# Speeeed ,how fast are they goin?



## vette (Feb 1, 2009)

on some of the flats in the TDF peloton & when they breakaway,I did a pull at 31mph for a "short" while then had to drop back & hide till my heart rate came back down,Phil & Paul are a bad source of info & they always talk in Kilometers ,which I dont want to adjust to


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## Cygnus (Nov 26, 2004)

do the math; it's not that hard.

take phil's km/hr and just multiply by roundabout .6.


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## dcairns (Sep 6, 2006)

I just printed out a chart of Kph to Mph and kept it next to the remote.


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## Keeping up with Junior (Feb 27, 2003)

*Barbie*



Cygnus said:


> do the math; it's not that hard.


Except for Barbie (and appearantly Vette too).


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2009)

vette said:


> on some of the flats in the TDF peloton & when they breakaway,I did a pull at 31mph for a "short" while then had to drop back & hide till my heart rate came back down,Phil & Paul are a bad source of info & they always talk in Kilometers ,which I dont want to adjust to


So much easier to come on here and ask others to tell you the answer. I bet that saved a lot of time and effort.


By the way, don't ever travel outside the US.


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## Blue CheeseHead (Jul 14, 2008)

It would be hard for anyone here to argue that the tour guys cruise at ludicrous speed.

To the OP, your short 31 mph pull is not far off what these guys average for a 40k TT. Just train a little harder so you can maintain that 31 mph for 48-50 minutes.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

in a related note, how fast was cavs goin when he crossed the line on the champs? it was ridiculous.

i love that camera they started using a few years back (or maybe it was just last year).


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## JohnnyTooBad (Apr 5, 2004)

I noticed that they never showed shots of the motocycle speedo, like they had in years past. I remember seeing them on a really gentle downhill (almost false flat) when Levi (or it might have been Floyd) was doing the ITT a couple years ago, and it was a steady 40mph. Yes, they average around 30mph for a 30 mile ITT with some hills.

Actually, during this year's TTT, I remember seeing a group of guys in some local team kit, riding a parallel road as one of the TdF teams went by. The local guys looked like they were walking, and you could see they were giving it all they had. The TdF team was probably doing double the speed of the wannabes.


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## ftmsb (Jul 15, 2008)

weltyed said:


> in a related note, how fast was cavs goin when he crossed the line on the champs? it was ridiculous.
> 
> i love that camera they started using a few years back (or maybe it was just last year).


I'd be curious about this too (in kph or mph ). Also, agreed about the camera they use on the finish. I remember it for the first time from last year's sprint, although I recall that the shot was more dramatic in 2008 in that there was more than one rider in the frame...


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## Christine (Jul 23, 2005)

I'm as math-phobic as they get. For km, I just figure about 1/2 and change.


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## Tugboat (Jul 17, 2006)

toomanybikes said:


> So much easier to come on here and ask others to tell you the answer. I bet that saved a lot of time and effort.
> 
> 
> By the way, don't ever travel outside the US.


I hear Liberia is good this time of year if you want to avoid the metric system.


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## cogswell23 (Aug 15, 2007)

vette said:


> on some of the flats in the TDF peloton & when they breakaway,I did a pull at 31mph for a "short" while then had to drop back & hide till my heart rate came back down,Phil & Paul are a bad source of info & they always talk in Kilometers ,which I dont want to adjust to


Math and grammar fail.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

JohnnyTooBad said:


> Actually, during this year's TTT, I remember seeing a group of guys in some local team kit, riding a parallel road as one of the TdF teams went by. The local guys looked like they were walking, and you could see they were giving it all they had. The TdF team was probably doing double the speed of the wannabes.


I remember that shot. I was almost as blown away as the riders on the path. I didn't see them as trying to run a TTT. But maybe because they were as disorganzed as bbox.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

common measurements.

160k ~ 100 miles
100k ~ 62 miles
80k ~ 50 miles
50k ~ 30 miles
40k ~25 miles
30k ~ 18 miles

it's easy.


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## austincrx (Oct 22, 2008)

weltyed said:


> in a related note, how fast was cavs goin when he crossed the line on the champs? it was ridiculous.
> 
> i love that camera they started using a few years back (or maybe it was just last year).



I heard the announcers say something like 60-65 kph on the run-in to the finish on sprint stage. I'd say cav is maybe 70kph??? I have no idea, but i can sprint to 61 kph (or atleast my computer said that...once. usually it's around 55kph) so i think he's much faster than that, atleast 70, maybe 75kph? (75kph = 46.5 mph)


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## medimond (Apr 26, 2009)

Rule of thumb for quick math, just remember to multiply by six. 

At 50 kph I multiply the 5 from [5]0 by 6 = 30 mph. (On the calculator 50 kph = 31.06) 

At 70 kph I multiply 7 from [7]0 by 6 = 42 mph. (On the calculator 50 kph = 43.50) 

At 100 kph I multiply 10 from [10]0 by 6 = 60 mph (On the calculator 100 kph = 62.14)

Mark


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## zac (Aug 5, 2005)

Last year I think they had a camera on a track for the run in to the line on the Champs.

This year they had a dedicated lane for one of the camera bikes. They actually showed it in one of the replays.

