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Denise Mueller-Korenek: Cycling world land speed record broken Cycling land speed: Denise Mueller-Korenek breaks world record
(about 3 hours later)
A US woman has broken the long-standing cycling world land speed record. For most people, the idea of travelling along the ground at more than 180mph in anything other than a plane preparing for take-off is nausea-inducing.
Denise Mueller-Korenek rode a custom bike at an average of 183.932 mph (296.010 km/h) across the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah on 16 September. Denise Mueller-Korenek, it is fair to say, is not most people.
Following a racing car driver in a dragster, Mueller-Korenek smashed a world record of 167 mph that had stood since 1995. The US woman reached an eye-watering average speed 183.932 mph (296.010 km/h) - on a bicycle.
It was "crazy wild", she said, but "worth the sacrifice" of years spent training. The remarkable speed means the 45-year-old not only smashed her own world record, but the long-standing men's one as well.
Mueller-Korenek now holds the land speed record for both genders as she already broke the women's record - 147 mph - in 2016. Her reaction? Somewhat understated.
Currently, the men's and women's records are separate, but after Mueller-Korenek's feat, there are calls for the Guinness World Records to be unified and non-gender-specific. "It was a crazy wild ride to 183.9 mph, but so worth the sacrifice and years of focus on becoming the fastest human on a bicycle in the world," Mueller-Korenek said.
The previous 167 mph record was set by Dutchman Fred Rompelberg - also on the Bonneville Salt Flats. "We weren't supposed to go more than 175."
"It was a crazy wild ride to 183.9 mph, but so worth the sacrifice and years of focus on becoming the fastest human on a bicycle in the world," Mueller-Korenek said. "We weren't supposed to go more than 175." Mueller-Korenek's record-breaking feat saw her ride her custom-made bike across the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah on 16 September.
Mueller-Korenek released a video of the feat on her YouTube channel. She had set the women's record - 147 mph - in 2016, and apparently had her eye on the 167mph record set by Dutchman Fred Rompelberg back in 1995.
In order to reach her record-breaking speed, the former US national track, road and mountain bike champion, 45, was pulled along by tow rope at 100 mph, before being released to pedal herself. And, as she followed a racing car driver in a dragster across the flats, Mueller-Korenek made toppling the record look easy.
She released a video of the feat on her YouTube channel.
In order to reach her record-breaking speed, the former US national track, road and mountain bike champion was pulled along by tow rope at 100 mph, before being released to pedal herself.
From that point she was riding in the slipstream of the dragster for 3.5 miles, achieving the record average of 183.9 mph over the last mile.From that point she was riding in the slipstream of the dragster for 3.5 miles, achieving the record average of 183.9 mph over the last mile.
To put that in context, that's about the same speed a Boeing 747 is travelling just before it leaves the runway during take-off.
As a result of her feat, there are calls for Guinness World Records to stop listing separate men's and women's records for the event.
Woman smashes cycling land speed record
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