Fastest Speed on the Bike?

[BURCH]

I am sure that some of you have done faster, but...

My fastest speed was 53mph while riding down from Lolo Pass into Helena. (Idaho into Montana).

Somewhere in Iowa, I got a picture of the computer reading 41mph. It took me a few tries to get the camera from my back pocket and snap the pic without going down, but a pretty cool picture that was worth the risk.

Tell your stories....

[Kirk Pacenti]

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[dirtdigger88]

I hit 60 (well 59.9- but close enough in my book) going down a hill in southern mo. I actually could have gone a bit faster I think- but I was catching a truck pulling an rv ahead of me so I quit pedaling- I want more- I have a goal to hit 65mph at least once this year- I know the hill to do it on- hell I can hit near 50mph going down the hill at Louis' house and thats without pedaling

Jason

[Skrawny]

I hit 53mph on a long, straight, downhill in Northern CA; but I don't know if it counts because I was drafting off an obliging BMW. Not something I plan on doing again, though, I was pretty freaked out. You know, the whole mortality thing...

-s

[David Kirk]

62.5 coming down Wilton Mountain road just north of Saratoga. It's much slower going up.

Dave

[TimD]

We pretty much ran out of hill at that point. I forget the road, but 111 East out of Harvard Center is good for 42 or 43 MPH.

A separate question would be, "Fastest Speed on the Bike One-Handed?" I'd claim 44 while simultaneously trying to extract a hornet from my jersey, also on the Marcelo and also in Harvard, Mass :)

Occasionally my Flight Deck wireless loses its mind and records maxima above 100 MPH. I think 122 MPH is the current record.

TimD

[Sandy]

Kevan hit 112 mph riding down the Washington Monument, a split second before the thud. :)

Ripley's Believe It Or Not

[zap]

57 mph going down some hill in MD on my single.

Was hoping to surpass that with our tandem on Blue Ridge Parkway in NC. Wife got scared as we started passing cars so she sat up and with that billowing windbreaker, that was it:confused: . That sharp drop off to our immediate right might have had something to do with it as well.

We hit 55 or so.

[Kevan]

mock 4. :D

[Sandy]

Actually a little over 46 mph a few times.

Somewhat Speedy Snail Sandy

[coylifut]

Going down the east side of Laurelwood. I'm not affraid to admit that I really don't want to go any faster. That's fast enough for me. What I don't understand is my fried Chistoph, who weighs about the same, can go faster down the same hill.

[dirtdigger88]

A separate question would be, "Fastest Speed on the Bike One-Handed?" I'd claim 44 while simultaneously trying to extract a hornet from my jersey, also on the Marcelo and also in Harvard, Mass :)

TimD

Keith A- who was your buddy at the TdFL last year- he saw me take both hands off the bars at near 50mph- We were talking about high speed stability of our bikes- I figured I would show him how stable my bike was- As I remember it- he hit his brakes to get the h#ll away from me after that :D

jason

[BURCH]

I figured I would show him how stable my bike was- As I remember it- he hit his brakes to get the h#ll away from me after that :D

jason


Definately the funniest post so far....

[cookieguy]

57-58 MPH going down a long hill outside of Eureka, MO. I knew the road conditions well enough to just go....Occasionally people were too gung ho early in the season with LARGE potholes. Much blood. After stumbling on those scenes a couple times, I rarely break 40mph any more.

[LegendRider]

I hit 62mph descending Mt. Ventoux in 1994 on a red DeRosa SLX. Do you recall when Indurain almost crashed on the same descent in the Tour that year? He unclipped and barely kept it upright through a turn. Eros Poli won that day - 25 minute lead at the start of the climb and won by about two minutes. He lost 1 minute per kilometer. What a great day that was.

[Ken Robb]

47mph La Jolla Shores Drive and again on the back side of Fort Ord. 47 must be my terminal velocity. hmmm, I hope that "terminal" part is just a figure of speech.

[Jeff N.]

55mph, going down Hwy 8 West out of Descanso, (outside San Diego) CA several years ago. I remember thinking: "Have a blow-out now, and yer a dead man!" Gotta keep those thoughts outa my head! Not good at all! Never have gone that fast again. Close, but not quite. Jeff N.

