Track cyclist vs race horse

[Josh.E]

I watched "Secretariat" tonight with my daughter, which by the way, if you have a 7 year old girl is a highly recommended movie.

Anyway, in 1973, Secretariat won the 1 1/2 mile belmont stakes in 2:24. So that's 2.4km, and works out to an average speed of 60km/h.
Jack Bobridge just did the 4K pursuit in 4:10. 57.6km/h average.

Secretariats best 6 furlong time is 1:09.8. That works out to 1.2km at 61.89km/h average.
The track kilo record is 58.875 seconds, so 1km at 61.14km/h average.

So who would win a race of 2.4km between a racehorse and a track cyclist? What about a race of 4km?. Seems like it would be really close. Someone needs to set some of these up. Maybe a tripleshot VCL race?

[Lister Farrar]

I watched "Secretariat" tonight with my daughter, which by the way, if you have a 7 year old girl is a highly recommended movie.

Anyway, in 1973, Secretariat won the 1 1/2 mile belmont stakes in 2:24. So that's 2.4km, and works out to an average speed of 60km/h.
Jack Bobridge just did the 4K pursuit in 4:10. 57.6km/h average.

Secretariats best 6 furlong time is 1:09.8. That works out to 1.2km at 61.89km/h average.
The track kilo record is 58.875 seconds, so 1km at 61.14km/h average.

So who would win a race of 2.4km between a racehorse and a track cyclist? What about a race of 4km?. Seems like it would be really close. Someone needs to set some of these up. Maybe a tripleshot VCL race?

We already had that Friday...chasing four horses, Chris F, Gavin, Mark, Steve. They won.

[Lister Farrar]

I watched "Secretariat" tonight with my daughter, which by the way, if you have a 7 year old girl is a highly recommended movie.

Anyway, in 1973, Secretariat won the 1 1/2 mile belmont stakes in 2:24. So that's 2.4km, and works out to an average speed of 60km/h.
Jack Bobridge just did the 4K pursuit in 4:10. 57.6km/h average.

Secretariats best 6 furlong time is 1:09.8. That works out to 1.2km at 61.89km/h average.
The track kilo record is 58.875 seconds, so 1km at 61.14km/h average.

So who would win a race of 2.4km between a racehorse and a track cyclist? What about a race of 4km?. Seems like it would be really close. Someone needs to set some of these up. Maybe a tripleshot VCL race?

We already had that Friday...chasing four horses, Chris F, Gavin, Mark, Steve. They won.

[Rolf]

That's inneresting, Josh. And kind of amazing, when you look at all the muscle on a racehorse. I'm sure there's some commentary on power to weight ratios there.

I don't know much about either track cycling or horseracing, but I'm pretty sure the horses start from a gate (i.e. a standstill). Is that the same for those cycling records? Or do they enjoy the benefit of a flying start?

[sylvan]

I'm pretty sure the horses start from a gate (i.e. a standstill). Is that the same for those cycling records?

Yes, it's a standing start for the pursuiters, too. I bet the horse would get a big lead out of the gate, then the bike would gradually claw it back.

[Rolf]

Yes, it's a standing start for the pursuiters, too. I bet the horse would get a big lead out of the gate, then the bike would gradually claw it back.

Holy crap. So they average 60 km/h over 1 minute, including acceleration from 0? Phenomenal.

[sylvan]

Holy crap. So they average 60 km/h over 1 minute, including acceleration from 0? Phenomenal.

Yeah, it's pretty impressive. I don't what Jacky Bobby's splits were, but if he did 20.5 seconds for the first 200m, then 3:50.0 for the rest, that's about 59.5 km/h for just under four minutes, first lap at 35 km/h from a standing start, total average speed 57.577 km/h for the new record.

The all-time hour record is 56.375 km/h by Boardman. Merckx did 49.431 km/h, "Merckx-style" of course (no aero), subsequently knocked up to 49.700 by Ondřej Sosenka.

