I had a dream, and that dream became a reality! Gabriel de Vault and the Easy Racers team (Mac, Macky, John) spent a lot of money, and a lot of their time to enable me attend the speed challenge at Battle Mountain this year. Without them I would probably have stayed at home. So, at the very beginning of my story I say, “THANK YOU”!

I flew to San Francisco on a Boeing 747, so my “extra-dimensions” bike had enough space inside the plane. I traveled alone. Macky and two of his friends picked me at the airport. I stayed for 5 days at the Martin’s house. I was training, enjoying my time with them, and getting the bikes ready (EIVIE II and their tricycle TRIRUSH). We arrived at Battle Mountain, Nevada on Sunday early in the morning. It rained! In the afternoon we practiced launching on one of the “almost no-traffic” roads. Macky has a lot of experience, so he never dropped me (4 times).

MONDAY     Fortunately on Monday morning the weather was good. I qualified, so in the evening I tried my first ride on SR305, with the EIVIE II. Macky was the last in the first group. After he made a run with TRIRUSH, he came back and launched me in the second group. The launch was perfect. However, I still had protective tape on the streamlined body surfaces. My computer showed my max speed as116 km/h, so I was very satisfied due to the circumstances. It was cold. My front wheel was the reserve one. The tires were slow ones. Later I found out that my speed was only 63 mph. I immediately tested my computer and discovered that it was not operating correctly.

TUESDAY      Today, I prepared the bike to be faster… a faster front wheel with a tubular Kevlar tire, a faster rear tire, and all the protective tape removed from the surface. But I didn’t have enough time to mount the computer. Arne Hodalic and Milovan arrived on this day from Slovenia, so I was very happy that I could show them that the bike works fine and is FAST.  I even set a new European speed record of 72.101 mph! ! I gratefully accepted Robs Hitchcock offer to share his room, as he was alone and I was sharing with three others. It was a great day.

WEDNESDAY   Gabriel de Vault arrived on the previous evening, so he helped me on Wednesday. We removed the entire tape adhesive, which had stayed on the surface after removing the tape, and filled the holes with the filler. Arne Hodalic helped with sanding the surface. I removed all the stickers and changed the front tire with the fastest one. The bike looked superior! On my evening run, the launching was bad. I almost drop, when Larry Lem ran and dived under the vehicle, so he protected it from any scratch. HE IS THE MAN! Computer stopped at 113 km/h and it didn’t want to measure correctly. Because we were late at the launching area, we forgot to pump up the tires. I realized that when I heard the results of the run. Although my effort today was much stronger, my speed was a little bit slower than yesterday. So I immediately went to the van and checked the rear tire – only 60 PSI! The next day I was convinced that the front tire was also at about the same pressure.

THURSDAY       Today I made a checklist and an organization plan for our Easy Eivie team so we would not forget anything. However, our launches were very bad. We succeed on the fourth try. My speed was increasing rapidly, but the computer stopped at 113 km/h again. Anyway, I could feel that my cadence was improving. I estimated the speed about 120 km/h when I came upon some severe bumps at the 1 mile-to-go marker.  I lost control of the vehicle. I was in the air for 0.5 second and crashed loudly on the road, slid along the road, hit one plastic marker, and stopped 3-4 meters from the edge of the road in the bushes. I was not injured, and the bike only suffered scratches. God, if I hadn’t crashed, I am convinced that I would have gone about 80 mph at finish line! Sam Whittingham was in shock as a result of my crash. He held me tight and looked into my eyes… “Don’t do this”, he said. I understood.  He had crashed at 80+ mph two years ago. We are all very connected, have a strong feeling of camaraderie, and a strong sense of fair-play. I am happy to be a part of such a great group of people.

FRIDAY      I am very thankful to Dave Balfour from the Varna II team, and Joe and his friends from the Cal-Poly team, who repaired my vehicle. The air was full of altruism and this is proven: we are all one big family. Mac Martin helped to repair the bottom fairing. I changed the front tire with a slower, Kevlar one. The previous tire had exploded in the crash. Sam Whittingham lent me the glue for sew-ups again. In the evening, we unfortunately decided to be in the first rider’s group.  I had to start first. The wind was very strong. So strong, that I decided to abort the run at a speed of 100 km/h when I heard rubbing from the back wheel. I felt bad, because I knew this was the last hot day. Arne and Milovan recorded the run from the airplane. I didn’t crash again!

SATURDAY       It is now or never! Dave Balfour made the surface of EIVIE II even smoother. Thom Ollinger also helped. On bad days you know who your friends are. Alice and Al Krause also stayed by me, preparing sandwiches and relaxing me with talk. I moved the sensor and the magnet of the computer closer to the hub, as Sam suggested, hoping it will finally work. In the evening the computer still doesn’t work. Damn! It was a very cold day. I couldn’t warm up enough and I was tired from all of the previous days’ efforts.  Anyway, I pushed as hard as I could, but my speed was almost constant for the last 1000 m or last 1 mile. I thought I was definitely slower than my record. However, SURPRISE, SURPRISE, I set a new European speed record again at 72.9 mph! I am proud my 1 km time was the best of all competitors on this day.

The dinner was very good, and the race results were good enough. We celebrated! Most of us agreed that The 2005 WHPSC was the smoothest in the history of WHPSC’s. I am thankful to Arne Hodalic and Milovan for coming from Slovenia to record this story.  I am happy that they still believe in me. Thank to everyone else who made this trip possible, there is not enough space here to mention all of you!

Damjan Zabovnik