{"id":4700,"date":"2004-06-13T15:32:53","date_gmt":"2004-06-13T20:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sevencycles.com\/blog\/?p=4700"},"modified":"2020-09-14T15:17:13","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T20:17:13","slug":"bicycling-magazine-pedal-to-the-metal-drag-racer-whit-bazemore-may-be-the-worlds-fastest-cyclist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sevencycles.com\/7\/bicycling-magazine-pedal-to-the-metal-drag-racer-whit-bazemore-may-be-the-worlds-fastest-cyclist\/","title":{"rendered":"Bicycling magazine: Pedal to the Metal – Drag racer Whit Bazemore may be the world’s fastest cyclist"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Cole Coonce\"bicycling<\/p>\n

Behind the wheel of his nitro-burning funny car, Whit Bazemore can reach 325 mph in just four seconds. But in 1996 a career-threatening crash forced Bazemore to ride at a much slower pace, as he peddled his way back to health on a stationary bicycle. “I had to learn how to walk again,” he says.<\/p>\n

Many miles later, Bazemore took his new exercise routine to the road, where he caught the cycling bug-bad. Today, Bazemore, 40, spends as much time riding centuries-including Florida’s grueling Gator Hell Week in January-as he does tuning up at the drag strip; while barn stoning the country’s racetracks, he even eschews plane travel in order to cart his bikes in a motor home.<\/p>\n

BICYCLING<\/i> caught up with Bazemore on his cell phone as he cooled down from a century outside his hometown of Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

You were last year’s points title runner-up in your funny car. How do you rate on two wheels?<\/b>
\nI’m not a very good cyclist. My goal in cycling is to keep up with my friends. I am friends with Marty Nothstein, who won a gold medal on the track in the 2000 Olympics. He is a badass. Maybe you should be doing a story on him.<\/p>\n

As soon as he straps himself into one of your time bombs masquerading as race cars and then gets on the bike. <\/b>
\nWell, there’s that. What kind of thrill does pedaling at 20 mph have for you after turning a speed of 320?<\/b>
\nIt’s about pushing yourself. It’s not about speed; it’s about pain and suffering, and making yourself better.<\/p>\n

Tell us about your bikes.<\/b>
\nI have a custom titanium Seven Axiom, a Colnago Carbonissimo with an unpainted carbon-fiber monocoque frame and a Seven Odonata. My bikes are works of art and are treated as such. That is not to say I don’t ride them; last year’s total mileage was about 6,000.<\/p>\n

Who is your favorite cyclist?<\/b>
\nMy wife, Michelle, She does track and road races with me,<\/p>\n

What’s your most memorable bike ride?<\/b>
\nThere have been many… .I’ve done a lot of rides that were really hard for me. The worst one was last summer in Bend, Oregon. There is a loop that goes up to Mt. Bachelor, with beautiful forests and alpine lakes. It’s about 6,000 feet of climbing and 90-something miles. It was 100 degrees by noon. I was incredibly dehydrated. I made it to this juice bar and leaned my bike against a truck parked outside. I had five or six bottles of water and two or three smoothies and was unable to move for two hours. I didn’t care about the bike or anything.<\/p>\n

Would you do it again? <\/b>
\nYes, this summer. Definitely.<\/p>\n

What keeps you cycling?<\/b>
\nYou know: It’s a way of life.<\/p>\n

\"Whit<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Cole Coonce Behind the wheel of his nitro-burning funny car, Whit Bazemore can reach 325 mph in just four seconds. But in 1996 a career-threatening crash forced Bazemore to ride at a much slower pace, as he peddled his way back to health on a stationary bicycle. “I had to learn how to walk … Continue reading “Bicycling magazine: Pedal to the Metal – Drag racer Whit Bazemore may be the world’s fastest cyclist”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[68,748,5,1146],"class_list":["post-4700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-622-sl","tag-axiom-sl","tag-press","tag-whit-bazemore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevencycles.com\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevencycles.com\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevencycles.com\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevencycles.com\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevencycles.com\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4700"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sevencycles.com\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12091,"href":"https:\/\/sevencycles.com\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4700\/revisions\/12091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevencycles.com\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevencycles.com\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevencycles.com\/7\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}