Battle Mountain-The Story of the Human Powered Speed Challenge

Pedaling a futuristic looking bicycle down a remote stretch of state highway in 2016 Todd Reichert whooshed his way into the record books. After 5 miles of vein popping effort he crossed the finish line in Battle Mountain, Nevada at 89.59 mph creating a new world human powered mark that stands to this day. 

As with so many other events the World Human Powered Speed Challenge (WHPSC) which is held in the desert each year was sadly cancelled for 2020. In it's place a group of racers and officials has offered a week long virtual event that anyone can participate in. This led to a request to bring all these folks together on the Laidback Bike Report to celebrate the virtual event and the amazing history of the real life Battle Mountain race.

In this webcast my co-host and pal Arnold Ligtvoet will start the show with a quick rundown of the virtual event and it's participants. Then we will move on to a wide ranging discussion and  detailed look at the WHPSC from past to present with some  big names in HPV racing circles. Included in our panel are: Dr, Paolo Baldissera and his student Lucrezia from Team Policumbent from Italy. Renowned builders and racers Larry Lem and Mike Mowett. World record holder Dr. Todd Reichert  from the University of Toronto will share his thoughts and Lander County Tourism Board representative Paula Tomera will talk about what this event means to the locals and the big changes they're making for the future.

**Clickable Table of Contents for this month’s video**
00:00:00  Intro
00:00:54  What’s on Today’s Show
00:01:15  Panel Introduction
00:03:46  Sponsor Introduction
00:04:45  Arnold introduces Battle Mountain and the WHPSC
00:11:55  Arnold explains the 2020 Virtual World Human Powered Speed Challenge
00:18:42  Battle Mountain Main Discussion
00:21:40  Panel Introduction
00:23:50  History of Battle Mountain with Larry Lem and Arnold
00:26:00  The Battle Mountain town plays a big part in the WHPSC-Paula Tomera
00:28:20  The Race Course and Rules of the event with Larry Lem
00:37:30  The People and the Bikes of Battle Mountain with Paolo, Larry and Todd
01:10:30  Students Building Streamliners for Battle Mountain with Lucrezia of Team Policumbent
01:19:20  Todd Reichert talks about riding fastest enough to be the world’s fastest human
01:40:20  Sargent Arthur Aten of the Nevada Highway Patrol warns the racers 
01:42:00  Law enforcement interaction at Battle Mountain
01:45:35  The Records set at Battle Mountain with Mike Mowett
01:59:25  What are the limits of human powered speed?-Paolo, Mike and Todd
02:01:00  The Future of Battle Mountain Racing-A new track?
02:06:25  Sponsor Thanks
02:06:55  Coming up next month
02:07:20  How you can support the Laidback Bike Report

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Links Related to this Webcast:
World Human Powered Speed Challenge  http://www.ihpva.org/whpsc/index.htm
Virtual WHPSC  https://www.policumbent.it/whpsc-sim/
Battle Mountain Tourism  https://landercountytourism.com/

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