Record holder: Whittingham (l) ©Team Varna

Being the fastest man on Earth under your own power is a prestigious title – and Sam Whittingham is about to face some stiff competition as he attempts to hold on to it.

The Canadian claimed the current record after he rode a human-powered vehicle (HPV) at 117.07kph/72.75mph, during the World's Fastest Bicycle competition in October 2000 at Battle Mountain, Nevada, USA.

A repeat competition, to be held early this October, will see Whittingham line up to defend his record against top cyclists Jason Queally (UK) and Jan van Eijden (Germany), both of whom will ride HPVs, as well as renowned HPV rider Matt Weaver (USA).

It promises to be a showdown of seismic proportions.

 

Training: Whittingham puts the hours in ©Team Varna

Queally, who won a gold medal in the 1km time trial in the 2000 Olympics, is arguably Whittingham's biggest threat.

The Briton's challenge is backed by several hundred thousands of dollars worth of investment and his HPV is being constructed by motorsport manufacturers Reynard, which also builds Formula One cars for BAR.

But this doesn't faze Whittingham, whose own HPV was constructed in his garage in Victoria, British Columbia.

"I've been around this long enough to know that money is an issue but it's about 10 percent of what's involved in breaking this record," he said.

"They [Queally's team] are relying on money as about 90 percent of their effort. They figure if they've got the most horsepower, the best facility, all the technology and lots of cash then they're going to break the record.

"Now those of us who've done this for many, many years realize it takes a lot more than that. We've seen other bikes come out that have had a lot of money thrown at them but haven't done anything.

 

	Jason Queally's Challenge

They [Queally's team] will probably fall short on experience, specifically plain old development time. Even though somebody like Queally is incredibly strong, human beings are still fairly weak in the power department and you have to get everything just right to be able to extract all that power and get the record in the end.

"There's a lot of things that can slow you down along the way - if the bike doesn't quite fit right, if he's not used to riding it and if it doesn't handle properly – and the handling of a two-wheeled vehicle in a funny shape and funny position is something you can't design in theory. It takes a long time of trial and error and I think they'll be missing that.

"There's a lot of factors I think they may not even know are out there yet, till they try this thing.

"But they may do it. Maybe they've thought it out really well, everything's going to come together and it'll work perfectly. The thing is I've never seen that happen."