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I'm trying to understand the magnitude of her accomplishment. Based on the help she got from the car and the bike's unusual gearing, it sounds like her main at
by DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
I'm trying to understand the magnitude of her accomplishment.
Based on the help she got from the car and the bike's unusual gearing, it sounds like her main athletic accomplishment was to accelerate a bike by 83.9 MPH.
Am I missing something?
- ronaldj 8y agoPost a video when you do it. :P
- kranner 8y agoThis is a really unproductive class of response to criticism. It's unreasonable and pointlessly limiting to restrict criticism to people who can potentially replicate the results. Also the ad hominem aspect really sours the mood.
- DoofusOfDeath 8y agoFWIW I wasn't even criticizing. I was just trying to get my mind around the physics of it all.
- anyfoo 8y agoIt depends on what it is a response to. If someone says that a particular feat is no accomplishment and easily replicable for essentially anybody (not e.g. in comparison to other participants), it doesn’t strike me as too unreasonable to call the person claiming it out on that. Sports are different from, say, someone criticizing art that way, where an appropriate response to “I could have done that” is often “but you didn’t”.
- kranner 8y agoBut in this case that commenter did not say "anyone could have done it". My interpretation of that comment was that the actual accomplishment is different (and lesser in terms of athleticism) from what the headline suggests. Does that deserve a "but you didn't" rejoinder?
- anonytrary 8y agoPost a comment when you have a good one. :P
- King-Aaron 8y agoAccelerating a pedal-powered bike by 135kph / 83mph is a stunning accomplishment. I am flabbergasted that you don't see that as something notable.
- proxygeek 8y agoAnd maintaing the balance at those speeds. I can hardly control mine at 50 kmph downhill
- DoofusOfDeath 8y ago> And maintaing the balance at those speeds. I can hardly control mine at 50 kmph downhill Wouldn't balance actually be easier, due to the gyroscopic effect of how fast the wheels would be turning?
- adam-a 8y agoThe gyroscopic effect is not what causes a bike to balance, it's the arrangement of centres of mass around the pivot or steering. It is harder to maintain that balance at high speeds since small adjustments to the steering produce much quicker responses. https://ezramagazine.cornell.edu/SUMMER11/ResearchSpotlight.html https://ezramagazine.cornell.edu/SUMMER11/ResearchSpotlight....
- blauditore 8y agoThat's highly inaccurate. The gyroscopic effect is not everything, but it does get stronger at higher speeds. That's why even a simple wheel without any frame or steering mechanism will run mostly stable at high speeds. So when going at high speeds on a bike, it indeed is more stable than when going slow. The article you link only claims that the gyroscopic effect is not everything stabilizing a bike.
- usrusr 8y agoThat's a problem with your posture and/or your bike's geometry (or just a loose headset), not an inherent problem of going 50 kmph
- lultimouomo 8y agoBeside what has already been said, I'm pretty sure wheels turning at those speed cause an enormous amount of friction. And they're spoked, that has to turbolence!