Wow, all that on your daily commute? And you commute by bike with your wife, that sure is convenient.

That's cool your wife is into cycling, I wish mine was. So you got your tandem to go fast down hill, we know that the extra weight of two riders and a heavier tandem that's entirely possible; but, how your speed going up those same hills? I've past tandem riders climbing hills, but then they would go past me coming down hills. It seems to me the same reason that makes them go down hill fast...weight...slows them down going up hill.

62mph=99km/h, on a bicycle ??...I guess madness has no limits.

All I know is I am amazed at bicycle racers. I average 12 on my commuter (Trek 520) and 14-15 on my road bike (Trek Madone)while just fun riding. Rarely do I all out push myself at my age. So when I see these racers average 30 mph or more, it amazes me. I can't imagine averaging 30 mph over a 5 or 6 hour time span.

They must be in a rush to get to (or from) work.

In my case, it was actually 42. 42 mph -- going down a huge hill. I do not ever plan to go that fast on a bicycle again - at least not without a suit of armour on.

BTW: My top normally commuting speed is about 20 mph, with an average about 14 mph.

If I remember correctly it is mid-30's down a big hill near here, which I avoid. I go up it (much slower) but I generally don't like to go that fast and therefore don't want to wear out my brakes.

Trek 520
Flat no load about 28.
Loaded panniers downhill 42 (35mph speed limit, and cars still have to pass me)
My other downhill I'm to chicken to tuck it. Too steep with an S turn on the bottom.

My actual top speed where I crank up the effort is about 21mph. Good pavement, etc. I've not tried to sustain it for any length of time though.

I think it's just a matter of getting used to it Terrapin. My daily commute starts off down a 3/4 mile hill where I hit 42 mph without pedaling if I tuck, and a out 39 or 40 if I don't tuck. It doesn't feel fast at all anymore. My biggest fear is people pulling out of driveways or side streets, because they misjudge my speed. One day someone pulled out from a side street, and instead of slamming on the brakes I just pulled out passed them on the left...not real smart on my part but one of those things you just do in the moment.

New top speed this past weekend. Down a psycho hill, no pedaling, on my Sirrus. In mph.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=312235

Interesting topic. I don't have computers on all my bikes (and usually don't turn them on when I do), but sometimes I record my rides with Cyclemeter/iPhone so I went back through the history. I've only had the app for a year, so this is fairly recent data.

The fastest I've descended was on my mountain bike (with slick tires), 41 mph tucked on a downhill part of Highway 50 during a circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe last summer. We were riding in the traffic lanes, watching our helmet mirrors, when cars approached (typical car speed is 60 mph there) we'd move to the right, they'd pass, and we'd swing back into the center of the lane. I didn't want to ride 40 mph in the narrow shoulder with storm drains and debris, too dangerous.

As far as max routine speed under my own power on my daily commute, I usually sprint up the eastern approach of the bridge I take (Burnside Br.) and on a good day, no headwind, if I feel strong, am not carrying much in the messenger bag, time the lights and hit the start of the approach around 20 mph, I can crack 30 mph (max recorded so far 32 mph). That is going up a slight grade (guessing 1-2%?), and I blow up by the mid-point of the bridge, so maybe a 200 meter effort. Going home, two of my routes put me on major streets without bike lanes (NE Sandy, NE Broadway) where I try to ride as close to car speed as possible. That puts me around 30 mph (max recorded so far 31 mph), between stop lights. At that pace, I am going about as fast as the slowest cars, so I'm not holding up traffic too badly. But I'm grateful when traffic slows for lights, because I can't keep up that speed for more than a few blocks. If there is a headwind, I can't do it at all.

The max sustained speed that I can keep up for, say, a couple miles, is about 25 mph. Has to be no wind, and I'll be in the drops. I'm not "cruising", but am working hard.

On long rides, I can average about 17 mph if the route isn't hilly. On Seattle to Portland last year, I averaged 17.03 mph on day 1 to Centralia which is 99 miles (fresh legs, almost entirely flat), but only 15.99 mph on day 2 to Portland which is 104 miles (tired, rolling hills, long grind on highway 30). On the 50 mile training rides for STP I averaged 16.5 to 17.5 mph. Going around Lake Tahoe, the average was only 15.15 mph, that is 73 miles (on mountain bike, some pretty hilly parts at Emerald Bay and then on Highway 28). This excludes stops, using the app's automatic stop detection. On each of those rides, I recorded a max speed around 29-31 mph (except the Tahoe ride), but those were probably descents of rollers, not self-propelled on the flats, because I don't remember sprinting on those longish ride days.

