In the news

A British cyclist has set the motor-paced speed world record after covering a distance of 200 metres at 174.34 miles (280.57 kilometres) per hour.

fixt

One is bias as like myself he is an original Sunlighter .

He's broken the mens record. The outright record is held by a woman.

The news report was pretty brief, and it sounds like he was towed to top speed, then they let go and he kept the speed for 200m. To what extent is that the case and to what extent was his pedalling anything to do with it?

Genuinely clueless.

200m at that speed is under 3 seconds.

Yeah, but does that mean he got cut off from the car and held on for 3 seconds without falling over, or did he have to pedal much? To what extent is this impressive in cycling terms?

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/brexit-secretary-signs-order-to-scrap-1972-brussels-act-ending-all-eu-law-in-the-uk

Published at 8.30am. still not on any major news.

Yeah I don’t know, either way it’s not a lot of anything. The coordination is more impressive, presumably if the car got too far ahead after cut off he’d hit a wall of air and have significant issues...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owEqMwEBfp8

I think it was an engineering feat more than a cycling one; I remember seeing a cool video a couple of years ago about the build process and all the custom components that went into it, like the double chainring setup to get a large enough gearing, etc.

I think because it's meaningless - doesn't change the substance of what parliament need to do to change things. See below:

https://mobile.twitter.com/davidallengreen/status/1163046377695383552

Hit and run driver that killed Aurilla Lawrence in Brooklyn wasn't charged: https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2019/08/16/nypd-wont-charge-hit-and-run-driver-who-killed-aurilla-lawrence/

A familiar story, sadly. We've had so many cases like this in London, although admittedly fewer in recent years.

What does 'towed' mean? I thought it meant he was not attached to the car but followed the car, motor-paced, i.e. protected from the wind, accelerating all the time, until he could not longer hold the speed it had been accelerated to. At least that's how I think it worked in Dave Le Grys' case, IIRC. It may not be the same record, of course.

Prince Andrew's released a statement saying he's shocked and disturbed over the allegations about Epstein, whose house Andrew stayed in two years after Epstein's conviction for noncery.

In the video above he is linked to the car with a bungee cord and what looks like a release system of some sort.

I think they are towed up to speed as the gearing is impossible at lower speeds, the rider unlatches when up to speed. That is my understanding anyway.

sound of guillotines sharpening intensifies

Ah, sorry, I didn't realise there was a video.

Oh, come on, it's not that bad to be towed up to top speed.

let them eat wake.

As in the Guy Martin version of this, the engineering is interesting and the reactions/balls to do it at all (which I certainly would not have) is fair enough but I'd be interested to know how much of a cycling feat it is. I guess all land speed records have a huge engineering element, a good quality of guts/reactions and a small quantity of driving skill.

Having ridden Guy Martin's bike, in a situation with as close to 0 rolling resistance as possible, it still requires a lot of leg work, even just maintaining that speed for ~3 seconds

I’ve gone 175 on two wheels. Absolutely fuck getting towed up to that speed on a bicycle to pedal frantically for a few seconds. Brass balls on the chap. Hats off.

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