[sylvan]

Here's Bradley "Wiggo" "Wigans" Wiggins taking on Bradley McGee in a good pursuit showdown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIWVRFjGuQ0

[Katie]

Yes, it's a standing start for the pursuiters, too. I bet the horse would get a big lead out of the gate, then the bike would gradually claw it back.

Holy crap. So they average 60 km/h over 1 minute, including acceleration from 0? Phenomenal.

You want to see a powerful acceleration, check out a motivated greyhound. They can go from 0-70km/hr in 6 strides, then maintain their top speed for 250m.

I couldn't find the acceleration stats for whippets, but I believe it's similar. Speaking from experience, you do NOT want to be holding a whippet's leash when they spot a deer or rabbit on the other side of the park. The 30lb dog can (and has) pull an adult right off their feet and through the air before the person even knows what's happening.

[Josh.E]

Yeah, greyhounds are awesome.
Cheetahs are supposed to be able to get to 60mph in around 3 seconds.

Secretariats belmont stakes race finishing speed was clocked at 49MPH. Apparently the horses generally have about a 1/4 mile flat out sprint in them at the end, and before that the jockey has to manage the pacing so they don't blow up. The track cyclist would definitely be getting chased down at the finish line trying to hold off the horse.

Secretariat is also the fastest racehorse of all time. You can watch the other horse, "Sham", who finished 2nd in the derrby and in the preakness stakes try to match the pace, blow up and get caught by the pack. It's cool, like cycling with 2000 pound animals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu5_nuIEgkw

[Josh.E]

sam whittingham human powered speed records.

flying 200m - 133.284km/h
flying 1000m - 128.4km/h

hour record 90.724km/h

the bike is a pretty cool thing. Using our brains to compensate for our biomechanical inefficiencies, humans are the fastest land animal both in terms of top speed, and in terms of sustained speed.

the only place we still get beat is in acceleration.

[sylvan]

Secretariats belmont stakes race finishing speed was clocked at 49MPH. Apparently the horses generally have about a 1/4 mile flat out sprint in them at the end, and before that the jockey has to manage the pacing so they don't blow up. The track cyclist would definitely be getting chased down at the finish line trying to hold off the horse.

Wow, that is intense. That really would be an epic match race if there was a way to set it up. I can't imagine the cyclist would accelerate anything close to as fast as the horse. So hypothetically the horse would take an early lead, the cyclist would pass and maybe build up a bit of a gap, and the closing speed at the end would be huge as the horse surged for the finish. Too bad the racing surfaces are so different and an actual head-to-head wouldn't work. It could be computer-modeled by taking the times of the first 12 laps of a 4000m pursuit and blending a cyclist at that speed into the footage of a Belmont Stakes. The average winning time of Belmont is about 2:28. Jacky Bobby's time was probably about 2:32-2:33 at the 2400m mark. What if it was only a 2414m pursuit?

[norman marcy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V2FgwN_re4&NR=1

This is only on of many vids of Sam and his record setting bike

not bad for a guy that used to pul wrenches at Fairfield Bikeshop for a living

[Josh.E]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xl1oShNq74

Instead of wondering what Merckx could do against Man o War......
why not race two time lanterne rouge Jimmy Casper vs a harness racer. Sort of fitting.

World record for a trotter harness racer is 1:51 for a mile. Almost 52km/h. They look like they do half a lap. No idea what the distance is.



Even better than trying to arrange a cyclist to race on a horse track, why not just do this.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SDIq_-x ... re=related

[emilederosnay]

Yeah, greyhounds are awesome.
Secretariats belmont stakes race finishing speed was clocked at 49MPH. Apparently the horses generally have about a 1/4 mile flat out sprint in them at the end, and before that the jockey has to manage the pacing so they don't blow up. The track cyclist would definitely be getting chased down at the finish line trying to hold off the horse.

Check this awesome vid out of Sir Chris Hoy's world cup keirin in Feb There's a huge crash, ut he won convincingly. Also, his last 200m is 10.2s, which is over 70kph after several laps at a decent speed (but he lets up just before the finish, knowing he won - he can break 10s for a flying 200).

http://www.youtube.com/user/HLaB75#p/a/u/0/9UafA2541c4