[Closed] horse V bike

Didn't there used to be a man v horse race somewhere years back? Think the bike may have snuck in at some point too!

Man v horse v bike rings a few bells but I could be well off the mark.

Interesting post. My moneys on the roadie, do horses get trained for 100 mile epics?

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_versus_Horse_Marathon ]Linky. [/url]

So who would win in a race over a 100 mile course a pro road cyclist V's a pro jockey. The horse would be on soil but both would have the same amount of climbing descending. Its weird things I think of while out on my bike.

Horses are pretty rubbish over distance, and never mind a pro roadie, a runner could beat one easily over 100 miles.

There's absolutely no doubt that a roadie on smooth tarmac would do a 100miles before the horse had done 50, especially a top rider.

Now if it was an mtb bike on say the South Downs way (100 hilly miles), then it would be all about the conditions. In dry weather, the mtb would probably win easily, but in claggy conditions, much closer.

Didn't Dick Turpin ride Black Bess from York to London in some unbelievable time? What was the distance/time....any one know?

Horse v man v bike I thought had only ever been won by man once but always the horse?IT was a regular thing in the 90's as JAson McRoy used to compete.

I think Nick Craig won one year.

Didn't Dick Turpin ride Black Bess from York to London in some unbelievable time? What was the distance/time....any one know?

None of it actually happened. It was made up for a book called Rookwood 100 years after Turpin died.

Good story though.

MTB Rob - Member

I think Nick Craig won one year.

Tim Gould won it in 1990 then they stopped bikes entering. 🙄

They stopped bikes entering because someone pointed out that bikes aren't allowed to race on bridleways.

Perhaps a Man v Horse trailquest would be the way to revive it. 😛

Funny you should mention that. I lost a race of about a kilometer against a Bedouin shepherd and his donkey this morning. I could keep up with him on the ups but not on the flat. I suspect if he had a horse he'd have left me for dead.

[img] [/img]

someone pointed out that bikes aren't allowed to race on bridleways.

I didn't thing anything was "allowed" to race on bridleways?

Great picture Angus. 😀

As I understand it, so this could well be wrong...

You can hold a bicycle time trial on a road.
You can hold a cross country running race on footpaths or bridleways.
You can't hold a bicycle time trial or race on a bridleway.

That's why all the big endurance events have got names like "Hell Of The North Cotswolds", "Set2Rise" or "Brecon Beast", not "The Cotswolds MTB Race" etc.
That's why trailquests have to stick to certain rules to be classified as navigation events, not speed events.

Not the horse.

You're also allowed to hold mtb[s]races[/s] reliability trials on bridalways. 😉

I met a horsey type on the trail once who proudly proclaimed that if I break my bike on a ride I have to carry it home, where as if she broke her horse she could just eat it. 🙂

IanMunro - Member
So who would win in a race over a 100 mile course a pro road cyclist V's a pro jockey. The horse would be on soil but both would have the same amount of climbing descending. Its weird things I think of while out on my bike.
Horses are pretty rubbish over distance, and never mind a pro roadie, a runner could beat one easily over 100 miles.

It's thought that one reason we evolved was early mans ability to just keep on running after wounded beasts on the African plains. Eventually the wildebeast/antelope/tasty thing just keels over and dies.

Man vs Horse (vs bike) is/ was hosted each year in Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys. Proper bonkers town it is. Scene of real Ale Wobble etc. Long may it continue in this way 🙂

I think the result depends on the course and the terrain. A bike will beat a horse on a good track on the flat or downhill but a horse is better over really rough muddy terrain. The horse has got to be fit as well and not many leisure horses are very fit.

Horse v fell runner v cyclocross bike over a circular course would be interesting to watch.

Used to compete in a man v horse v mtb. Terrain has to be very difficult for mountain bikers. It was always very close between bikes and runners from what I remember.

Angus, if it's any consolation I'm pretty sure that's a mule, donkeys are usually much smaller... 😉 Awesome photo!

I believe humans are the quickest land animals over marathon distance - for progressively shorter stuff horses, then antelopes, then almost anything with four legs is quicker (over a sprint). For very long distances I believe wolves and suchlike beat humans. In horse vs MTB the bikes do best when it's hot on hard dry terrain, horses better when it's cool and on soft terrain. Personally I prefer horses for multi-day epics and MTBs for a few hours of pushing the limits.