Fastest you've ever gone on a BICYCLE

[TromboneAl]

In another thread Max Power mentioned that he's gone 61. I've maxed out at 39, and don't want to go any faster than that.

 

[Max Power]

Thanks Al...actually I once hit 63 mph coming down Rabbit Ears Pass in Colorado, but squeaking out that 61 was a real challenge here in New England. I doubt that I have another mph in me at this point. Between you and me, we won't tell my wife about these high speed adventures, lest she ends up selling all my toys!

I still like to stay in shape and hoping that it means a longer life. I've been a cyclist for nearly 40 years and have completed the Ironman triathlon 3 times since 2005. I do have to admit though that I sure don't bounce back from injuries like I did 30 years ago!

 

[mathjak107]

40 and i was scared to death

 

[SecondCor521]

35ish on a downhill towards the end of the bike section of a triathlon. Scared also.

2Cor521

 

[Alan]

Between 35 and 40 on the long downhill stretch on my way home from work when I worked in Scotland. I realized that cars didn't pass me on that stretch and it scared me so I used to slow down after that day and felt a lot more in control

 

[ziggy29]

I once participated in a ride in San Francisco in the early '90s, and I think I was probably doing around 35-40 toward a bottom of a hill at one point.

 

[Nords]

35ish on a downhill towards the end of the bike section of a triathlon. Scared also.
2Cor521

During my working/commuting years, I used to get up into the high 30s on a downhill two-lane road onto a 75-year-old bridge that's 50 feet above the stream in Kipapa Gulch. The sort of speed run where you begin to overtake the traffic. On the cyclist's map, this bridge is marked in big bleeding red ink.

As I approached retirement, it was gradually beginning to dawn on me that I'd have a very impressive hang time if I hit a bridge pylon or got nudged by a car fender. I couldn't figure out if I'd die on impact or drown.

When I was commuting home from Ford Island I had to cross the causeway. It was typically a nine-minute haul straight into the teeth of the tradewinds. But once or twice a month, if I timed my speed exactly right, I could fall in behind the Ford Island visitor's trolley. I had to crank hard to get within a couple feet of its rear bumper but if I could accelerate my sorry butt up into that Bernoulli pocket then I could coast along at 25-30 MPH with hardly any effort. Of course I also had to hope really hard that the driver (who couldn't see me) wouldn't slam on the brakes. The visitors sitting at the end of the trolley seemed to think it was pretty amusing-- or stupid. But drafting the trolley would cut six minutes off the causeway crossing.

At the time it seemed challenging and a bit fun. From this perspective I don't miss those days a bit.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Around 30. I didn't like it. In fact I had a motorcycle I didn't like it either.I don't like heights either. I must be a wimp or something. But apparently I like I's.

 

[Shawn]

My fastest official time was 54 mph coming down Oakville Grade into Napa Valley. I was on my mountain bike (with road tires).

I may have hit 55+ mph on my road bike. Unfortunately, the speedometer on that bike doesn't have a maximum speed mode and I thought it best to keep my eyes on the road. That was Vasco Road in eastern Alameda County (CA). It has a wide shoulder / bike lane. It's an odd feeling being "shoulder to shoulder" with cars at that speed.

Other 50+ mph descents were South Park Drive in Tilden Park (Berkeley, CA), Patterson Pass Road east in eastern Alameda County (twice visited by the Tour of California), and the eastern side of Monitor Pass during the Markleeville Death Ride. There may have been one or two more. Several 45+ descents. My fear factor kicks in around 35-40 mph.

Here I am going a little slower - probably about 7-8 mph ...

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Small world been to Markleeville. Picked pine nuts in that area.

 

[grumpy]

Its probably a good thing that my back problems forced me to give up bike riding about 15 years ago because I loved going fast! I could never resist cranking down the biggest hills I could find in my biggest gear. There was a long, straight, steep stretch on one of my regular rides where I hit 48 mph.

 

[Westernskies]

Around 45mph- when I was 15 years old, going down a steep hill, actually passed our neighbor in his car in a 35mph zone... sure caught hell when I got home..

