The d&d fan in me thiks falling is a free action. A human powered plane doing a dive would go faster I'd bet. Not prepared to rules lawyer that case though.
The world's fastest human-powered vehicle tops 85 mph
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Re: The world's fastest human-powered vehicle tops 85 mph
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see why not. The initial run is essentially the storing up of momentum. From that, running up a flywheel inside the bike is just storing the same energy in a different place.
It stretches the concept of "human powered". Why not just pedal while stationary to charge a battery (take as long as you like), and then ride the course with no additional expenditure of effort.
Because then you would be bringing additional stored energy into the competition (beyond what's in your body)?
Re: The world's fastest human-powered vehicle tops 85 mph
#53What software solutions are there that could be used to simulate mechanics and physics (including gravity, friction, ...) in order to prototype, say, a human powered heli_thing? :) No, I'm serious.
Re: The world's fastest human-powered vehicle tops 85 mph
#54The d&d fan in me thiks falling is a free action. A human powered plane doing a dive would go faster I'd bet. Not prepared to rules lawyer that case though.
If you're willing to allow that, then just wear a single shoe (to be the 'vehicle') and do a BASE jump.
Re: The world's fastest human-powered vehicle tops 85 mph
#55The d&d fan in me thiks falling is a free action. A human powered plane doing a dive would go faster I'd bet. Not prepared to rules lawyer that case though.
The record for this category specifies a flat path.
Re: The world's fastest human-powered vehicle tops 85 mph
#56The video ends with a brief second where the cyclist explains what prevented even higher speed. I make out: "too much vibration...", "knees rubbing...", "unable to continue increasing power output". Would love to hear more about this.
I believe it is because the vehicle is very aerodynamically unstable. When you ride a normal upright bike, it will fall over unless you actively spend a little effort balancing it. Here is a video of a crash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5Dapy1xUq0 Note how it wobbles to the right when he pushes the right pedal, then to the left when the left pedal is pushed.
Re: The world's fastest human-powered vehicle tops 85 mph
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are looking at maximal power output for 5 seconds (the left most column) while you should be looking at maximal power output for 1 minute (the 2nd column from left) :)
Wow you're absolutely right, my mistake! Todd must be a very, very fantastic cyclist!
Hence setting the speed record!
Re: The world's fastest human-powered vehicle tops 85 mph
#58So my question is now: In terms of aerodynamics, what aren't they doing? Some commentators have noted that the shape of this bike is just about as good as it can get. The rider/engine is also not going to see any vast improvements. So rather than this become a pure athletic event, where can engineers look for improvements? Will they have to start dealing with boundary layer issues? Will the next generation of bike be…
Weight, air flow for rider, friction, even more arodynamic profile, ergonomics, better fit for rider. I suspect a better bike might get you 10% more speed, but each 1% is going to keep getting exponentially harder.
Re: The world's fastest human-powered vehicle tops 85 mph
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess he has also the advantage that he can train specifically for this kind of burst power. All his other projects were of this kind -- a minute or two of maximum possible power.
It's actually a very specific power profile. It'll be 10-20 or so minutes of work for the actual run (at 30mph it's 2 minutes a mile and you'll spend plenty of time under 30), but perhaps with an hour or more surrounding. Some amount of warm up almost for sure possibly with some substantial efforts. The body has only a few kilojoules of oxygen debt that it can get into before the pain becomes too much and you're forc…
A highly optimized pedaling plan might even include a coasting section with a strong focus on breathing after the initial aerobic acceleration but before the final effort. If your vehicle is slick enough you might only lose 0.5 to 1 mph but if you can trade that for flushing all the CO2 out of your system, that might be worth it.
Re: The world's fastest human-powered vehicle tops 85 mph
#60I'm guessing something can't get much more aerodynamically shaped? I wonder if they used a power meter to measure the driver/rider's power output and whether the driver was an accomplished cyclist. It seems that at this point, it would simply be a matter of getting a stronger cyclist, say someone like Brad Wiggins who can push 430 watts for an hour over an amateur, but still respectable rider, who puts out something…
I highly recommend reading "The Fullness of Wings". If I remember correctly, they devoted a whole chapter to the process through which they selected the cyclist who powered Daedalus.