I remember hitting 38 to 39 mph while doing repeats with a buddy down San Vicente in Santa Monica back in college (~18 years ago). It's a very gentle downslope of only 1.7% grade, so that was really flying. We were doing repeats, but not sprinting, so I don't think we topped out. It was a fun workout. :D We were in good shape and were riding away from our other teammates, but the speed was probably a result of the conditions more than a reflection of our ability.
Around the same time frame or a bit earlier ('87), I had another amazing bike day in more ways than one. I was riding solo. Feeling good, I did a jump for the heck of it. It coincided with a tailwind and I found myself flying. Hitting unprecedented speeds (for me, on level ground) with relative ease, only made me want to push harder... I topped out at 38 mph and tried to keep it going. Unfortunately, my fork gave out just then :mad: - one of the fork ends cracked/completely separated. Very luckily for me, the remaining intact fork end held onto the wheel (like a Cannondale Lefty fork, but flexier). I thought it was a flat tire at first, so I stopped, squeezed the tire, was puzzled that it was still firm, got back on the bike... hmm... something still wrong. A closer look revealed the problem. The failure mechanism was fatique, so it wasn't because of my awesome strength, but what a weird coincidence. I was only 4 miles from home at the time, so I very slowly and carefully rode home.
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