September 21, 2015 (Battle Mountain, Nevada) – Canada’s AeroVelo has done it. Toronto’s Dr. Todd Reichert piloted his team’s Eta recumbent speed bike to claim the 2015 World Human Powered Speed Challenge (WHPSC) title on Sept. 17 in Battle Mountain, Nevada.

Reichert and co-founder Cameron Robertson, came up short last year but this year the Canadian duo as AeroVelo delivered hitting 85.71mph (137.93km/h) to break the speed record of 133.9 kph (or 83.8 mph) set by a Dutch team in fall 2013.

Before that, Sam Whittingham of Quadra Island, B.C. held the record for nearly 14 years. Now, the Toronto duo has brought the prize back to Canada.

Reichert is no stranger to setting records. In June 2013 he pedaled a gigantic four-rotor human-powered helicopter called The Atlas to a height of 3.3 metres for 64 seconds, breaking into the record books. Reichert won the AHS Sikorsky Prize for the first human-powered helicopter to reach a hovering height of more than three metres, a $250,000 award that had previously gone unclaimed for 33 years.

Since 2010 he and Robertson have worked with the University of Toronto’s Human-Powered Vehicle Design Team, as AeroVelo recruited engineering students to help build their latest design called the Eta, based on the Greek letter that represents efficiency.

Now Reichert is the fastest human-powered man alive.

Now in its 16th year, the international competition attracts speed bikes from around the world and AeroVelo’s record was set on the fourth day of the six-day contest. During each trial, competitors are allowed 5 miles/8.04km of exceptionally flat road to ramp up to a full-speed run through a 200-meter speed trap.

Pedal 2014 feature here.
2015 WHPSC title here and here.