Fastest known descent on a road bike?

nitrogen

While reading Kelly's wikipedia entry, I came across:

"He [Sean Kelly] was also a formidable descender, clocking a career top race speed of 124 km/h, while descending from Col de Joux Plane to Morzine on stage 19 of the Tour in 1984."

Have you heard of faster?

markcroninbsc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_records#Speed_record_on_a_bicycle

thebouldwhacker

Look at these records... That's over 330 per day for a year.... Next time I lose my job I'm going for the record!

1932 Arthur Humbles Great Britain 36,007 miles (57,948 km)

1933 Ossie Nicholson Australia 43,966 miles (70,756 km)

1936 Walter Greaves Great Britain 45,383 miles (73,037 km)

1937 Bernard Bennett England 45,801 miles (73,710 km)

1937 René Menzies France 61,561 miles (99,073 km)

1937 Ossie Nicholson Australia 62,657 miles (100,837 km)

1939 Bernard Bennett England 65,127 miles (104,812 km)

1939 Tommy Godwin England 75,065 miles (120,805 km)

nitrogen

markcroninbsc wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_records#Speed_record_on_a_bicycle

Sorry but I said road bike.

markcroninbsc

nitrogen wrote: »

Sorry but I said road bike.

yea but the fastest is on a mountain bike

lukester

And he said road bike.

thebouldwhacker

Friday thread?

Lumen

I think a lot depends on the course and conditions.

The nutcases of the Red Bull Road Rage go quite fast round bends.

"The fastest average speed during a timed run is Janos Köhler's ITT qualifying run in 2009 during the Swiss Road Rage in Rengg, at 76.125 kmh."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL7MYpgu0xY

Caroline_ie

Janos cycled the etape and recorded a fastest speed of 111kph descending the galibier this year.

Guybrush T

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Janos cycled the etape and recorded a fastest speed of 111kph descending the galibier this year.

Do you really mean Galibier, and not Col du Lauteret? If so I'm mightily impressed.

Even if it is Col du Lauteret I'm still quite impressed.

Caroline_ie

You're being finicky. It's the same descent to me and most really. 50km descent from the Top of The galibier to Bourg d'Oisans.
Probably the best downhill ever.

Guybrush T

Caroline_ie wrote: »

You're being finicky. It's the same descent to me and most really. 50km descent from the Top of The galibier to Bourg d'Oisans.
Probably the best downhill ever.

I wouldn't say I'm being finicky. From the Galibier summit to Col du Lauteret is a narrow road with hairpins, and plenty of opportunity to go over the edge and fall 100m or so, from Col du Lauteret on it's a nice wide road with fewer bends and more chance to stop if you overcook it.

I was just interested to know where he did it.

bcmf

I got to 72kmh 'descending' into the Naul last year. Does that count?

markcroninbsc

bcmf wrote: »

I got to 72kmh 'descending' into the Naul last year. Does that count?

i did 83.7 from johnny foxes to kilternan.

TinyExplosions

Guybrush T wrote: »

I wouldn't say I'm being finicky. From the Galibier summit to Col du Lauteret is a narrow road with hairpins, and plenty of opportunity to go over the edge and fall 100m or so, from Col du Lauteret on it's a nice wide road with fewer bends and more chance to stop if you overcook it.

I was just interested to know where he did it.

I would say that technically it was on the Lauteret according to your criteria, though as it's a shoulder on the way to the Galibier, I would certainly class the whole descent from the tunnel to Bourg D'Oisans as the descent from the Galibier.

thebouldwhacker

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-80722.html

They discussed it in bike forums....

2 Wheels Good

Don't mention fastest descents of the Galibier, did it 2 weeks ago and my ^%$£ speedo reset itself when I pulled in at the food stop at the bottom! So have no idea what my fastest speed was!
On a compact so wasn't able to get decent speed going but it was still a decent downhill

bcmf

markcroninbsc wrote: »

i did 83.7 from johnny foxes to kilternan.

Well considering that my descent is barely a KM long I claim a win. What kinda win I amnt sure but its a win in my head

markcroninbsc

bcmf wrote: »

Well considering that my descent is barely a KM long I claim a win. What kinda win I amnt sure but its a win in my head

Ah i dunno. down from johnny foxes is only a bit less than 2k i think. and im only talkin about the last 500 yards after the bad turn. I'd been tryin for months to get it over the 80kph so i took the chance one day with a tail wind and used the whole road on the turn, so i think i'll have to claim that one to be honest. I dont win much.

bcmf

markcroninbsc wrote: »

Ah i dunno. down from johnny foxes is only a bit less than 2k i think. and im only talkin about the last 500 yards after the bad turn. I'd been tryin for months to get it over the 80kph so i took the chance one day with a tail wind and used the whole road on the turn, so i think i'll have to claim that one to be honest. I dont win much.

That's what I call cheating
Mine was in a gale force headwind* but I will give you this one.



*may not actually be true

markcroninbsc

bcmf wrote: »

That's what I call cheating
Mine was in a gale force headwind* but I will give you this one.



*may not actually be true

Ah no. I've just started a thread about manners in cycling so i think in this case im going to disqualify myself for being on the wrong side of the road, you can have it.

bcmf

Well you better get your descending skills sharpened 'cause the next time you are up the mountains you may need to make a quick getaway from the herd of Orwellians baying for your blood.

WakeyTyke

Cime de la Bonnette is a constant descent from 2800m to 1200m over 24km with very few difficult bends. For the brave descender it would be easy to reach 100km/hr for long distances.

xz

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Janos cycled the etape and recorded a fastest speed of 111kph descending the galibier this year.

He was actually talking to me about this while we were marshalling a club race last Thursday, he was telling me that he didn't quite get his line right coming into one of the bends, and had to brake severely before releasing to make his apex, he said, only for the fact that he has disc brakes on his road bike, it could all have ended pretty badly, I got the impression from him that he was ACTUALLY trying to beat Kelly's speed.

Harrybelafonte

xz wrote: »

He was actually talking to me about this while we were marshalling a club race last Thursday, he was telling me that he didn't quite get his line right coming into one of the bends, and had to brake severely before releasing to make his apex, he said, only for the fact that he has disc brakes on his road bike, it could all have ended pretty badly, I got the impression from him that he was ACTUALLY trying to beat Kelly's speed.

Does he ride for Bray? Is this him in the Israel run?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EATcJiUxsM

Caroline_ie

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Does he ride for Bray? Is this him in the Israel run?

Yep and yep.

Harrybelafonte

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Yep and yep.

Thanks. I've seen him in a few of the vids. Very dedicated.