[tcfunk]

I've never seen Usain Bolt's speed in terms of mph before this article. A top speed of 27.8 mph is seriously incredible. Granted I'm no professional sprinter, but when I try to go much beyond 14-15 my balance can't keep up with the cadence and I start to trip over myself.

[bluefirebrand]

I'm betting there are people who can barely go 27.8 mph on a bike at their top speed

That's unbelievable to imagine honestly, someone on a bike going as fast as they can and this guy sprinting past them

But it's reality

[klyrs]

When I was in my 20s, I was in great shape, riding thousands of miles a year (distance riding, not racing). On a flat, straight track in still air, I'm pretty sure my top speed was around 32mph. And while pro cyclists would scoff at my personal best there, most people aren't even coming close to that.

[kachapopopow]

I was going to say only 32? Then realized it was miles per hour.

[mp05]

Flat land 32mph? That's pretty good! I can barely get over 30.

[martopix]

I would say the _majority_ of people would not reach that speed on a bike in normal situations

[bluGill]

A downhill where a road bike can reach that speed is pretty normal. I reach those nearly every day on my to work commute and I live in Iowa - there is a reason we are known for being flat so if I can find a hill to reach those speed surely anyone else can too. Of course I am riding a road bike, kids and mountain bikes may have limitations (tires?) that slow them down.

Reaching those speeds on level ground doesn't seem possible for a normal human, but level ground is rare.

[toast0]

I can hit 45 mph going down hill on my 1980 road bike... but that's just balance, carrying enough potential energy, being too stupid to slow down to a reasonable speed, and having hills that I have to walk the bike up most of the time. There's some skill and physical conditioning there, but not a whole lot; at that speed, there's a lot of instant feedback on form, which helps encourage one to get low and tight.

I think if we're talking about how fast you can get your bike to go, flat land, still air is implied. I don't have a lot of those conditions to try, but I'm happy to cruise around 15, and maybe push it to 20 if I don't need to save my energy for a nearby hill.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

I'm not sure what you might mean by a "normal human".

I used to be a back-of-the-front-of-the-pack triathlete, with a previous history as an ultramarathon and touring cyclist. In my best shape (probably aged around 46), I was training on a flat loop course with some younger very strong but not professional cyclists where we would generally pull the group at 28mph for about between 20-60 seconds at a time.

I appreciate that there's a distance between that sort of thing and an "average person", but it's not a whole lot larger than the distance between the people who were in the group and, say, professional tour cyclists.

[alfiopuglisi]

Most people won't be able to even reach 27.8 mph on a bike, you need a decent road bike and some training.

[kazinator]

I suspect that "most people" even includes the guy who sprinted at 27.8 mph. The crank lengths and gearing are all wrong on a bike for an explosive sprint, preventing all the right muscles from being recruited to the job. No matter the speed and gear, your feet are constrained into spinning around the same smallish circle. And wile you can use your whole body in order to sprinting on a bike, it's not the same like when a running sprinter uses their entire body.

[alfiopuglisi]

Mmmhh, not sure about that. Most people, even if not reaching high speeds, can still go substantially faster on a bike than running. Even grandmas, it's all relative.

People like Bolt should be compared with bike sprinters, who top out at around 45mph.

[thrownblown]

Top level competitive flying 200's are sub 10s. That's an average speed over the timed distance of 72km/h or 44.75 mph with a peak around 75-77km/h.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_record_progression_track...

edit to add the Tokyo Olympics qualifiers all under 10 seconds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_at_the_2020_Summer_Oly...

[lostlogin]

You can look at Tadej Pogačar’s recent rides on Strava.

It’s awe inspiring. His times are just so fast, and over hilly terrain in the heat, for day after day.

[thrownblown]

apples to oranges. Look up this meatball https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F%C3%B6rstemann

[sudosysgen]

That's definitely not true. You can sprint explosively on a bike, you just have to get up and push your legs down on the ground. Since your leg is at 90 degrees you can exert maximum power. I've done 50kph on the flats on a bike, it's not that hard; far easier than on foot!

[Xenoamorphous]

Or just go downhill.

[amalcon]

A class 3 ebike (the kind legal on most streets but illegal on most rec paths due to their speed) has a top speed of 28mph, so I would say so. Barring a steep decline of course.

[WalterBright]

I wouldn't go near that speed on a bike wearing a tour de france outfit. Crashing at those speeds will be very, very painful.

