How fast have you ever been?

Speed, its exhilarating and as a species we crave to experience it, get addicted to it and some have given their lives in pursuit of its ever increasing thrill!

Speed on a bike is like nothing else, probably the closest thing we can get to that other elusive obsession of flying.

The fastest I have ever traveled on a bike (that I know of) was last week. Using the map my ride app on my phone I recorded a top speed of 47mph (thats 75kph for all you cycle purists out there). To achieve this momentum I required a very long very steep hill (and I think the colossal weight of my bikes frame (and some of my own) may have helped!)

It was great fun and a little terrifying. I was surprised that I had managed this speed - especially as I have rather wide off road tyres on the machine, but the app has been very accurate so far, so I am going to go with it!

I was rather chuffed that I had managed this speed, but it made me wonder what is the fastest that a human has traveled using pedal power alone.

A quick scan of the net informed me of the following:

World speed record for a bicycle on a flat road

Sam Whittingham	2009	133 km/h (83 mph)	Flat surface, unpaced[1]
Barbara Buatois	2010	121 km/h (75 mph)	Flat surface, unpaced (woman)[1

That is on a flat road (there is a video that shows the kind of custom machines used for this below).I

f you want to go gravity assisted like I did then you are talking about over 130 mph. Terrifying stuff - a reminder of just how terrifying in the video below!

Stay safe out there speed freaks!