bikes is another passion of mine. Charging

down a hillside at 50 or 60 mph, you rely on

your skill and judgement to keep you out of

trouble. You feel every bump, twist and jolt

that the mountain throws at you, and you

have to be able to cope with it or you will very

quickly become part of the scenery, with a few

broken bones thrown into the bargain.

Being able to feel the speed was what inspired

the challenges that I attempted for the TV

shows that we made, and which we look at in

greater detail in this book. I’m a great believer

in setting myself goals, and I like to think that,

once I’ve a goal to aim for, I’ll do whatever it

takes to achieve it. Problems are part of the

challenge and you have to work your way

through them. If you were to be put off by

every little problem life throws at you, you’d

get nowt done.

Just get on with it, is what I say – but, even

though I might sometimes seem like a spanner

short of a full set, I’m not daft enough to think

that I can do everything all on my own. It takes

the backing of an entire team for me to go

racing motorbikes, and when I set myself the

challenges that you can read about here,

I needed some really talented people

backing me up.

The idea was, as you are about to find out, to

look at different forms of speed and the science

that I would have to learn about to prepare for

the speed challenges, as well as the skills that I

would have to master to come out on top. In all

of the challenges, I would get a proper feeling

of speed and, in some more than others, I can

tell you that I was definitely getting a bit of that

danger buzz!

Riding Britain’s Fastest Bike meant learning

about slipstreaming to minimise drag, and that

was to become something of a common theme

throughout the challenges. Achieving high

speeds always means defeating drag, whether

you are in the air, in the water or on dry land.

It was fascinating to learn about how Mother

Nature had, in so many different ways, tackled

the problems we were facing and, as always, I

was really grateful to all of those who put up

with my questions, showing huge patience in

explaining to me how a wing works, why air is

really just like water, or how lizards manage to

run across ponds!

I discovered a few things about myself during

the challenges, too. On the Britain’s Fastest

Bike and the Human Powered Aircraft jobs, I

was looking forward to doing some hardcore

cycling, and found out that my pedalling power

wasn’t quite as awesome as I had thought!

Despite the fact that I put in plenty of miles

most days on my way to and from work, I

had a lot to do to bring myself up to scratch.

On the Hydroplaning Motorbike challenge I

discovered that doing acrobatics off the front

of my bike into a lake can make falling into

water feel like slamming into concrete. Racing

downhill on a sled made me realise that I

hadn’t lost that feeling of pure excitement you

get when you’re a kid, sliding down a snowy

hillside on a bin-bag. To find it, all I had to do

was go a little bit faster!

I hope that everyone who put so much time and

effort into working with me on the TV series

enjoyed the whole experience as much as I did,

and I hope that, when you read this book, you

will be able to share in the fun and maybe learn

a few things that you never knew before.

Speed and danger don’t always go together,

but it’s proper fun when they do.

Introduction     9