No, it’s not a bird or a plane. It’s Denise Mueller-Korenek on a bicycle. The 45-year-old cyclist and mother of three became the fastest human to ride a bike over open ground in mid-September. Her speed: 183.932 mph, or the same acceleration a Boeing 747 needs to takeoff.
Mueller-Korenek’s record-setting feat eclipsed the 167 mph mark set by Fred Rompelberg in 1995.
“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!” she said in a press release.
She took to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, where a dragster — which also shielded her from the wind — initially towed her to 100 mph before releasing the tow rope 1.5 miles into the run so she could take over under her own power.
In fact, she was pedaling so fast that the salt dust kicked up and lined her entire throat.
Mueller-Korenek was a champion cyclist as a teenage, but she retired early in her professional career to manage a home security business and start a family. After reuniting with a former coach who began racing behind drag cars, she became interested in that side of the sport only a few years ago.
According to Gear Junkie, Mueller-Korenek was on a highly-specialized bike, specifically designed to take on speeds no one ever thought possible for a nonmotorized mode of transportation.
“It includes 17-inch, high-speed-rated motorcycle wheel construction and tires to keep the center of gravity low, an elongated frame with a short-travel suspension to dampen vibrations, a steering stabilizer to prevent treacherous ‘speed wobble,’ and — most importantly — double-reduction gearing and drivetrain that make such high speeds possible at human RPMs,” Adam Ruggiero explained.
The professional driver who guided Mueller-Korenek to the record was none other than Shea Holbrook.
“[It was] The ride of her life and the drive of mine,” Holbrook said in an Instagram post. “Where’s our margarita? We have the salt.”
It’s a ride worth toasting, not only for smashing the previous record but for staying upright and walking away in one piece.
