“But, how can you make something at home, which will be faster than the world fastest bicycles?” I often had heard that comment. “Maybe it is not your fortune.” ”Isn’t it too dangerous to go backwards?” “ Was it difficult to learn the controls backwards, as it is all opposite?” “Wouldn’t you rather test it in the wind-tunnel?” Such things appeared as rumours between people about my activities in the HPV (human powered vehicle) sport.

Let me answer quickly: Many amazing achievements have started with very low funds and support, just because some people have had dreams. If the vehicle loses ground contact, it turns around randomly, just as a piece of paper, thrown through a window of a fast moving car. It is absolutely not important how your legs are oriented in that moment, because in a tenth of second it will be just coincidence how you fly through the air, as the speeds are high and the mass is low. When I steer my bike, it makes no difference for me if I go backwards and not forwards. I just cut out all of preconceptions and forget about differences. What I see is what I do. Centrifugal forces I feel, act on me naturally, as I see it in the mirror. I designed it to be so. Wind tunnels are good for those who use the wrong design at the very beginning and for those, who can not make a smooth shape (F1 with it’s wide tyres etc.). I always believed that the feedback information from a wind tunnel wouldn’t be very useful to improve the design. I simply “feel” these things.

It finally happened! It is what I’ve been forecasting for a long time, and what I have patiently hoping would finally occur. I had to fight with numerous doubts. I experienced tyre punctures and bad weather conditions. I experienced bumps and other difficulties of bad roads and tracks. Nevertheless every time when I was speeding with Eivie II, she let me know, that her time is yet to come. That the barriers will end and leave her alone, so she will be able to accomplish the goal to set some incredible records with me piloting inside. Finally, I became The Word Record Holder for One Hour Distance, from a standing start.

This year many races were spoiled. We couldn’t return to the Nissan Proving Grounds for one hour attempts, also the repairing of the road we use in Battle Mountain didn’t get the green light from the government. I was always more interested in one hour record, because I’m not a good sprinter.

At the beginning of this year, I counted more on the Ceram track close to Paris, where I expected to become the record holder. But, the asphalt there was way too rough to enable it. It was simply too slow, very different in person, than on videos I’ve seen. That was a negative surprise for me. But we got very well trained with my new assistant, Aleksej, and it seemed all I needed was a good track to run on.

There was no other solution but to find a new track, anywhere in the world. I was lucky, as I found three good tracks in Europe and the first one I checked, looked superior to me. It was even the cheapest regarding rental costs. It was just made for my vehicle and it was the closest to Slovenia of all of the three tracks. Dekra Test Oval or Eurospeedway in Klettwitz near by Dresden, Germany convinced me absolutely, that my dreams are going to come true.

On June 27^th my assistant and I made a trip to that track and I was testing it inside the bike for good 100 minutes. It was the first time ever, that I could clearly hear sounds like derailleur noise, touching shoes to the fairing, and so on. No shaking, no bumps, no hits to my head, no tyre sound. Everything was flawless! My top speed was 95 km/h at compete power. When I was cruising at 170 heart beats per minute, the speed was around 86 km/h – that is even not my limit for one hour effort. I let myself predict the world record just after that ride. No kidding J

It all became possible on July 12, 2008. I found official observers from Germany, the track was available, my physical shape was good. Only the weather could be a limiting factor. And, we could not predict the weather. The internet forecasts gave us chances for everything possible, from heavy T-storms to sunshine. I simply had to take the risk and see what happens exactly on that day.

The news that was going to make this attempt different was a small deep freeze that I converted from a bigger refrigerator. We transported that thing all the way to Germany and put it into the hotel room, so we could prepare my cooling pads at the exact proper temperature. There was a sauna in the hotel that we could use. And it was very peaceful at night, so we could really enjoy and relax in the days before the attempt. But, there were heavy T-storms too, usually just when I was training outside on the trainer.

