Olympics...

[Thorin]

The bicycles only have one gear so your feet have to go around incredibly fast at high speeds; also, the faster you go the more wind resistance there is (to figure that out one needs to look at the drag equation, which in turn will require looking at the drag coefficient).  All I can say is that between only having one gear and having wind resistance, I'm sure 65km/h is pretty damn fast.  Fast enough to get a photo radar ticket in a residential zone.

Speed records set on bicycles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_records#Speed_record_on_a_bicycle.  Note that the 133km/h was on a lean-back style bike with an aerodynamic body added on and probably 20+ gears, and the 268km/h was done while riding behind a motorized vehicle that broke the air, thus removing wind resistance.

[Darren Dirt]

The bicycles only have one gear so your feet have to go around incredibly fast at high speeds

Yeah, I remember back in Junior High (or maybe it was Elementary) where we visited the Argyll Velodrome, I still remember to this day it was so weird to ride a bike where you can't "coast", the pedals kept moving even when you stopped applying muscle power, so you just pedalled until you wanted to stop moving then you pretty much had to lift your feet up and ride around (careful not to bruise your shins by the pedals now moving "on their own") until the tiny bit of friction slowed you down (since there's no brakes).


but yes as you pointed out that is "over the speed limit" on most Edmonton roads other than freeways and Yellowhead/St. Albert Trail ... so it's not exactly a crawl. I was just surprised that 65km/hr is what they top out at, when a human being WITHOUT the assistance of a wheel = 45!

[Thorin]

Yeah, I remember the Velodrome.  I almost started doing track-cycling as I was riding bikes everywhere anyway.  But it cost money to start, and we were not rich.

Imagine how fast their legs have to move to be able to go 65km/h!  Also, completely stalling out a bike on a 42 degree incline...  That's pretty amazing.