Looks like to sprint 30 mph up a 1% grade I have to put out about 750 watts, to ride 30 mph for a few blocks on flat road needs about 600 watts, to sustain 25 mph that is about 325 watts. So that tells me the power I can output for a couple minutes is what a pro rider can output for an hour or more :-(.

55kph on the flats and 90kph on a descent.

listing a top speed on a descent has the competitiveness of a high school physics egg drop experiment.

We like our eggs here. :speedy:

I think the top speed on descents is relevant..its fun to know what other people are hitting.its quite a rush to even go that fast on a bike at all.

Myself I average 15.5 mph on my commute, but I have cracked 30 on a flat stretch for a block or so..prolly had a tailwind.normally I don't see my mph above about 23-24 on my mostly flat commute.

The fastest I've been on my bike was fully loaded touring setup going down the backside of morgan territory rd (into dublin/livermore) where I hit 58.8 mph .

Finally started using Strava. On my main commute I average 14mph and top out at 35-36mph on a downhill.

After experiencing a couple rides with a fairing on the front of my recumbent, I want to try that hill again with the fairing on. I bet I could get close to 60 mph, even though it's less than a quarter mile hill. I was cruising on level ground at around 23 mph quite easily with the fairing (that's about 3-4 mph faster than normal) and on the slight decline where I'm normally at about 24-25, I was pushing 30. :)

Unfortunately, it's just too inconvenient to park the bike with the fairing on (it adds about 18 inches of length), so I'll be doing without on the commuter. Makes me really want to get a streamliner or a velomobile though.

I hit 60 MPH down the hill between Northstar at Tahoe and Truckee on my Cannondale Synapse. Frightening, but fortunately no speed shimmy. I had to tuck to do it. I won't be doing it again soon.

At what speed do most road bikes spin out at in top gear? 26-30mph? Anything faster than that will just be gravity then, right?

For folks in the SF Bay Area, try a freshly paved Pleasant Hill Rd/Taylor Way descent coming down from Lafayette into Pleasant Hill. It's about a 1/2 continuous descent with a 35 mph curve at the base where it goes flat. Top speed for this heavy Clyde was 63mph. I still can hit regularly 59 mph on this and pass up cars on the way down. Best time to go down is about 3 weeks after a fresh layer of steam-rolled asphalt gets laid (every 5 years or so). Not recommended after a slurry seal and gravel gets laid (more often in the in between years). And riding in the bike lane is NOT recommended. Own the main road, since the side may have a bunch of debris. I used to ride this a lot doing my Berkeley-Concord commute taking BART in the mornings and riding home in the afternoons.

My top speed while commuting is 35mph on a flat sprint.

Depends on the gearing.
http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/

My bike (700c road wheels, 170mm cranks) has a high gear of 50 tooth front (compact gearing) and 12 tooth back, at 120 pedal rpm (getting close to many people's "spin out") = 40.2mph.

And yes, once you get much beyond that point, you're better off in an aerodynamic tuck.

Bikes with more standard gearing (52 or 53 front) and assuming same size wheels/cranks with an 11 tooth in back will go 46.4 mph @ 120 rpm.

I must ride in an exceptionally hilly area. I routinely find myself north of 40mph on all of my bikes.

Fastest ever 53mph - descending Golden Gate Canyon between Golden and Boulder on my Cannondale SR500 - Try as I might, I haven't been able to top this one.
Fastest during commute 51mph - descending Crowfoot Valley hwy between Castle Rock and Parker on a fully laden Gary Fisher Kaitai - Stable as a rock and verified with GPS and cyclometer, though I think I also had a stout tailwind that morning.
Fastest with current stable 51mph - descending South Lake Gulch road south of Castle Rock on the Raleigh Team - Had to back off a when I started to feel a little woble in the front end.

Once I'm spun out, I get into a good tuck with my weight shifted to the front as much as is comfortable and let gravity do the rest.

For a Commute ,

Faster than the guy i past , Slower than the guy who passed me .