A friend of mine had a low speed crash on his bike, and knocked his front teeth out. After that, both he and I bought full face helmets.

When I ride dirt bikes, I wear a full set of armor. I look like a storm trooper. But I've crashed many times, and was unhurt. The armor is worth every penny. (The only way to learn how to ride a dirt bike is by crashing it.)

[thrownblown]

checkout japanese keirin racing armor.

also low speed crashes can be worse than high speed because it's worse to hit and stick vs hit and slide.

[_trampeltier]

On indoor tracks, bikes do something like 45mph

[glitchc]

I think if Bolt really pushed himself, he could have broken sub 9.5 seconds at the peak of his ability. In all races where he dominated, we see him slack off right near the end once he realizes how much further ahead he is of everyone else.

[SJC_Hacker]

Is it slacking off or was it simply his limit.

[nervousvarun]

At this short of distance it would be slacking off. However if you watch his world breaking run (vid below) to me it appears he's likely not doing that.

Personally would argue these guys do this same sprint/distance so many times in practice/competition that they generally implicitly know when they're running a WR type time and generally don't slack off (in this video he's not in any threat of being caught but still presses on for the WR).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nbjhpcZ9_g

[Vvector]

Did you watch his races?

[walthamstow]

Not to mention the diet of chicken nuggets, particularly in Beijing where that was basically all he ate for weeks.

[iknowSFR]

He broke his own WR in 2009 in Berlin.

[hanniabu]

For both the 100m and 200m

[chakintosh]

That's in part why sprinters are jacked. They need to keep their core from leaning forward at such high speeds.

[SJC_Hacker]

My reference for "jacked" would be more like a bodybuilder. Sprinters aren't really "jacked" more like lean and muscular.

[cratermoon]

Professional bodybuilders all use steroids. There are "natural" bodybuilders that don't use steroids or PEDs, and a few competitions for them, but the sport in general is saturated in drugs.

[jessekv]

Compare sprinters with longer distance runners.

[hanniabu]

As a runner I find this comment hilarious. Not sure what type of relationship you see between speed and leaning forward, but there is none.

[Svoka]

few people can go over 45 km/h on bike on flat ground.

[kazinator]

I did about that speed for about half a mile once, but I was drafting close behind a 2 ton truck. :) The truck's driver was taking it easy for whatever reason. I noticed that and slipped into the slipstream. Once in the slipstream, it felt like no effort; like bicycling downhill.

[inglor_cz]

How close did you have to go to the truck in order to make use of the slipstream?

[kazinator]

If I were to guess today, I'd say that my front wheel was within about 2 meters or so of the tail gate.

This is obviously dangerous, but the truck was going slow; slow enough that if it slammed on the brakes, I would have been able to react (and failing that, not get badly hurt).

It was a strange sensation. It took effort to pedal up to the tailgate, but then you feel the effort drop off, as if you went over an invisible ridge.

[imp0cat]

For something similar, look up "wake thieving" on yt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtT6PyY_7vQ

[zonkerdonker]

Aerodynamic drag scales fast! iirc, at 10mph, 50% of the rider's outputted power is overcoming air resistance, and at 30mph its over 90%

[ianburrell]

I think the article must have ignored drag, which makes their estimate of 35-40 mpg unrealistic. Tour de France sprinters can reach 45mph speed, but the average Tour speed is more like 25-30 mph. Running is less efficient, and less aerodynamic, than cycling.

[lostlogin]

Not op - you can get a similar but limited version of this from sitting behind other bikes. e-bikes are a prime target if your heading into the wind.

They are usually speed limited to below what a road bike travels at, but in bad weather they are very useful windbreaks.

[kazinator]

I think that used to be true in the early wave of e-bikes.

Today, I regularly see e-bikes and scooters easily keeping up with traffic that is moving upward of 50 km/h.

If there are still e-things on the market today with speed limitations not related to their power capacity, people must be easily working around those limits somehow, with firmware patches or secret codes or what have you.

Most of the stuff comes from China, which is an uncontrollable entity that doesn't care about regulations in North America and elsewhere.

[lostlogin]

> I think that used to be true in the early wave of e-bikes.

Where I am the max speed is 32kmh by regulation.

https://www.nzta.govt.nz/walking-cycling-and-public-transpor...

[PaulDavisThe1st]

In a reasonably sized pack of cyclists, being in the pack instead of being the lead cyclist requires 30% less power.