# Usain Bolt vs bicycle 100m race, who wins?



## nolight (Oct 12, 2012)

If both start from stationary at 100 metre start line? Does it take a certain type of bicycle to beat Usain Bolt?


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## curlymaple42 (Sep 13, 2012)

I don't think from a stationary start a bike could do it. He reaches top speed way too fast.


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## brianmcg (Oct 12, 2002)

Bolt. Bike would take too long to get up to speed. 150m then you have a race.


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## jlandry (Jan 12, 2007)

Bolt takes it.


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## JustTooBig (Aug 11, 2005)

well, a world-class trackie would make a race of it. 

Chris Hoy, one of the speedier kilo guys on the planet, typically does his first 125m in around 11-11.2 sec. Do the math and convert that to a 100m, and he'd be beating bolt.

And the starters in Team Sprint -- they go out harder than that.


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## icarus (Jun 6, 2007)

JustTooBig said:


> well, a world-class trackie would make a race of it.
> 
> Chris Hoy, one of the speedier kilo guys on the planet, typically does his first 125m in around 11-11.2 sec. Do the math and convert that to a 100m, and he'd be beating bolt.
> 
> And the starters in Team Sprint -- they go out harder than that.


But he's covering that last 25m in very little time since he's already at a higher speed. I think it would be a very interesting race considering he doesn't need the gearing to reach 45+ mph. You would only need to gear the bike for a max of 30-35 maybe. This way you would get a lot better acceleration.


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## Akirasho (Jan 27, 2004)

... I throw my frame pump into Bolt's legs... beat him on my Bianchi Milano... game over...


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## jnbrown (Dec 9, 2009)

Cheetah beats both:

Cheetah smashes speed record by running 100m in 5.95 seconds - 40% faster than Usain Bolt | Mail Online


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## Sean.B (Jul 20, 2012)

jnbrown said:


> Cheetah beats both:
> 
> Cheetah smashes speed record by running 100m in 5.95 seconds - 40% faster than Usain Bolt | Mail Online


And Alaskan sled dogs are the best endurance runners in the world. Read their Vo2 max is twice that of the best humans in the world. Madness


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## Ventruck (Mar 9, 2009)

Going by the 11.2 run of Hoy (where did that come from anyway?) and 9.58 run of Bolt...

Hoy covers that 125m with a ~24.96mi/h avg speed, whereas Bolt's best has an average ~23.35mi/h in 100m

Hoy builds up 0.1997mi/h per meter, with average acceleration of 2.219mi/h per second.

Bolt builds up 0.2350mi/h per meter, with average acceleration of 2.437mi/h per second. 

Strictly over 100m, Bolt would win, regardless if that statistic of Hoy is real or not.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Ventruck said:


> Going by the 11.2 run of Hoy (where did that come from anyway?) and 9.58 run of Bolt...
> Hoy covers that 125m with a ~24.96mi/h avg speed, whereas Bolt's best has an average ~23.35mi/h in 100m
> Hoy builds up 0.1997mi/h per meter, with average acceleration of 2.219mi/h per second.
> Bolt builds up 0.2350mi/h per meter, with average acceleration of 2.437mi/h per second.
> Strictly over 100m, Bolt would win, regardless if that statistic of Hoy is real or not.


I think bolt wins the 100-meter race by even more than those numbers imply. Your acceleration calculation of course assumes steady acceleration over the whole 100 meters. I have read that he reaches top speed at around 70 meters, covering the 60-80 meter split in 1.61 seconds, for a speed of 27.78 mph at that point. That would mean getting to that speed in under 8 seconds, for an acceleration of close to 3.5 mph per second. I suspect the initial acceleration in the first 20-30 meters is even greater.


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## Guest (Dec 7, 2012)

jnbrown said:


> Cheetah beats both:
> 
> Cheetah smashes speed record by running 100m in 5.95 seconds - 40% faster than Usain Bolt | Mail Online


... but did the cheetah race from a standing start and react to a properly calibrated starting gun? Also, what was the wind velocity there? If it was more than +2.0 that's illegal wind aid.


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## Jetmugg (Sep 22, 2010)

If Hoy is riding a bike that is geared optimally for a 100 meter drag race, he walks away with it. A track bike is not geared with the intention of covering the first 100m in the minimum amount of time. Since there is no common 100m standing-start sprint bicycle race, this is a strange comparison.


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## Ventruck (Mar 9, 2009)

PhotonFreak said:


> ... but did the cheetah race from a standing start and react to a properly calibrated starting gun? Also, what was the wind velocity there? If it was more than +2.0 that's illegal wind aid.


And was the cheetah's number flapping everywhere, were its shoes tied?


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## icsloppl (Aug 25, 2009)

Cyclist by a narrow margin according to this model

Usain Bolt vs Sean Eadie « « Crank Cycling Crank Cycling

Cyclist winning on a mountain bike

Runner vs cyclist sprint - YouTube


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## Ventruck (Mar 9, 2009)

icsloppl said:


> Cyclist by a narrow margin according to this model
> 
> Usain Bolt vs Sean Eadie « « Crank Cycling Crank Cycling


I don't get it; they account Bolt's 9.58 time but that graph shows him running it over 10+ seconds.


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2012)

Ventruck said:


> I don't get it; they account Bolt's 9.58 time but that graph shows him running it over 10+ seconds.


The also show Bolt moving at t=0, not accounting for ~0.15+sec of reaction time. It also shows the cyclist hitting 100m at about 9.7sec. 

Either way though it sounds like that race might be too close to call on paper, especially if the cyclist goes with a lower gear (more torque off the line, top speed not as important).


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## looigi (Nov 24, 2010)

Now put Bolt on the bike and have Hoy running. Who wins?


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## Guest (Dec 9, 2012)

looigi said:


> Now put Bolt on the bike and have Hoy running. Who wins?


is Hoy wearing Uggs available at wholesale prices?


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## curlymaple42 (Sep 13, 2012)

I think we should put Usaine in Uggs at wholesale process and put Hoy on that Milano and see what happens!


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## AndreyT (Dec 1, 2011)

Ventruck said:


> And was the cheetah's number flapping everywhere, were its shoes tied?


The number and the shoes are irrelevant. Meanwhile, the standing start is the central point of this entire discussion. I don't see it state anywhere that the cheetah was racing from a standing start.


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## kmunny19 (Aug 13, 2008)

PhotonFreak said:


> ... but did the cheetah race from a standing start and react to a properly calibrated starting gun? Also, what was the wind velocity there? If it was more than +2.0 that's illegal wind aid.


and was the gun deemed "Dead on Balls Accurate" by top men?


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## nolight (Oct 12, 2012)

looigi said:


> Now put Bolt on the bike and have Hoy running. Who wins?


Depends on whether Bolt knows how to cycle.


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## Ventruck (Mar 9, 2009)

AndreyT said:


> The number and the shoes are irrelevant. Meanwhile, the standing start is the central point of this entire discussion. I don't see it state anywhere that the cheetah was racing from a standing start.


*. . .*


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