We traced to the weather forecasts all the time to the attempt, and finally the time to give it away was up. The humidity was high and there were clouds all around, but with only 20 % chances of precipitation. You couldn’t tell when is the best to go in the time between 17:00 and 21:00 . I started better sooner than later, to be ready for attempt at 18:15. I was feeling good. Aleksej was not nervous at all. I convinced him in my capabilities the previous time here already. We did a successful launching on our first try. The launcher dismounted and I accelerated fast. 40, 50, 60, 70, 75… 80…85…90 km/h after good 3 minutes….95 km/h after 7 minutes. I felt like I am at the power barrier here. “Let’s go a little bit safer”, I said to myself. Adrenaline gives me a wrong feeling anyway. For quite a time it went with average speed 93 km/h and it seemed, that I could do more than 90 km in one hour. But my head temperature was rising and consequently the windshield just above it became more and more fogged. My visibility was getting worse and worse. Apparently, the anti-fog we applied didn’t help any more. I look through the windshield at such a small angle, that any dirt or water on it causes a lot of difficulties in seeing the road. Besides, I’m looking at the track at very small angle again, because the bike is very low. That’s another reason that visibility can be bad. At beginning of visibility problems I still hardly saw hat is on horizon, but later just nothing. For getting idea where on the track my position is, I tried to see the lines about 10 meters ahead, through the left and right edges of the windshield. After 30 minutes it was so bad, that the lines looked like white worms to me. I checked if there were any drops on the outer side of the windshield, and there were some! It obviously was raining slightly. My eyes were changing to look from left to right with intervals of half a second. Of course, since I couldn’t concentrate on pedalling, my speed dropped step by step simultaneously. I was hoping that if I go slower, my head would cool down and the fog from the windshield would disappear slowly, but it was only worse and worse. Eivie II is so tight, that I can’t wipe the fog off. The destiny played the main rule, the speed was dropping... Anyway, I tried to stay above 86 km/h. Fortunately the track is very safe and has very nice rail, which has been desined for bicycles too. So any accident anywhere on track would not be big deal. I knew my first laps were still fast enough to break the world record. “I deserve it, don’t I?” was in my mind, fighting with the fear from crashing. It was hell a like, my concentration for steering was so high, as I was fighting in the ring. I’ve never ridden my bike in such a humid air. It wasn’t made for it. I didn’t know what I could expect. I almost gave it up, but we all travelled so long distances to here, that I had to grab a chance. It was very different from conditions, when I could focus on my power, to give away everything I can. I estimated my average speed and my direction all the time. Counting down the minutes left, nervous trying to count the laps, looking to the passed kilometers and current speed… Few times I almost went on the grass before I realised my direction was wrong. Once I even almost touched the outer rail on the turn, because I noticed the turn too late. At least when I was in the turn, I could see the inner line clearly and I pushed myself very hard then, but the track has only about 25% of turns. My tactics were only approximately, I wasn’t sure am I fast enough or not to set the record. After 1 hour, when my speed was only 82 km/h, I got the feeling that I did it. “Just don’t forget where you are!”, I screamed to myself. I had to finish that last lap, so they could calculate the exact distance I covered. I didn’t know am I on the finish straight section or on the opposite one. Fortunately the chase vehicle passed me only two minutes later, so I could brake then and fall on one side at a very low speed, like a dead fish, smelling the braking pads. In a few moments the car returned for me and I could hear the horn. It was an incredible relief for all of us. Those in the car probably suffered the most, as they saw every tricky action I did. They were screaming and praying for me, not to drive out of the track, when I changed the direction in the very last moment. I heard the magic words: “Hey, it is the record!” Immediately I forgot all the distresses from before. Holding tight, cheering with champagne, relaxing…

87.1 km in one hour. About 350 meters further than the almost unbeatable Sam Whittingham. Employees of Dekra were happy, the observers too, but the most of all, my faithful assistant and me. History recorded! Full stomach of food, heavy head, full of impressions, conveniently restless anyway, tired and barely comprehending what I did, I was falling asleep for a very long time.

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This event was supported by Akrapovic and Dekra Test Center. I'm very thankful to observers Christoph Hipp and Christian Ascheberg and to my assistant Aleksej Dolinsek too.