I was riding today and pushed it up around 32mph on a flat stretch. I maybe could have gotten some more out of it if I had gotten off the saddle. I’ll try that next time.
Anyways, I was wondering how that compared with most of you folks on a flat stretch. Also, for any of you really fast ones, any tips on how to pick that up? I know there is no real need for it, but it just got me wondering today during my ride.
Jump out of the saddle, then sit down and try to crank it up some more. It is pretty hard to get over 35mph (at least for me). When I was a pup we had a cop (also a rider) radar us and I hit 37 once solo and 38 with a leadout.
Our fastest trackie (national ranked sprinter) was hitting 40 2 of 3 runs . alone, and 41 with a leadout.
Which direction was the wind blowing and how strong was it? Makes a huge difference.
It that peak speed or sustained for a certain distance?
I’ve hit a peak of 54kmh on my MTB with slicks. COuld only handle it for about 100m though 
I’m pegged at 36mph… but that was a few years ago when I was doing leadouts on a regular basis. I have no acceleration, but the ability to ride fast for a longer amount of time than most.
I’ve hit about 38mph coming off a wheel, and I am not a really good sprinter, since I don’t have the top end speed of a lot of guys I race against. Might have been with a tailwind, I forget since that was a couple of years ago.
These days, I have no idea since I don’t use a bike computer.
You can train speed to a certain extent, but a lot of it is natural ability. 3 things off the top of my head:
Ride lots and lose weight. A lighter rider with the same muscle mass will sprint faster.
Short intervals, long recovery, at 95-100% effort. Efforts should last between 20sec and 1 minute.
Work on power at low cadences, eg standing start intervals. Also work on leg speed. Good workout is a 15 sec sprint from a standing start in a 53/16 or so. Forces the initial high torque acceleration and then turnover at the end of the interval.
I have no idea where the wind was blowing. I’m going to try again and get out of the saddle a little bit and give that a try. When I tried yesterday, it was just a spur of the moment thing.
I was once a feild sprinter for our cycling team, and won a few crits in my day. I can hit 40 mph on flat ground with no wind, and have seen 41-43 mph with a lead out. I’ve done an 11.7 200M (38.46 mph ave) recently on the track, and in our last friday night Madison, I came around a guy whose computer showed his max speed of 41.4 mph.
What I find amazing is the sustained speed of kilo and pursuit riders and the leadout men Mario, Petacchi, Boonen, et al have!
-SD
don’t know the fastest speed but it was fast enough to win a few races.
36, no wind - getting aero helps your max speed
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