Why It's Almost Impossible to Ride a Bike 60 Kilometers in One Hour | WIRED

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Published 2019-01-11
The hour record for cycling is very simple. It's just one rider going as far as possible for one hour. WIRED's Robbie Gonzalez explores the physical power needed to push for 60 minutes and the equipment and track choices that can make or break the record.

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Why It's Almost Impossible to Ride a Bike 60 Kilometers in One Hour | WIRED

All Comments (21)
  • @martinda7446
    The problem is simple 740W is one horsepower. We are not horses.
  • @Dr.Druffi
    "...it's impossible to..." doped bikers: hold my injection
  • @solsanguis8032
    Video: Fun fact, setting a world record is almost impossible.
  • @shamelessape1
    "Why It's Almost Impossible to Ride a Bike 60 Kilometers in One Hour" You basicaly get tired.
  • @fatlazypole
    I am an amateur but I've done 2 ironman triathlons in the past. On the second race there was a long section of inclined road where I was able to go over 70 km/h for about 250 metres. The bike did shake and I had a blurry tunnel vision. It was a frightening experience.
  • @marcr7583
    we got now to 56.792 km in an hour with "TopGanna" Filippo Ganna in his attempt. To be fair, there was a lot of technical advancement behind it and 3.2km are left for the 60 - but i believe we're witnessing getting there eventually in the next couple of years.
  • @gidoiurafael
    next up: "why it's nearly impossible to ride a bike 1 kilometer in 60 hours"
  • @fmd8456
    Wow thx I was wondering why I could only travel 59 km in a hour... thx
  • I can ride my bike up to 100+km The only problem is that the engine overheats quickly
  • @pickle24
    It's simple. Just lean forward and keep hands straight and backwards. Boom you're naruto-bike riding and you'll do at least 100 km in 1h.
  • @Daz555Daz
    It's all about the air really. The recumbent hour record is 56.7km for an unfaired bike and the record for a streamlined recumbent is an astonishing 92.4km with the rider actually facing backwards lying on his back for the ride!
  • @OonYanpeng
    This sounds mighty similar to Roger Bannister's 4 minutes mile. He broke the myth that it is humanly impossible to run a mile in less than 4 minutes in 1954. After he broke it, a number of athletes broke that :) hope it can happen in cycling too!
  • @lyssword
    Honestly it's kind of impressive that he was doing 440watts for 40 seconds