The Moment

of Truth

With the truck ready, the bike ready and me
just about ready, what we really had to do
was get everyone together for a test session.

E ALL assembled back at

Bruntingthorpe where Dave Jenkins

and his lads had the truck in top

condition with the fairing looking good, while

the Rourke team had the bike looking like a

dream machine. The fairing – actually quite

similar to the ‘shield’ used by Letourner all

those years ago – now had a brake bar attached,

the idea being that, when the truck slowed

down, a vertical post mounted on the front of

the bike would nudge the horizontal bar

sticking out from the fairing to help slow me

down. The bike also still had its front disc brake

which, because it weighed so little, we had

decided to keep.

W

I had been getting used to riding a fixed wheel

bike by using one supplied by the Rourke lads

to ride to work every day, instead of using my

Cotic. It helped me to get my technique right

as I needed to be as smooth as possible when

pushing the pedals. If you watch road racers

at an event like the Tour de France, when they

are sitting in the saddle travelling at speed

their leg movements are really fluid, not jerky

or snatched. This makes sure that they are

delivering maximum power most efficiently

to the pedals. Some of them actually train by

slipstreaming behind pace cars to perfect their

technique for racing. Not many of them will

have topped 100 mph, though! For trying out

the bike behind the truck, I climbed into an

old set of racing leathers. Dave Le Grys had

had leathers specially made in London for his

Above: After the test session at Bruntingthorpe we

were ready to go for the record.

record run. The leathers had to allow him to

move, so needed to be custom tailored, but

my old leathers gave me all the movement I

needed. The most important thing was that,

if I was to come off the bike at over 100 mph,

as Dave put it, ‘Unless you hit anything solid,

you will slide.’ I certainly know that feeling

from having come off racing motorbikes.

Sliding along the ground slows you down and,

providing you’re not tumbling tip over tail,

brings you to a halt without crunching too

many bones. The leathers protect your skin

as much as possible. Wearing cycling lycra,

the friction involved in sliding along at those

speeds would skin you alive. I also wore

a full-face racing helmet.

60  Britain’s Fastest BiKe