EricDJ

Check out the Mythbusters front page. They did big rig myths. The one that didn't get on the show was cycle drafting. So they put it on the website.

https://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/my...thbusters.html

FigBug

I didn't know drafting was a myth

Indolent58

I hear that ice floats too.

ratebeer

Woah! Who woulda thunkit?! The myth of air resistance is actually REAL!!!!!!!????!!!!!!!!!!!! AMAZING!

chrisvu05

yeah this was a pretty boring segment...I can see why it didn't make it to the air...All they needed to do was ask anyone who has ridden in a paceline or a pack to know drafting helps

EricDJ

The myth they were bustin was how much fuel savings could be had and at what distance. They also did the Knight Rider one of whether a car would lose control trying to pull into a moving truck. Then they wanted to see whether a blowing rig tire could kill a person.

First myth saved fuel at 100, 50, up to 10 feet, lower at 2 feet due to the driver having to keep using the gas pedal to maintain distance. Car into truck works. Tire blow only worked when tire was thrown back into a person, not blowing next to them.

Mach42

It looks like Tory is a masher and a neo-apocalyptic fred.

gcl8a

Did you ever see the one where he tried to bunny hop a wagon and didn't...quite...make it?

Blue Jays

It seems like it should have garnered a confirmed rating rather than a plausible rating. It would be a hoot to have a rented 18-wheeler (with a cyclist at the helm) to accompany a fast club ride. Yowza, could you imagine the average speed for a group of physically-fit cyclists that night?!

Mach42

Yea, they could probably spin out with a 53/11 on anything other than an incline even on a century ride.


Nope, but I'd like to see that. Is it on youtube anywhere?

Edit: Found it...Oh my god...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbmp8L0D5ro

ratebeer

Hilarious! Thanks for the clip.
Stupid human tricks gone bad that are recorded to video serve as a reminder to all young idiots not to express their stupidity in ways that are purposeless and likely to cause bodily harm.

mcoomer

There have been more than a couple of guys pull this trick with SUV's on our Tuesday night rides. You're hammering along and look over to see an SUV pass you pulling a rider or two behind. I guess that in the end it doesn't matter how you get back to the shop ahead of the pack, just that you do.

Hocam

It seems like they watched "Breaking Away" and wanted to prove if that was possible.


It'd be cooler to see if holding onto a taxi while riding a fixie in NYC made you faster.

Blue Jays

mcoomer, yup, I pulled this trick riding to our scheduled Saturday-morning ride last week. I was running a bit late and hopped behind a telephone company utility truck. The driver "coordinated" with me so well that I'm convinced he was a fellow bicycle rider! It was very early and not another moving vehicle was in sight...and he pulled me along at 35 m.p.h. for over two miles before turning with a wave. That nice guy definitely did me a favor.

FixdGearHead

Face plant. heh

Really surprised the lawyers at Discovery allowed him to try that without a helmet...

dave99ag

I'm surprised they didn't go Mythbusters style and see how fast he could really go.

It looked like they were using one of the new Polar CS models. Maybe the CS400.

merlinextraligh

What a low tech setup. I can't believe they didn't use a power meter.

Bob Ross

When I was an undergrad (this is going back nearly 30 years now) one of my professors had done a stint in the Army as a truck mechanic. He claimed that one of the more dangerous jobs in that line of work was mounting & inflating truck tires on the two-piece wheels that they used. Apparently the inner & outer half of the wheel are two separate pieces held together by the resistance provided by the inflated tire...and that if the two halves somehow become disengaged while the tire is up to full pressure, the results can be catastrophic. I don't know the details, so perhaps anyone familiar w/ truck wheels can elaborate.

But the thing he said that really caught my attention was this: That should that catastrophic wheel-separation-under-pressure occur, it would do so with such explosive force "that it could launch a 16lb bowling ball over 1 mile into the air." He stated this not as hyperbole, but as a literal consequence of the disaster.

To this day, when I think about that statement I have to wonder "How does he know?"

Now, based on the other folks I've met who spent time in the armed forces, I wouldn't put it past these guys to have come to this conclusion empirically. But if MythBusters ever runs out of things to debunk...

GA_Roadbkr

Plausible
Hmm, just like gravity is plausible.....

probable556

Does anyone else think drafting a truck would be fun? I catch drafts from cars sometimes, but that big truck can really pull.

Yoshi

I've done it. I once destroyed my front wheel drafting a bus - There was a metal grate in the middle of the street that was raised about an inch or two above the ground. I couldn't see it until it was too late (since ya know, it was under the bus until right before I hit it). I didn't go down and managed to bang my wheel around until it was rideable again.

I DO NOT REGRETS IT!

daz-o-matic

When I was a kid growing up in small-town Saskatchewan, my Dad owned/operated a small trucking company. The drivers used to repair thier own tires, and I can recall them securing a couple lengths of chain around the tire and rim when they inflated it - in case the split rim came apart.
I was in the shop with my Dad one day when one of the drivers decided to forego the safety chain - his reasoning was that "I do this all the time and they never blow apart". Well, Murphy's law prevailed...the split ring blew off the rim, hit the ceiling (left a perfect ring-sized dent) and landed back on the tire. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. Scared the crap out of the driver, and me being a little kid, I thought it was cool as hell.
After that, the safety chain became company policy rather than just a good idea That, and us kids got shooed out of the shop when the guys were fixing tires.

I've seen big, heavy tire-sized cages designed for this - if it comes apart while inflating, everything stays in the cage.

DocRay

Air is a myth. I can't see it. It ain't there. Scientists collaborating with the Govment.

merlinextraligh

absolutely. I do it most chances I get. Got in behind a gravel truck yesterday. A little bit dangerous but a great workout. (sit in the draft at speed, then come out and pass the truck, repeat).

krazyderek

anyone else not seeing the video? i can't see it when i click on the link.

EDIT: ok i dug a little more and found it