 

[dgalbraith100]

Wife and I on a tandem doing 59.5 mph. I wasn't scared at the time. Now thinking back on it, I should have been scared ... I doubt I'd ever do anything close to that again. First, there is no way she would let me. She wasn't very happy the first time around, now 15 years later I doubt she'd even get on the bike if she thought I was going to go over 25-30mph... Second, I don't think I'd feel comfortable enough to go that fast anymore... (35-40 feels okay to me these days, anything beyond that I start to feel nervous).

Age and kids tend to slow you down a bit.

Back in my late teenage days (18-19) I use to draft huge milk tanker trucks at 50+ mph. They were loaded heavy trucks and were slow starting.. so if you sprinted hard, and stayed in their draft you could cruise down the road doing 50+ mph about 5 feet behind a truck. Completely insane, but wildly fun.

Then there is the really steep hill here that has a 25mph speed limit. When I was 15-16 I would ride down it doing 40 or so. The fun part of it was they would almost always be a policeman radaring traffic. I so wanted to get some sort of ticket on the bike saying I was doing 40... they must have known it cause I never got pulled over... oh well.

Laters,
-d.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

50 mph west of Gunnison, CO on a long, straight, newly re-paved highway just after dawn (no traffic). I usually keep my descents to about 30-35.

Fastest I've crashed - 31 mph coming down off Slumgullion Pass in CO.

 

[mb]

50 mph coming down out of the Oakland hills.

I'm 52.

Riding my age in miles isn't a problem. I do that a half dozen to a dozen times a year.

(I would do it a lot more if I was ERed.)

Riding as fast as my age? Doubt I'll ever do that again!

 

[bssc]

30 or so. I remember driving out of the Maroon Bells in Colorado with my friend Heidi. We were going 40 and I told her that there was a bicyclist behind us. She said, "So?" and I told her that it was going to pass us, and it did.

 

[Walt34]

Perhaps 50 mph on a long straight downhill. I remember thinking that if I crashed it was going to hurt. A lot.

 

[donheff]

Around 40 for me. Once I get over 30 I start thinking about the effect of a sudden bump. Maybe we need a thread about what is the highest speed you crashed on. I don't know the actual speed but I remember the crash well - balloon tired Schwinn going down a wooden toboggan ramp when I was about 12, ouch.

 

[ls99]

No idea.

When I was a kid, tearing down a mountain dirt road where we lived, on my father's rusty old bicycle, no speedometers then, about half way down, the front wheel exited the forks, which then dug in sending me what seemed like a few tens meters tumbling a$$ over tea kettle. All bloodied up, dragged the bike and wheel home a few kilometers to lick wounds. Was the start of the lessons on how to maintain bikes.

Have not measured speed on bike ever.

 

[TromboneAl]

no speedometers then

But remember these, with the little metal doohickey that poked into the spokes down at the hub?

 

[Texas Proud]

I had one of those old spedos.....

Said I hit in the low 50s... but who knows how accurate they are...

I was YOUNG... like 18 or 19... and I could not go any faster... the pedals were free wheeling at that time no matter how fast I pedeled.... the bike was shaking like all get out... when you are young, you do not think about the result of a crash (also, without helmet back then)....

 

[ls99]

First time I saw one of those was after I got to the US at age 17. I did marvel at it. Did not see wheel diameter compensation on them.
Never saw one in the old country.

 

[Texas Proud]

First time I saw one of those was after I got to the US at age 17. I did marvel at it. Did not see wheel diameter compensation on them.
Never saw one in the old country.

IIRC, you bought one for your wheel diameter... if you bought wrong, well, you were either 'faster' or 'slower'....

 

[kowski]

40 mph in manual wheelchair behind a harley once. whoopee

 

[free4now]

43mph is my fastest verified speed, bombing downhill on a skinny tire road bike.

I think I might have reached 45-50mph on a hybrid bike, drafting a truck on a rural road in France. It was the end of a long day when I just wanted to get to my destinatio. So me and my riding partner stayed in the slipstream of a large Van sized truck for 6 miles or so. The other rider in our group, who was too [-]chicken[/-] smart to draft was so pissed at us.