Cycling Tips & Stories Article

The Gossamer Condor in the Smithsonian institution. Photo by ideonexus

Columbia Tribune columnist Sue Gerard explains how her son Walt, founder of Walt's Bike Shop in Columbia, invented a gadget that helped the Gossamer Condor--the first human-powered aircraft--complete its record-setting run:

Walt and Dave, innovative bicyclists, saw the serious bicyclist’s need for a device that would measure two things: miles per hour and cadence, to monitor the speed and regularity of pedaling. Walt and Dave set out to create a device they called "The Pacemeter." . . .

Walt and Dave planned for their Pacemeter to have two dials, a speedometer and a tachometer to register the rate and rhythm of pedaling. A glance at the handlebars would help the rider get "more miles for less muscle."

They refined the device until it weighed a mere nine ounces.

One morning, Walt received a call from a California fellow who was vying for the Henry Kremer prize - $87,000 for the first person in the world to invent a successful plane propelled by human power. It had to take off, clear a 10-foot pylon, fly a half-mile, turn around, return and land safely. Paul MacCready explained they were working on a human-powered plane and thought the Pacemeter could help them. They flew many unsuccessful trials, always improving the design and reducing the weight to attempt to earn the Kremer prize. A bicycle racer who weighed twice as much as the plane was set to try again in MacCready’s "Gossamer Condor," a flimsy, 70-pound bird with a 96-foot wingspread. At 7:37 a.m. on Aug. 23, 1977, like a silent movie, the Gossamer Condor moved forward and lifted upward. It now hangs in the Smithsonian with the Pacemeter attached.

Read the rest of the story in the Columbia Tribune.

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