Who wants to do 50mph?

AlunP

I am reading this thread while recovering from a double fracture of my left arm. A dog ran out...£3k bike is trashed too!

I was going around 20. There is a non linear relationship at work between v and p, where v = velocity p = pain. Somebody else can do the detail of maths, but briefly don't crash if you are going at the speeds mentioned on this thread.

and a proof on the weight/acceleration debate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C5_dOEyAfk

crumbschief

Last time i went for it i was just getting past 35 when i saw a load of loose stones in a dip,i just held my breath and made it through the tyre sized gap,hairy stuff.There is hill i know in my area that i reckon i could get 40+ on,i might have a go soon.Think i'll take the brush and dustpan though.

RedJohn

Hit 54mph going down the Alps at Val d'Isere. Pretty scary - I was looking a long way ahead, the road came up very fast.

Overtook a couple of cars on hairpins (at much less than 54!) because I could see the whole road snaking out in front, while they couldn't see round the bends so slowed right down. The drivers' faces were a picture! I came up behind a police car and tried to catch it, but the road straightened out and he got away ... :-(

20 years older now, and slightly wiser!

timoid.

The One with the Big Wang wrote:

I bought a 55 tooth front ring to get as fast as I could down Titsey Hill (Surrey) when I was in my teens. It has a bend at the bottom but I hit 56mph and that was the fastest I have ever done. My speedo currently has 49.8 mph max on it which I did a couple of weeks ago. I'll probably try Titsey Hill again at some point but the surface is a bit rough now and would shake my bike and me apart. But nothing beats hitting that top speed and I never think about the consequences of a fall...I'm too busy spinning those pedals and blinking to prevent water build up in my eyes! Perhaps i should get a better pair of googles :shock:

Went down the same hill a few years ago and clocked 88kph (55mph), but was only third fastest in the group. One of the guys hit 96kph. 60mph!

OffTheBackAdam

I rode the hilly TT, during the old Plymouth Cycling Week, a few times. Not sure how fast I was going down, twas long before the invention of cyclo-computers, but did pass the odd car on the way down.
The number bof sheep grazing along the edges of the unfenced roads did cause me a few moments of concern!
Hit 50 ish during a race up near Buxton.

stabilised

56.5mph is my best - on a (very) minor road between Ireshopeburn and Rookhope in the north pennines. There's a vicious climb out of Ireshopeburn (1.4 miles at an average of 9% with a max of 20%) and then a short, very steep and reasonably straight run down to a little bridge over the middlehope burn. That's a good spot for max speed runs as it has the prevailing southwesterley behind you and the road is fenced (unlike most round there, so sheep wandering across is a potentially serious hazard). The surface is OK and the sight lines good enough. Then you get another stiff climb up to scarsike head and then down again to just west of Rookhope.

I was up that way last Sunday - got passed by a couple of lads on a quadbike about three quarters of the way up the hill out of Ireshopeburn and then caught them before the bridge. They looked agreeably surprised as they turned round to find me coming up fast. I'd have passed them if the road were wide enough to do it safely. First time above 50mph this year for me. No fancy kit, either, Ribble's most basic 'special edition' from five years ago.

redrobbo

Have done over 50 mph a few times. But now my bikes don't have such tall gears and I can't rely on the road surfaces anyway. So I don't worry about the numbers and just do the speed that seems right. I am not an overly cautious descender though and enjoy a good plummet.

coombsfh

Looking into a new bike and in wiltshire there are 2 places to go hell for leather:
1) is a short sharp burst down roundway hill (steep but lose stones at the bottom)
2)Cane hill (parallel to the famous flight of locks but in the dual carriageway)

If I spec my own I am going to have 11t and a non compact double up front (53t I think with 105)

Fastest I have ever done is down roundway hill; 55mph which in hindsight I doubt since I was only young and the bike I did it on was a hotchpotch of all sorts. Had a huge old ring up front though so perhaps.

Having come off at <30mph and lost a lot of skin and sustained BIG and lasting keloid scars (mental as well since scrubbing a cut on a shoulder where you can see bone is not good) I dread to think how much damage a 50mph crash can do.

Mum just passed her bike test and learned the hottible statistic that flesh on tarmac wears at about an inch a second at 60mph...get leathers for a full speed run maybe?

okgo

You don't need gears to go fast, you could get to 50 on a singlespeed.

Also it doesn't take a lot of hill to get to high speed, but most people brake before they need to!

40 mph is perfectly possible in Richmond Park, just go down the hill without peddaling and don't brake, you don't need Ventoux to hit these speeds, just some balls I think.

morstar

According to my GPS I hit 48mph today.
This actually total b****x. Every descent I have ridden may times before and none of them are ones where I can get those speeds at the best of times. Into a strong headwind today, I will be surprised if I got over 35 mph.

masterchef

the fastest iv been downhill on a bike was 62mph, never again i always try stay below 45mph if i can help it going downhill its just to scarey going down a hill at 50+mph lmao

mattshrops

seeing as how we're talking descending -do you have a song in your head when you're trying to get aero and give it some downhill? im not asking for suggestions just if something just comes to you uninvited? last week the giant speakers in the sky were blasting out "i bet that you look good on the dancefloor, dancing to electropop like a robot from 1984, FROM 19844444". dont know why.
I revealed this to a couple of my riding companions(on a reliability ride) and ended up feeling like mr leprosy :roll: .
Anyroad today(once we headed for home and got the wind behind)was "sing michael sing, On the route of the 19 bus, hear them sayin, how d'you get so rude and reckless,still looking cool and speckless, you've been drinking brew for breakfast, rudie cant fail(oh no)"
tell me you feel it too

al2098

62.5674 yesterday in my motorhome.

bompington

morstar wrote:

According to my GPS I hit 48mph today.

Acording to my GPS I once hit 40mph waiting at the lights

Feltup

bompington wrote:

morstar wrote:

According to my GPS I hit 48mph today.

Acording to my GPS I once hit 40mph waiting at the lights

Ahhh so that is the speed of lights.

rick_chasey

okgo wrote:

40 mph is perfectly possible in Richmond Park, just go down the hill without peddaling and don't brake.

No it isn't.

Never been passed going downhill in Richmond park - certainly never brake anywhere on the route - not a chance anyone goes over 60kph - not a chance.

i think people are a little ambitious with their speedos.

bompington

Rick Chasey wrote:

i think people are a little ambitious with their speedos.

Maybe they need to check if it's kmh or mph it's set to?
I have mine on kmh 'cos the 19th century is over now, I'm still waiting for the chance to see what happens when it gets past 99.9...

rick_chasey

bompington wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

i think people are a little ambitious with their speedos.

Maybe they need to check if it's kmh or mph it's set to?
I have mine on kmh 'cos the 19th century is over now, I'm still waiting for the chance to see what happens when it gets past 99.9...

Quite.

bigmat

Rick Chasey wrote:

okgo wrote:

40 mph is perfectly possible in Richmond Park, just go down the hill without peddaling and don't brake.

No it isn't.

Never been passed going downhill in Richmond park - certainly never brake anywhere on the route - not a chance anyone goes over 60kph - not a chance.

i think people are a little ambitious with their speedos.

I've done high 30s (but never quite hit 40) down Broomfield Hill, that involves pedalling hard and no braking obviously. The suggestion that you could exceed 40 without even pedalling, just by going into a nice tuck, does not sound very likely to me. That's the steepest descent in RP, Sawyers wouldn't be steep enough to cruise at 40 , you could hit 40 down there with a nice tailwind but you'd need to be pedalling hard.