A man from BC, from little-known Quadra Island to be exact, is aiming to be reach the fastest speed ever through human power alone. Sam Whittingham has built a bicycle that he hopes will break the world speed record of 130 kilometers an hour at the upcoming Human Powered Speed Challenge in Nevada. The following article is courtesy of Chris Keam and the Tyee.ca , a great independent online news portal….

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Cyclist Sam Whittingham aims to shatter his own human-powered record.

Forget about the Jamaican sensation Usain Bolt and his stroll to Olympic gold. Bolt only managed a paltry 27.3 miles per hour (43.9 kilometres per hour) for 30 metres during his record-setting 100 metre run. The speediest man on the planet is actually Sam Whittingham of Quadra Island, British Columbia. And he’ll be attempting to go faster than 82 mph (130 km/h) at the Human Powered Speed Challenge in Battle Mountain, Nevada, Sept. 15 to 20.

Whittingham will be inside the Varna Diablo III, a purpose-built "HPV" (human-powered vehicle), designed by Bulgarian-born sculptor and inventor Georgi Georgiev of Gabriola Island. It’s so fast that other riders buy the previous incarnations, knowing he has struck aerodynamic gold. Georgiev, however, is quick to point out he’s no engineer… and simplicity is the key to the Varna design. The man who pilots Georgiev’s very slippery bike believes the secret to the machine is one of observation and imagination.

"If you had Georgi’s brain you could build this thing mostly from stuff in a hardware store," says Whittingham. "It’s a very organic shape. If you look at nature you’ll see these same kind of shapes, and that’s where Georgi gets his inspiration."

Continue reading on the Tyee.ca ….