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I know there are many people on here that have gone much faster (there was a thread ages ago on it), but for me it's a personal achievement. For whatever reason (probably lack of real big hills and/or poor conditions on previous attempts) I'd never cracked 50mph before today. Over 45 many times, 48 point something has been done a good handful of times too. But never over 50.
So today, down Stanford Bank in North Worcestershire on my road bike, I saw 50.1mph come up on my Garmin and I was thrilled! This was a solo effort incidentally, maybe a chaingang down there would push that number a fair bit higher...
Thrilled to bits, and now off for a shower!
The funny thing is, that on my current road bike 50mph actually seemed a bit of a non event as it was so rock steady and well behaved. My last road bike would start getting flighty above 40mph, and above 45 would shake its head at any opportunity!
I hit 54.2mph on my road bike the other day ... took me ages to push past my pervious best(52.3)
Changed tyres this summer and cracked 57 on pork hill, coming off Dartmoor. Before that 52 was the fastest.
60 next...
Managed 52mph about 2 years ago and was beaten to the top spot on the Strava segment on the same day (due to the fierce tail winds)! Haven't broken the 50mph barrier since.
How comfortable you feel largely depends on the road, in my experience. Some roads I'm totally comfortable pushing towards 50. Others I get nervous getting past 30!
Get ye t't'Alps young man!
Did 54mph on a MTB on the road above Hawes Bloody Scary compared to a road bike.
Done 62 on an mtb. Never managed 50 on a road bike, 49.9mph the closest i got. Gutted.
I hate descending in my road bike. I've scraped 40, then looked at the skinny tyres and little rim brakes and thought f*** that. If it's a twisty descent I'm provably quicker walking.
(50/45)^3 = 1.37, so 37% more power input needed - or a LOT steeper and longer hill. Well done. I don't think a chaingang would really help, at least I wouldn't want to ride in one at that speed.
mcnultycop - Member
I hate descending in my road bike.
Glad i'm not the only one.
Bottom section of Alp D'Huez was exciting this summer. I tried to hit 50, but was held up by a Citroen driven by a local, having overtaken a Lexus higher up. Still good fun, though. The Garmin showed 75kph, whatever that is in old money.
Nice work mboy!
For me its 60mph down Mont Ventoux. Totally shitting myself all the way.
(50/45)^3 = 1.37, so 37% more power input needed
My tallest gear is a 50/12. I can spin, better than most in fact. But I realised at roughly 40mph I was holding myself back by pedalling rather than just getting into an aero tuck!
or a LOT steeper and longer hill.
Indeed. Therein lies the trouble, and I'm not about to drive to the Alps purely just to hit 60+ on a road bike. Stanford Bank is almost dead straight, for 3km, with an average gradient of roughly 6% but as steep as 12% at its fastest point. It's as good as it gets round here to be fair, and the conditions were good today (I've done it in a headwind and struggled to crack 40 before!).
I don't think a chaingang would really help, at least I wouldn't want to ride in one at that speed.
Sadly, I have evidence to the contrary. A bunch of guys I very occasionally ride with (most of them are a fair bit quicker on a road bike to be fair) have all been down there quicker, most of them on the same day in a big group!
56 just outside of Bridgnorth, couldn't get anywhere near it in the Alps, despite ragging it down the d'Izoard...
Over 50 in a chaingang 😯
Sod that
I assume you're all using properly calibrated wheel based measurement systems. Instantaneous GPS speed measurements are highly unreliable.
Done 62 on an mtb
I'm going to be the first one here to say, BULL**** !
mcnultycop - Member
I hate descending in my road bike.Glad i'm not the only one.
You're far from the only ones.
Did it once & scared myself - well the weird speed wobble did that for me. According to Endo it was 51.2mph max and an average of over 48.8 in my PB over 1km.
I'm going to be the first one here to say, BULL**** !
I did 52 as a kid, past Dartmouth naval college on an MTB, running a 52/11 (!). It felt like terminal velocity to be honest, not sure how you'd get another 10mph!
I used to love descending at speed, until I got fairly violent speed wobble at about 45mph
my bottle went that day and has never returned. I remember sitting shaking in the cafe 10 minutes afterwards....
57.5mph many years ago, according to my computer, at Slack Hill(?), Matlock (Chesterfield direction).
Thinking about it afterwards it scared me a bit. Rarely get over about 32/33mph now.
53mph descending Waddington Fell last Easter, on my old steel audax bike. I could actually feel the frame flexing, and it was a total nightmare to keep the thing going in a straight line. No idea how the pros of thirty years ago managed to descend in the peloton on bikes like that.