Two bicyclists and a bird

[Cycledelic68]

Two bicyclists start out 40 miles apart and ride toward each other at 20 miles per hour. A bird (swallow) flies 50 miles per hour from one bike to the other, back and forth, starting when the two bicyclists are 40 miles apart. When the bicyclists meet how far did the swallow fly?

 

[Captain Awesome]

 

[Da Gas Man]

50 miles

 

[Wildcat]

My boys got the answer!

The bird can't maintain 50mph as it turns to go the opposite direction, that's not possible. It has to slow while turning then accelerate back and exceed 50mph to even out at 50 miles per the one hour. Or make a big turn at high speed. Then it would have gone further than 50 miles. The bird can't calculate or know how fast it is going in the first place, or fly in a perfectly straight line as it goes back and forth. So the bird had to fly faster than 50mph to end up at exactly 50 miles in one hour. The measurement is also in question. Who was watching the bird for that hour? Maybe another bird took over after the first one got tired and quit. Maybe it hid in a tree until the end, then showed up like the imposter that ran in the 1968 Olympic marathon.

 

[Captain Awesome]

Everyone knows birds aren’t real

 

[Pondo]

Was the bird carrying a coconut? Also, it would probably take me 1.25 hrs to cover that 20 miles on my bike as I would stop at the coffee shop.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

 

[Cycledelic68]

50 miles

I found it here

Its simple. Both bicyclists meet in one hour, since they're going 20 miles per hour and each one travels 20 miles (1/2 of 40 miles). Since the bird is flying 50 miles per hour, in one hour the bird will fly 50 miles.