliff (with rocket strapped to his back) to his death!......32'/sec/sec at 11!****
Colour me 'meh!'
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 20 2018, @08:51PM (2 children)
Calm down Gaaark. This is why it is called the "paced cycling speed record" -- which dates back over 100 years with Mile-a-Minute Murphy drafting behind a train (he arranged for boards to ride on, set between the rails for several miles). I believe that Murphy used a wire from the train to help him get started, again due to the big gear ratio (and a bike that probably had much higher rolling resistance than a modern bike).
There are other cycling speed records that meet your esthetic requirements...
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday September 20 2018, @10:09PM (1 child)
I was calm.... i was just wondering why this is BIG FRONT PAGE NEWS.
To me it's not a big deal, more like a well rehearsed and scienced out thing that makes me go: "Meh...no biggy".
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22 2018, @12:01AM
I counted five "!" exclamation points in your post, seemed pretty excited to me....
Most successful record attempts these days are well rehearsed and scienced out, that's how they manage to beat the previous record. Well, maybe not records like "hot dog eating" [grin].