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Another interesting comparison is bike v. horse. It is very close for anything up to, say, 2.5 miles (4 km) with record times of 4:02 - 4:05: https://en.wikip

Another interesting comparison is bike v. horse. It is very close for anything up to, say, 2.5 miles (4 km) with record times of 4:02 - 4:05: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_track_cycling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_track... https://www.simhorseracing.com/recordtimes.php https://www.simhorseracing.com/recordtimes.php The bike will win over very long distances. For example, the 100 mile record for a horse is 5:45:44, but for a bike it is 3:11:11 https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/world-endurance-record-broken https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/world-endurance-record-... http://www.rra.org.uk/index.html?ifrm_1=recordsdistance.html http://www.rra.org.uk/index.html?ifrm_1=recordsdistance.html Anyone want to see horses in the TdF :)

jeltz 7y ago
> For example, the 100 mile record for a horse is 5:45:44, but for a bike it is 3:11:11 Doesn't that pretty much show that horse beats man except on extreme distances? The human record for running 100 miles is 11:28:03. And I do not think it would be ethical to have horses run e.g. 1000 km (human record 5d 16:17:00).
- duud 7y ago
  The Mongol Derby is 1000km but riders change horses every 40km https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Derby https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Derby
GuB-42 7y ago
Bikes are cheating. Bikes need roads. In fact wheels in general are terrible without roads, that's why such a simple concept is rarely seen in nature and appeared relatively late in human history. Bike vs horse on road is unfair, it is like asking a horse to outswim a fish. Man vs horse on foot is more fair, it is actually representative a natural advantage humans have over other animals. If the human wins, it means it could hunt the horse to exhaustion.
- animal531 7y ago
  A man can run a horse down even if the horse can outrun him (by some amount, say 50%). Firstly he could ambush the horse, injuring it; but let's ignore that and say it starts off fairly. He surprises the horse, it spooks and starts running. It won't run at a measured pace, it will tend to run either too fast or too slow. Psychologically it is going to be in a panicked state for an extended period of time, it's not going to operate close to peak performance as it would with a rider. After that the man can also both use his brain to drive the horse towards a desired location as well as his determination and knowledge of previous hunts to win the race.

jeltz 7y ago

> For example, the 100 mile record for a horse is 5:45:44, but for a bike it is 3:11:11 Doesn't that pretty much show that horse beats man except on extreme distances? The human record for running 100 miles is 11:28:03. And I do not think it would be ethical to have horses run e.g. 1000 km (human record 5d 16:17:00).

duud 7y ago
The Mongol Derby is 1000km but riders change horses every 40km https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Derby https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Derby

GuB-42 7y ago

Bikes are cheating. Bikes need roads. In fact wheels in general are terrible without roads, that's why such a simple concept is rarely seen in nature and appeared relatively late in human history. Bike vs horse on road is unfair, it is like asking a horse to outswim a fish. Man vs horse on foot is more fair, it is actually representative a natural advantage humans have over other animals. If the human wins, it means it could hunt the horse to exhaustion.

animal531 7y ago
A man can run a horse down even if the horse can outrun him (by some amount, say 50%). Firstly he could ambush the horse, injuring it; but let's ignore that and say it starts off fairly. He surprises the horse, it spooks and starts running. It won't run at a measured pace, it will tend to run either too fast or too slow. Psychologically it is going to be in a panicked state for an extended period of time, it's not going to operate close to peak performance as it would with a rider. After that the man can also both use his brain to drive the horse towards a desired location as well as his determination and knowledge of previous hunts to win the race.