Who believes that TDF time trials went an hour at 42 mph?
The maximum gearing for flat ground speeds on a road bike, even if using a huge 56t chainring and an unusually high geared cassette falls slightly short of the 42mph sustained advertised speeds.
Since these were not present in most cases and neither Schlumph HI-Speed Drive nor Shimano Capreo nor SRAM's recumbent hub were present to actually provide the gearing, I think the press fed us a line of bunk.
Upon asking a reliable source about advertised speeds without the necessary gearing being visible, he said: "Don't believe everything you read."
Yet, if the speed was actually Kilometers Per Hour, KPH, the speed of 26 MPH doesn't quite sound challenging enough for the world's best athletes unless there were some fierce headwinds or lots of hills with the end of the course at higher elevation than the start.
Neither possibility makes much sense, but only one is physically possible--unless the course was entirely downhill (it wasn't).
What do you think?
I can get to 30 mph in 52/14 and i am a junior first year racer on a normal road bike, not a TT bike. I think their top speed could be around the 40's on flats or slight downhills, but their average probably isnt 40.
CarbonTi 40/26 chainrings the movie.mov
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