[Kevan]

falling isn't an option.

52 mph with the bugs in the teeth to prove it. :D

[Ray]

46-47 mph down a road I don't recall in Lancaster County, PA. Also near Pittsburg about the same speed. I could have hit 50 on that hill, but I was in a big organized tour and I was about to have to choose between taking on some cars or dodging between slower riders, so I let discretion be the better part of valor and grabbed a couple of fingers worth of brake. I wouldn't mind getting to 50 sometime, but I don't have much desire to go faster than that, or the mountains to make it possible around these parts.

-Ray

[SGP]

In my youth 50-55 was my fastest. I get nervous in the mid 40's and start scrubbing off speed now that I am older and my wife is wiser. :rolleyes:

[Dekonick]

Routinely hit 45-50 or so on two locations of my regular rides. Its EASY to hit 50 on Illchester in Ellicott City - but it also finishes with a nice 17degree straight run to a long flat run. Thats the easy 'n' safe one. (Sandy can tell you all about it...we hit 48 the day he came out my way to ride)

MAKE THE SNOW GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sandy]

No, you and Dan L. hit 48 mph. If you remember, I got to the top of the hill going around 30 mph and just missed getting launched into oblivion by a pot hole , and after that my goal was simply to get to the bottom of the hill without killing myself. I was lucky if I hit 35 on the way down. I was more lucky that I arrived in one piece.

Peace,

Sandy

PS- Hope that you, your wife, and dog are all doing well. We need to ride together some this spring and summer.

[NicaDog]

60ish coming down Claremont in the Oakland hills. At least that's what the motorcyclist along side me said he was doing. Oh the younger days!
David

[hybridbellbaske]

Hey Legend Rider,

As a large non-climber, that Ventoux stage where Poli hangs on has to be my favourite Tour stage ever. I recall that during the climb the coverage indicated he was going about 15 km/h and really labouring, and the chasers were doing considerably more and looking fluid- but he manages to hold them off. Great stuff.

[chrisroph]

56 backside of Laurelwood, front side of Bald Peak with coy on heavy Eddy with fenders! Drafting of course. we usually hit 53-55 on race bikes.

[KMA]

90+ mph with my bike on top of my Subaru. But my wife keeps telling me I only have two speeds: sleeping and 100mph.

[Zman]

58 mph following ten inches behind a tandem on DALMAC w/ a steel 7-11 Serotta "Huffy".

[Zoomie80]

62mph on my Trek 700 during the Hardscrabble Century in 1988, going down Hwy 50 by Royal Gorge to Canon City. Numerous 55mph descents on Northgate Rd at USAF Academy.

More recently, 51mph on my Legend at the Reston Century in Aug 04. I didn't know I had gone that fast down one of the hills until much later...bike was just smooth and "rock steady"...the sensation was more like 35-40mph and knew only after I "scrolled" thru my bike computer and saw my max speed.

Like Goose and Maverick..."I Feel the Need for Speed!"

Zoomie80

[vaxn8r]

66 N. Kentucky.
66 or 68 Pacific Palisades road race. In a pack, too scared to look to closely and in a pretty big pack. Wow! Somebody bit it at the bottom of the hill going into the turn. Screeeeech...BAM! Campy Brakes. grrrrr...

Jerk...? Roy...? Doof? Too Tall? Any other racers out there care to divulge?

[george]

38.6 m.p.h. on my steel Rock Lobster with a tail wind on the Chicago's lakefront trail "dragstrip" (between Oak street beach and Ohio street beach heading south) :)

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . going down Crawford Road west of Schenectady.

There was one other time I went faster, but it was so fast I got dizzy, saw strange blurs, and when I got back to town FDR wasn’t President anymore, everybody was 50 years older and Milton Berle was dead! Very strange . . .

BBDave

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . everyone had aged 50 years EXCEPT Sandy. He still looked EXACTLY the same! :rolleyes:

BBDave

[Carpe Diem]

I crashed my mountain bike at 40mph last September. I think I bruised every part of my body including my teeth, fortunately nothing broken (apart from my helmet) but it sure cured my "need for speed" for the rest of the season !