The plan was for the truck to tow me up to

around 60 mph, at which point the tow cable

would be released and I would be on my own.

We tried it all out and it all appeared to work

perfectly, so there was nothing to stop us

having a go at a high-speed run there and then,

was there?

We set off down the runway, Dave building

up speed in the truck as planned and my legs

turning faster and faster on the fixed wheel.

Then the cable was released and I pumped my

legs harder than ever before, concentrating on

keeping myself running straight and true ‘in

the zone’ behind the truck. It was going well

up to the point where I had a bit of a wobble

when the front wheel was taken sideways by a

slight ridge on the runway. Anyone who’s ever

ridden a bike knows what it feels like when

your front wheel is taken away from you by a

crack in the road, a drain or a tramline. It gives

you a bit of a scare until you pull it back again.

Imagine what that feels like at the kind of speed

we were doing. For a second I forgot to pedal

and then had to unclip one of my feet and was

struggling to stay upright. Dave, who could see

me on a monitor screen inside the truck cab,

immediately started to slow down and we came

to a halt with me still in one piece.

Dave jumped out the cab and ran round to see

how I was, and I just couldn’t stop grinning.

That’s what speed is all about for me. That’s

why I love going fast – because you know that it

could all go horribly wrong and there comes a

moment when you are out there on the edge. I

love those moments. Money can’t buy them.

My grin just got wider when Dave told me that

we had done 111.7 mph. We had broken Dave Le

Grys’s record but not by enough to shout it from

the rooftops. We needed to go much faster, but

looking at the length of runway ahead of us

by the time we had come to a standstill, it was

clear that we didn’t have much space left at all.

Dave Le Grys had used the M42 because they

didn’t think they could get up to speed on a

runway or a race track, and he’d been spot on.

Bruntingthorpe had been great for us so far, but

it we were going to go faster we were going to

need a longer track.

Top: The cable that

towed me along to almost

60 mph before being

released from the truck.

Bottom: The small gear

that works with the two

large gears to crank

up the speed.

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH   61