World Hour Record duel at the Ford Human Powered Speed Challenge

Sunday July 19th 2009 saw the 2 fastest hour record cyclists go head to head in an epic duel under amazing conditions on the Ford 5 mile high speed oval at their Michigan test track. I tried to capture each riders preparations and launches and the amazing high speed laps these 2 cyclists were pulling off.
One lap Sam Whittingham pulled a 5 minute 10 second lap! The end result was a new world record of over 56 miles or 90.7 kilometers. It's a long video but trust me it's worth watching til the end when they extract Sam out of his machine completely exhausted from his incredible effort. Enjoy.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Sam
• Whittingham
• Varna
• Damjan
• Zabovnik
• Eivie
• HPV
• World
• Record
• Hour
• Human
• Powered
• Speed
• Challenge

[velodudect]

Powering your own movement, especially at fast speeds is the greatest feeling the world. It is so human, so natural, it's indescribable how amazing it is. It's too bad that most of the population will never get to feel that. Being pushed by an engine, is soul-less in comparison.

[tnuh55]

275 watts is not that much. One guy I've ridden with says he's held 360 watts for an hour and the very elite professional cyclists can hold over 500 watts for an hour (guys like Armstrong and Indurain). Of course, they aren't lying on their backs all crammed up into a little space with no cooling breeze when they put out those numbers.

60 mph for an hour is really quite incredible.

[FrankaDith]

Taping the whole thing seems so pointless ,taping here and there should be good

[BlakjeKaas]

Is the difference between a 3- and a 2-wheeled HPV that big?

I haven't heard of a 3-wheeled HPV going that fast!

[gunmanscotland]

Why?

[HumanRightsVideosT]

@applesweeter

1. Why did man enjoy flying to the Moon and now wants to fly to Mars ?

2. Most people enjoy riding bikes downhill. Recumbents make flat roads like a downhill and headwinds will be easier. Riding a tandem into a headwind is much more fun than a UCI bike.

3. Why do athletes run over 100m and 200m when so many hamstrings get damaged by the explosive nature of those events and why do many people like to watch those events which are much slower than recumbents?

[MrSchpankme]

Ridiculous, that bike needs a small battery (or solar and fan for the rider); you sacrificed endurance for weight.

[Kounglou]

@tnuh55

thats right, I don't get it it though why they didnt made an airvent in the front and the back just the get some colling air, only has t be like 1 or 2 cm in diameter. Could be very well he gave around 360watts but spended 85watts on colling his body down.

I got one of those simulators u put on ur back tire of ur bike and connect it to the laptop to train inside. By not having the wind from movement u drain ur energy much faster then in the open air.

[OcarinaTycoon]

That's...

... Fast.

[milxl]

reaaallllly fast !!!!

unbelievable.

[walk312]

Beautiful sky.