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American woman smashes cycling land speed record, hitting nearly 184 miles per hourDenise Mueller-Korenek and world record breaking team (picture credit Matt Ben Stone)

American woman smashes cycling land speed record, hitting nearly 184 miles per hour

Denise Mueller-Korenek went 10 per cent faster than previous record holder Fred Rompleberg did in 1995
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Sep 17, 2018 17:22
10

American cyclist Denise Mueller-Korenek has set a new cycling land speed record of more than 180 miles an hour, smashing the previous record that had stood for almost a quarter of a century.

The former holder of US national titles on the road, track and in mountain biking made her successful record attempt yesterday at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, the same location where Fred Rompleberg of the Netherlands had set the existing record in 1995.

She rode a custom-built KHS land speed record bike with a carbon frame and drafting behind a fairing attached to very dragster that Rompleberg used, which towed her up to a speed of 50 miles per hour (80 kilometres per hour) before releasing her.

Her average speed, measured over a distance of one mile, was 183.932 miles per hour (296.009 kilometres an hour), a little over 10 per cent faster than the 167 miles per hour (268.76 kilometres per hour) established by Rompelberg.

Mueller Korenek was already the holder of the women’s record, which she set in 2016 with a speed of 147.7 miles per hour (237.7 kilometres per hour).

> American becomes fastest ever female cyclist after hitting 147mph

Denise Mueller
Denise Mueller Korenek
Fred Rompleberg
bicycle land speed record
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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10 comments

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kamoshika | 6 years ago
2 likes

I was lucky enough to be in Copenhagen when Larry Vs Harry (makers of the Bullitt) had organised a cargo bike speed record attempt at a airstrip outside the city. Rather than pay for someone to come and officiate so it was a ratified record, they spent the money on beer instead; transported by Bullitt, of course. http://www.larryvsharry.com/world-record/

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Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
4 likes

What sort of power do you need to be holding to do this. Once you have a vehicle punching a massive hole in the air, what are we talking about?

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Leadout.cc replied to Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
1 like

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

What sort of power do you need to be holding to do this. Once you have a vehicle punching a massive hole in the air, what are we talking about?

I hope they will make the power profile available from the Infocrank.cc that she used for training and the record. I guess the Infocrank is the fastest power meter in the world now.

Avatar
vonhelmet replied to Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
2 likes

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

What sort of power do you need to be holding to do this. Once you have a vehicle punching a massive hole in the air, what are we talking about?

Interesting question.

There’s a graph on this page at Wikipedia: 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_performance

showing the power needed to overcome various forces at various speeds. If you disregard gravity (this was done on the flat) and accceleration (you’re asking about the power needed to hold that speed) and air resistance (that’s what the lead car is for) then you only have rolling resistance to worry about. The graph has this scaling linearly up to 50W at 10m/s. If we assume it continues to scale linearly up to 83m/s (184mph) then you’d need to be putting out 415W, which is not that astronomical. Probably less for her, actually, as that graph appears to refer to a 95kg rider or possibly rider plus bike. Either way.

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OldRidgeback | 6 years ago
1 like

Jeez, now that's impressive. I mean it's really, really impressive. I really like her choice of pace vehicle. You've got to be a bt of a nutcase to try something as utterly bonkers as riding a bicycle that fast. She's a star.

I've always meant to go to Bonneville but had to turn down the offer of a trip there to see JCB win the record for a diesel powered vehicle some years back alas. I had a prior engagement.

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henryb | 6 years ago
3 likes

There seem to be lots of bicycle speed records:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cycling_records#Speed_record_on_a_bicycle

- but I couldn't see one that's one on the flat, on a normal bicycle-shaped bicycle without motor-pacing. 138mph "downhill on snow" sounds good though!

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PRSboy replied to henryb | 6 years ago
2 likes

henryb wrote:

There seem to be lots of bicycle speed records:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cycling_records#Speed_record_on_a_bicycle

- but I couldn't see one that's one on the flat, on a normal bicycle-shaped bicycle without motor-pacing. 138mph "downhill on snow" sounds good though!

I like this one "Pedaling on a bicycle treadmill (rollers) after being "towed" to 100 mph, on a custom made £1,000,000 bicycle".

Barriers to entry look quite high...  

I too would be interested to know if there are actually 'proper' records, such as fastest unassisted speed on flat ground, indoor/outdoor over various shorter distances?

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CXR94Di2 | 6 years ago
2 likes

It must be shit scary riding ar those speeds.  Its more of a drafting event, just need a faster vehicle for 200mph record

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RobD replied to CXR94Di2 | 6 years ago
2 likes

CXR94Di2 wrote:

It must be shit scary riding ar those speeds.  Its more of a drafting event, just need a faster vehicle for 200mph record

Not sure it's quite that simple 3

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BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
0 likes

Sweet ride, there's a video on FB of the radio transmission and the direct aftermath. https://www.facebook.com/FireCycle/videos/262786141039440/?type=3

Apparently they were not supposed to let the drag car go over 175mph ... oopsy

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