Top: Dutch champion

cyclist Fred Rompelberg

competing in 1969. He

was to set the World

Cycling Absolute Speed

Record 26 years later.

22    Britain’s Fastest Bike

the venue for the next round of bicycle speed

record attempts. American Allan Abbott hit

139 mph (223 km/h) behind a souped-up 1955

Chevrolet in 1973 while US Olympic cyclist

John Howard took the record to 152 mph

(244 km/h) in 1985, hurtling along behind a

specially built dragster. Howard’s record stood

for the next 10 years until Dutch professional

cycle racer Fred Rompelberg – at 50 years old

the oldest professional cyclist in the world

– hurtled across the Bonneville flats behind

a drag racer at 167.04 mph (268.831 km/h).

Rompelberg’s remains the motor paced

cycling absolute speed record.

The British and Commonwealth

bicycle speed record was set

on the M42 motorway in 1986 at

110 mph. That was the one for me.

If I was going to go for a record on a bike,

I thought it should be more of a home-grown

British affair. Bonneville Salt Flats and fancy

drag racers are all very well, but what I wanted

was something a bit closer to my own heart –

a British record, set in Britain on a British-built

bike. It wasn’t difficult to work out the record

to go for. The British and Commonwealth

bicycle speed record was set on the M42

motorway in 1986 at 110 mph. That was the

one for me.

Right: The best way

to start a record attempt

is with a nice cup of tea!

Bottom: Bonneville

Salt Flats in Utah, USA,

where Fred Rompelberg

pedalled behind a drag

racer at 167.04 mph

(286.831 km/h) just

four weeks before

his 50th birthday.