Another way to figure out Cav's speed is to watch a you-tube vid of the finish and count his cadence. It was up there btw. We can probably assume he was in a 53x11 and at 110 that would put him over 41mph. I haven't counted his cadence, but from the replays I saw, 110 wasn't out of the question.

I am still amazed at GH, and especially Mark Renshaw's lead out. MR literally rode off the front of the sprint with Cav in his wake, before Cav did his job. There was some serious wattage being produced there.

zac


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## medimond (Apr 26, 2009)

In one of the interviews Cav he stated that he was in a 13 or 14 for the sprint.

Mark


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

medimond said:


> In one of the interviews Cav he stated that he was in a 13 or 14 for the sprint.
> 
> Mark


and yet the local weekend warrior needs an 11


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## grrrah (Jul 22, 2005)

medimond said:


> In one of the interviews Cav he stated that he was in a 13 or 14 for the sprint.
> 
> Mark


Was the finish on the slight uphill? I find that hard to believe. I'd think its difficult to get up to 70kph in a 53x14 while out of the saddle.


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## zac (Aug 5, 2005)

medimond said:


> In one of the interviews Cav he stated that he was in a 13 or 14 for the sprint.
> 
> Mark


Not on the Champs he wasn't. That was an earlier stage.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

i wasnt sure if it was a moto or small lil car/truck thingy. 
i also thought they had a rail camera (a la track and field)last year. must be easier/cheaper to do the moto.



zac said:


> Last year I think they had a camera on a track for the run in to the line on the Champs.
> 
> This year they had a dedicated lane for one of the camera bikes. They actually showed it in one of the replays.


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## zac (Aug 5, 2005)

weltyed said:


> i wasnt sure if it was a moto or small lil car/truck thingy.
> i also thought they had a rail camera (a la track and field)last year. must be easier/cheaper to do the moto.


Yeah, I love the cameras on the track. Some of the world cup (skiiing) events this year (as seen on Universal) where covered with a camera on a cable/track...wow! It was really cool following a racer for 10 or so seconds through a couple of gates on a course on a single stable (and usually HD) camera. I coach and apart from having Dartfish of the runs, this was a really great teaching tool. 

zac


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

zac said:


> . I haven't counted his cadence, but from the replays I saw, 110 wasn't out of the question.
> zac



I haven't counted it either, but I'd bet his cadence was faster than that -- more like 125.


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## foofighter (Dec 19, 2008)

medimond said:


> Rule of thumb for quick math, just remember to multiply by six.
> 
> At 50 kph I multiply the 5 from [5]0 by 6 = 30 mph. (On the calculator 50 kph = 31.06)
> 
> ...


that is shear brilliance! now i can tell me wife how fast they're going w/ out guessing


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## rensho (Aug 5, 2003)

In all the past tours, they mention the sprinters cross the line 40-44mph, depending on the terrain and competitiveness near the line.


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## zac (Aug 5, 2005)

JCavilia said:


> I haven't counted it either, but I'd bet his cadence was faster than that -- more like 125.


Absolutely could be, and it looked like he may have still been accelerating.


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## Tugboat (Jul 17, 2006)

medimond said:


> In one of the interviews Cav he stated that he was in a 13 or 14 for the sprint.
> 
> Mark


His track background means he's more skilled at (and willing to try) spinning out a smaller gear than the pure road sprinters whose philosophy is generally just slam it into the 54x11 and muscle it to the line. 

As an example look at a replay of the finish of stage 19 and compare the contrast in styles between Cavendish and Hushovd. Cav clearly gets over the top of a smaller gear and is able to sustain spinning it out at a very high cadence until the line. Hushovd on the other hand is trying to muscle a higher gear and has a much lower cadence.


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## bahueh (May 11, 2004)

*I would be inclined to believe..*



zac said:


> Last year I think they had a camera on a track for the run in to the line on the Champs.
> 
> This year they had a dedicated lane for one of the camera bikes. They actually showed it in one of the replays.
> 
> ...


some of the effect you saw was the other guys slowing down...Thor was quoted as saying he sat up since he didn't want to get into a pile up on the finish line...I'm sure that made some of the guys around him react...needless to say, they're doing well over 40mph at the line...


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## rocco (Apr 30, 2005)

weltyed said:


> in a related note, how fast was cavs goin when he crossed the line on the champs? it was ridiculous.
> 
> i love that camera they started using a few years back (or maybe it was just last year).



Phil or Paul said they were going 80k/50mph on the slight downhill stretch.


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## Cygnus (Nov 26, 2004)

foofighter said:


> that is shear brilliance! now i can tell me wife how fast they're going w/ out guessing


yikes to the nth degree. multiplying times six and dropping a digit is brilliance....but just multiplying times 0.6 is...somehow something else?

btw, i dig the foo.


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## foofighter (Dec 19, 2008)

Cygnus said:


> btw, i dig the foo.


werd!


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

vette said:


> they always talk in Kilometers ,which I dont want to adjust to


Bookmark this oh-so-simple converter -

http://www.worldwidemetric.com/metcal.htm


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## ewitz (Sep 11, 2002)

You have your bike computers set to MPH?

Neanderthals


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