# The fastest you've traveled with pure human power **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828 "2016-03-22T04:11:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mikeritchie30](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mikeritchie30](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikeritchie30)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/1 "2016-03-22T04:11:04Z")
I’m talking about outside of cars, planes, trains, ships etc. Under your own human power. I’m not a long distance runner but I can sprint to 13 to 15 mph. I’m not good with skateboards, skates or anything. Don’t own a hover board either. I have gone at near automobile speeds on a Schwinn Bicycle before. I had a digital speedometer on it which the owner of our local bike shop said was fairly accurate before. Downhill I clocked myself going 37 MPH. On flat ground I’ve gone anywhere from 25 MPH up to 28 MPH approximately as fast as a cat or sparrow lol. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/2 "2016-03-22T04:43:16Z")
Standing start in a traffic construction zone, barely touched 23 before backing down to 19-20 to the zone end. This on a handcycle, no wind. Road bike, 29, held for about a half mile. No wind. Pure downhill coasting, 56 on both a mountain bike and the handcycle. Upcoming bends forced a slowdown. ---
**Author:** ![mikeritchie30](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mikeritchie30](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikeritchie30)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/3 "2016-03-22T05:09:56Z")
Cool! ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/4 "2016-03-22T06:08:59Z")
62 MPH skiing during a town downhill in Vail about 1980. Right before I crashed and broke my tib-fib. 54 MPH downhill on a road bike. No crashee. ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/5 "2016-03-22T14:22:04Z")
49 mph on a road bike down a hill. I’d get to the bottom then turn around and climb back up to try it again. Never could break 50 mph. ---
**Author:** ![Iamnotivan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Iamnotivan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iamnotivan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/6 "2016-03-22T15:01:20Z")
Even at 68 yrs of age, I did 37 Mph on my Pinarello, admittedly downhill. I am quite sure I hit well over 40 in my 50s, but at that speed there is no time to look at the meter. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/7 "2016-03-22T15:13:15Z")
46 MPH downhill on a bicycle. Scared the shit out of me, never done it again. ---
**Author:** ![AuntPam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@AuntPam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntPam)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/8 "2016-03-22T15:25:11Z")
One morning in 1973, as I was crossing the kitchen in a state of near-unconsciousness to get some milk for our demanding kitty Jones, I stepped on a dead mouse with my bare foot. I instantaneously teleported to a point eight feet away. I’ve also had this experience when, on my way to the outhouse at Girl Scout Camp in the middle of the night, I stepped on a live snake with my bare foot. So I think the answer is: theoretically, the speed of light. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/9 "2016-03-22T16:36:42Z")
> [@AuntPam](#): > > One morning in 1973, as I was crossing the kitchen in a state of near-unconsciousness to get some milk for our demanding kitty Jones, I stepped on a dead mouse with my bare foot. I instantaneously teleported to a point eight feet away. I’ve also had this experience when, on my way to the outhouse at Girl Scout Camp in the middle of the night, I stepped on a live snake with my bare foot. So I think the answer is: theoretically, the speed of light. Hence the age old question: Does the speed of light make my mass look big? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/10 "2016-03-22T16:40:01Z")
About a hundred miles an hour, while skydiving. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/11 "2016-03-22T17:06:31Z")
Wife and kids used to speedskate. I think the record is somewhere over 35 MPH. I think they used to joke that it was the fastest a human could go without on their own power or without the assistance of a machine or something. Sure, folk could argue whether the skate blades are an assistive device, but unless you are sprinting barefoot and nekkid… ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/12 "2016-03-22T17:16:34Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Wife and kids used to speedskate. I think the record is somewhere over 35 MPH. I think they used to joke that it was the fastest a human could go without on their own power or without the assistance of a machine or something. Sure, folk could argue whether the skate blades are an assistive device, but unless you are sprinting barefoot and nekkid… Skates count. Otherwise, you’d have to also rule out bikes. As long as you don’t have gravity assisting, it’s fair. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/13 "2016-03-22T19:21:47Z")
70-80mph downhill skiing. Ruling out Gravity is going to rule out most of the above examples. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/14 "2016-03-22T19:28:50Z")
Discounting gravity assist, eons ago as a teenager I managed to do 2 level miles at about 30 MPH on a racing bicycle. Uncertainty because I timed it with a wrist watch and measured it by road intersections, not a marked course and stopwatch. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/15 "2016-03-22T19:39:29Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > As long as you don’t have gravity assisting, it’s fair. [pedant alert] You have to have gravity assisting. Without the assistance of gravity, you would soon become airborne\*, and that would severely limit your top speed. \*Probably a misnomer here, since in the absence of gravity there most likely wouldn’t be any air left in the first place. [/pedantry] I’ve managed about 30 mph on my bike, so I’m out of the running here… ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/16 "2016-03-22T19:51:07Z")
57 mph. Downhill (a mountain, actually) in Napa on a Cervelo P2 triathlon bike in aero position. I remember thinking, “all I’m wearing is a spandex singlet and a helmet- one rock in the road and the mortician is gonna need a spatula.” It was freakin’ AWESOME. …I may have gone faster on skis, but they don’t have a speedometer like my bike does. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/17 "2016-03-22T19:51:47Z")
According to my digital speedometer, I hit a maximum speed of **63 mph** going down a long, steep grade on a 12-speed road bicycle back when I was in college. I remember thinking afterwards that it would have been really bad to have lost control during that ride… At least I was wearing a bicycle helmet. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/18 "2016-03-22T22:17:22Z")
Downhill speed is not human power. It’s gravity-assist. Unless you climbed to the height by your human power, and then released that stored energy in free fall. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/19 "2016-03-22T22:59:48Z")
34 on a straight and level sprint with a touring bike. Not sure I ever got it to 35. Tried many times. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828/20 "2016-03-23T00:31:40Z")
I’ve been over 50 MPH on a bicycle a few times. Now that I’m older and wiser, I stay under 30 mph. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fastest-youve-traveled-with-pure-human-power/749828.md?page=2)