Jonkheer (female equivalent: ; french: Écuyer; en, Squire) is an honorific in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the nobility. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used by the untitled nobility. In Belgium, this is the ...

Sebastiaan Bowier (born August 23, 1987) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

cyclist. In September 2013, he achieved a speed of in a

human powered vehicle Human-powered transport is the transport of person(s) and/or goods using human muscle power. Unlike animal-powered transport, human-powered transport has existed since time immemorial in the form of walking, running and swimming. Modern technolo ...

(HPV), breaking the previous world record.

Human Power Team

Bowier has been a member of the Human Power Team since 2011. In 2011, he won the Battle Mountain race, but failed to break the world record, instead taking the European and Dutch records with a speed of . He was for the second year running the strongest cyclist during selection, and both an experienced recumbent rider and road cyclist.

Record attempt

On 15 September 2013, Bowier broke the

International Human Powered Vehicle Association The International Human Powered Vehicle Association (IHPVA) is a US-based organization dedicated to promoting the design and development of human powered vehicles (HPVs) and the keeping of speed and distance records for these vehicles and bikes. ...

record, previously set by Canadian

Sam Whittingham Sam Whittingham is a Canadians, Canadian cycle sport, cyclist who has held several world records on recumbent bicycles. Records , he held the following world records under the sanction of the International Human Powered Vehicle Association: ...

in 2009, by . The speed of was achieved over a stretch of road in Battle Mountain, on a

recumbent bicycle A recumbent bicycle is a bicycle that places the rider in a laid-back reclining position. Most recumbent riders choose this type of design for ergonomic reasons: the rider's weight is distributed comfortably over a larger area, supported by ba ...

named VeloX3, designed by students from the

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

and the

VU University Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

. He required a run-up of before setting the record.

Vehicle

The VeloX3 bicycle he used has a profiled carbon fibre shell covered with the same type of coating used on Formula One cars. It experiences approximately one-tenth of the drag of a conventional

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

, and uses a camera on the top for navigation. It was found that hard pedalling led to deformation of the shell, which had to be corrected before the record could be set. Two new shells were used for the racing, with parts from the testing vehicles being reused.

Training

He trained for 15 to 20 hours every week for a year, under a regime chosen by Human Movement Sciences students from VU University in Amsterdam.

Personal life

Bowier works for bicycle component manufacturer BBB Cycles as a product designer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowier, Sebastiaan 1987 births Living people Dutch male cyclists Human-powered vehicles Cyclists from Rotterdam