And no, he didn’t need Lance Armstrong’s doctor either.
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At the 2015 World Human Powered Speed Challenge competition, taking place in Battle Mountain, NV, Aerovelo founder, Todd Reichart pedaled his way to a new human-powered speed record while riding the Aerovelo Eta Bike.
The contest was done across a 5 mile long stretch of the highway, where the top speed was set along a portion of approximately 220 yards, where each contestant was required to reach full potential of their vehicle.
What’s most impressive about AeroVelo’s world record is the fact this isn’t the first time the team has earned such a distinction. The competition is still on-going so it is possible that AeroVelo’s record could still be smashed. Then, in 2013, they surmounted the seemingly impossible challenge of winning the Sikorsky Prize with the Atlas human-powered helicopter.
AeroVelo has developed other innovative vehicles in the past. In 2010, the company built the Snowbird Ornithopter, a custom-built flapping wing craft, which recorded the world’s first sustained flight of its kind, staying in the air for 19 seconds.
Though it championed the human-powered aircraft categories, the land speed record had always been in its sights with the organization attempting such a record even as far back as 2011. In addition to fastest human and University of Toronto mechanical engineering PhD, Reichert also spent time as a nationally ranked speed skater, athleticism that allows him to generate 1hp for approximately a minute and helped him successfully pilot and power each of AeroVelo’s record setting human-powered vehicles.
The Eta bike was designed with an excellently aerodynamic shape that boastst 100 times less drag than the average auto , weighing around 55 pounds and able to reach a maximum of 87 miles per hour speed, according to the team of Canadian engineers.
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The cycle shattered the previous record by 2.5 miles per hour . Moreover, this is perhaps the only bike in the entire world that won’t incite a groan from road ragers for slowing up their daily commute.
