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What's your max speed?

5K views 52 replies 39 participants last post by  Alex_C 
#1 ·
Level ground, clean road, minimal wind, no drafting, just you and the bike from a slow-rolling start ... how fast can you make the bike go, with a maximum sprint effort?

When I was a kid, I could hit 42mph pretty routinely. These days, nowhere near that, maybe 35 on a good day.
 
#6 ·
You realize that pros have trouble hitting that "routinely". Not to mention that they hit those speeds indoors on the track where there is truly no wind. The record is around 46 mph for the 200m flying start. So I doubt you came even close to that.
 
#7 ·
Actually the record is at 47mph. Pro cyclists on the road regularly sprint at over 45mph with a leadout train, so assuming creaky was talking about drafted sprint it's very possible. 42mph for an undrafted sprint would be really impressive though.

Personally max sprint with no drafting would probably be consistently at around 36-38mph. I hit 40mph once and I've never managed to do it again.
 
#8 ·
Are you guys serious? Not you serious, you are obviously serious. Seriously.

I never paid really close attention but if I remember correctly my top speeds were like 28 mph. I must really suck at this.
 
#10 ·
Well, based on my iBike I hit 39.6mph, that was for a brief 12 seconds.... but I tend to top off between 30-35, cruise at about 16-20 on flats. Uphill it varies between 10-18mph depending on the gradient, and how tired I feel.

I can see 42-45mph if you're drafting in a line being possible. Oh, and I run a compact with a 12-28 rear cogset. I want to run an 11-26, and see if losing the one tooth helps me crank out a bit more speed.

Regardless, you're only going to go as fast as your legs let you. The strength of the engine in this case is relative to its ability to accelerate to X speed.
;)
 
#12 ·
My max speed is 34 mph. But that is on a downhill. I can get to 22-23 on what seems like flat level ground. However I don't really have any flat level ground on my rides. Everything is slightly up/down or a moderate climb. I can average 20 mph for and hour+. This no draft on mix terrain and different wind conditions. I don't really ever "sprint", but I do try to ride hard for the duration.

I just I am just not the sprinter type.
 
#13 ·
It takes about 1400 watts for a 150 pounder to hit 42 mph. If it takes you 10 seconds to accelerate to 42 and then you hold that speed for 5 seconds you're maintaining 1400+ watts for 15 seconds. That's pretty impressive.

My sprint sucks. My 15 second power is probably 700 watts which is about 30 mph which explains why I get destroyed when a race ends in a field sprint.

My goal for my winter training is to improve my 5 - 30 second power.
 
#14 ·
I have no idea what my non-leadout sprint is under these conditions. I have hit 38.something mph once. My maximum recorded wattage is 1260 watts. I weight between 153 lbs and 160 lbs when I race (depending on time of year). I guess someone could do the math to figure out what I "could" do based on my wattage and weight.

I consistently hit 30-35 mph in various sprints, at least that is what my Garmin tells me.

I'm truly impressed with the 40+ mph efforts. I have only hit 40+ mph on a steep descent.
 
#15 · (Edited)
I'm 160-165 and can hit ~1200W. Used to hit 1310W a few years ago, but now I'm getting old. Currently doing a lot of olympic lifts (powercleans, deadlifts, etc.) and some plyometric stuff (in cross fit class), so I'm curious how that will translate to sprint power.

So probably 35-36 mph, I imagine. But I still don't compare to you 40+ mph world class pros, LOL.

In a sprint, they say the "jump" is most important, since after that initial gap is made, not much changes on way to finish line. There's still some luck.

I haven't done well in finishing sprints (a few third places in our local B crits) but have won a lot of preems. Usually the second preem towards the end of the crit (that no one wants).
 
#21 ·
I think I have touched 40 in my younger days, but that was using an old style magnet speedometer. I always calibrated as best I could though. Now I'm somewhere in the mid to upper 30's, if I'm fresh.
 
#28 ·
For comparison purposes, 37-38 no lead-out puts me in the front line of a sprint in a Cat 2 race. Given the general mayhem that goes on in amateur races, it's actually relatively hard unless you have a well-enough organized team to get a good, uninterrupted sprint in a race.
Done a couple of Cat 1 criteriums where the average speed depending on the days oscillated between 28 and 31mph. Final sprints were regularly over 40mph. And that's with a couple of domestic pros thrown in but nothing world class.
 
#30 · (Edited)
I know the road, it’s flat and limited wind - I hit 31.4 on it once in an all out anaerobic fueled frenzy. I held it for probably no more than one second. My expression was similar to Chong Li in Blood Sport in that scene where he stomped on Ray Jackson (played by Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds) and the crowd was cheering “Chong Li, Chong Li, Chong Li”. So, ya know, I was really laying down everything I had.

Now by RBR standards, this allows me to say that I average 32 mph on my rides.

I am 125lbs BTW so not a sprinter, and don’t train it. On a regular steak eating day, an all out sprint will take me maybe into the high 20’s…maybe.

While on the trainer last night, I was watching an old clip of Lemond on the final TT stage of the TdF. He averaged in the mid 30’s…average! And had short but sustained periods of speeds into the 40’s.

Edit: I guess it wasn't the final stage actually, but the penultimate stage, so it was the last one that maters.
 
#31 ·
I managed to get to 32.4 on teh trainer last night. Held that for about 30 seconds, but the fan was on high - probably could have gotten to 35+ if it was on low and no riser block.

I know you guys are jealous but just keep working at it and you'll get there.

Oh and BTW, Strava data is sketchy on the trainer so take it with a pinch of salt.
 
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#37 ·
1280.1 mph according to Garmin while exiting a tunnel North of Gaeta, Italy. To be fair, there was a tailwind and I was descending.

On flat roads in the US, when I was stationed in Va Beach we would have group rides with 40-50 riders and it was common for the sprints to reach close to 40mph. The group would wind up to 32-34 mph as we approached the sprint point and we would come out of the draft and go all out.

I won a few races back in the 90's and again in 2003, I was typically just fast enough.
 
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