Alfred Letourneur (born 25 July 1907 in Amiens, France and died 4 January 1975 in New York City) was a French professional cyclist. He is known for setting the motor-paced world speed record. [1] He was professional cyclist from 1928 to 1942. [2] His nickname was "le diable rouge". [3]
From 1930 to 1938 he reached 20 victories on the "six-day racing" races in the United States and Canada. [2] He also had 4 victories in National Championship, United States, in years 1932, 1933, 1934 and 1935. [2]
On 22 October 1938, Alfred Letourneur was able to beat the motor-paced world speed record on a bicycle, reaching 147.058 km/h at a velodrome in Montlhéry, France, riding behind a motorbike. [4] On 17 May 1941 he broke the record again, reaching 175.29 km/h (108.92 mph) on a Schwinn bicycle riding behind a specially equipped midget racer, on old highway 99 near Bakersfield, California. [5]
In 1947, in Van Nuys, California he towed a 22 feet (6.7 m) long Airstream trailer with his bicycle as a publicity stunt. [6]
A Derny is a motorized bicycle for motor-paced cycling events such as during six-day and Keirin racing and motor-paced road races. Some riders train behind a derny on the road. The Derny is so-called as it was originally produced by the French Derny firm, but the name Derny is now applied to all small cycle-pacing vehicles, regardless of manufacturer.
John Sigfried Johnson was an early American cyclist and speed skater. He was born as Johan Sigfrid Jonsson in Sweden and emigrated with his parents to Minnesota in the United States in 1881.
In a road bicycle race, the peloton is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close to other riders. The reduction in drag is dramatic; riding in the middle of a well-developed group, drag can be reduced by as much as 95%. Exploitation of this potential energy saving leads to complex cooperative and competitive interactions between riders and teams in race tactics. The term is also used to refer to the community of professional cyclists in general.
The Race Across America, or RAAM, is an ultra-distance road cycling race held across the United States that started in 1982 as the Great American Bike Race.
Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling sports include artistic cycling, cycle polo, freestyle BMX, mountain bike trials, hardcourt bike polo and cycleball. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is the world governing body for cycling and international competitive cycling events. The International Human Powered Vehicle Association is the governing body for human-powered vehicles that imposes far fewer restrictions on their design than does the UCI. The UltraMarathon Cycling Association is the governing body for many ultra-distance cycling races.
The Schwinn Bicycle Company is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets bicycles under the eponymous brand name. The company was founded by Ignaz Schwinn (1860–1948) in Chicago in 1895. and became the dominant manufacturer of American bicycles. Schwinn first declared bankruptcy in 1992 and was restructured, in 2001 Schwinn again declared bankruptcy and was purchased by Pacific Cycle, now owned by the Dutch conglomerate, Pon Holdings.
Frederick Thomas Bidlake was an English racing cyclist of the late 19th century, who became one of the most notable administrators of British road bicycle racing during the early 20th century. The annual Bidlake Memorial Prize, was instituted in his memory. He was a timekeeper in cycling, motorcycling and for seaplane races in the 1930s.
The 1914 Tour de France was the 12th edition of the Tour de France, taking place in 15 stages from 28 June to 26 July. The total distance was 5,380 kilometres (3,340 mi) and the average speed of the riders was 26.835 kilometres per hour (16.674 mph). It was won by the Belgian cyclist Philippe Thys.
This is a glossary of terms and jargon used in cycling, mountain biking, and cycle sport.
A cruiser bicycle, also known as a beach cruiser or (formerly) motobike, is a bicycle that usually combines balloon tires, an upright seating posture, a single-speed drivetrain, and straightforward steel construction with expressive styling. Cruisers are popular among casual bicyclists and vacationers because they are very stable and easy to ride, but their heavy weight and balloon tires tend to make them rather slow. Another common feature is their ability to be customized with accessories including fenders, lights and saddle bags. They are designed for use primarily on paved roads, low speeds/distances, and are included in the non-racing/non-touring class and heavyweight or middleweight styles of the road bicycle type.
A bicycle trailer is a motorless wheeled frame with a hitch system for transporting cargo by bicycle. It can greatly increase a bike's cargo capacity, allowing point-to-point haulage of objects up to 3 cubic metres in volume that weigh as much as 500 kg. However, very heavily loaded trailers may pose a danger to the cyclist and others, and the voluntary European standard EN 15918 therefore suggests a maximum load of 60 kg on trailers without brakes.
Fred Rompelberg is a Dutch cyclist who is mainly known for taking several attempts to break the Absolute World Speed Record Cycling. On 3 October 1995 he cycled behind a motor dragster from the team Strasburg Racing's Brothers on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, with a speed of 268.831 kilometers per hour (167.044 mph). He beat the previous record of 245 km/h held by John Howard which was obtained in 1985 at the same location in Utah. The relevant world record was broken anew in 2018 by Denise Mueller-Korenek who reached a speed of 296.009 km/h.
Albert Champion was a French track bicycle racer and later an industrialist who won the 1899 Paris–Roubaix. In 1905 he incorporated the Albert Champion Company in Boston to make porcelain spark plugs with his name on them. Three years later founded the Champion Ignition Company in Flint, Michigan. In 1922 he changed the name to AC Spark Plug Company, after his initials, to settle out of court with his original partners in the Albert Champion Company. The company is now known as ACDelco and is owned by General Motors.
Motor-paced racing and motor-paced cycling refer to cycling behind a pacer in a car or more usually on a motorcycle. The cyclist follows as close as they can to benefit from the slipstream of their pacer. The first paced races were behind other cyclists, sometimes as many as five riders on the same tandem. Bordeaux-Paris and record attempts have been ridden behind cars. More usually races or training are behind motorcycles.
Richard William "Fatty" Lamb was an Australian racing cyclist who competed on both road and track, as was typical of Australian cyclists of the era such as Hubert Opperman. Throughout his career, Lamb was associated with Malvern Star Bicycles and Bruce Small.
Gerard Debaets was a Belgian racing cyclist. He won the Tour of Flanders in 1924 and 1927 and the Belgian national road race title in 1925. He also specialized in track cycling, winning a total of 18 six-day events, including six times the most prestigious Six Days of New York. Debaets was a resident of Fair Lawn and North Haledon, New Jersey, where he died in 1959 of a heart attack.
Oserick Bernard "Ossie" Nicholson was an Australian cyclist who twice held the World Endurance record for distance in a calendar year.
The Schwinn Paramount was a high-end racing bicycle produced under the Schwinn Bicycle Company brand from 1938 through 2009.
Denise Mueller-Korenek is an American cyclist. As of September 2018, she holds the world record for paced bicycle land speed and is considered "the fastest cyclist on earth". She set the record on September 16, 2018, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, by traveling an average of 183.932 mph (296.009 km/h) on a custom-built carbon KHS bicycle behind a custom-built vehicle to minimize air resistance. The previous record, 167 miles per hour (269 km/h), was set in 1995 by Dutchman Fred Rompelberg. Two years earlier she set the women's bicycle land speed record, pedaling 147.7 mph (237.7 km/h). She is the first and only woman in history to hold the world record, which was first established in 1899.
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