I was at the edge of the slope, at the departure. Marc and my team members looked at me without a word. The silence was palpable and I needed to change that. Thus, I asked Marc to tell Philippe who was in the timing cabin to trust me and to give me a heads up. He gave it to me, but with another worry to eliminate because Philippe announced that if the record wasn’t made on the first run there wouldn’t be a second. This information became my focal point for winning. Mentally, I began my breathing process which allowed me to concentrate, only think about my movements, my delicate trajectory due to the lack of snow. Marc told me to get ready to get on my bike and to wait for the best moment in the weather without wind gusts.
All gazes were upon me, I felt it and here I was once more alone facing my fate. I thought of this blue, icy snow, I concentrated on my breathing and my trajectory. I stopped thinking about the wind gusts and looked at the horizon. I was very cold….
7:40 am Marc spoke on the walkie talkie, announcing, “Eric is ready!” Marc asked me to get on my bike, the team members who were in charge of the complicated task of holding my bike were all very concentrated. I mounted the bike, all was silent.
7:42 am Marc spoke on the walkie talkie, “Eric is ready, are you ready at time keeping?”
“Yes” was heard.
Marc looked at me, I blinked my eyes to say, “OK, I’m ready to go.”
Marc said, “Ready! 3,2,1 go!”
Off I went. The first part of the run up to the boulder was complicated because I had to make a slight curve to avoid a patch of earth on my trajectory. There wasn’t much snow, but the second part was beautifully prepared with the help of GPS technology to groom the slopes which allowed me to have a totally aerodynamic position. I contracted all my muscles and I went past the cells then braking gently up to the cable cars. A ski slope supervisor arrived on a snow moto and we waited together for the verdict. Only 1 small km/h more, but what a relief, the record was beaten! All this work, 3 years of preparation for only 1 km/h. At times it’s better to stay calm even though a huge frustration is felt. No training at the top in 2015, just one run and it’s the good one, all of that is a great success. This frustration instantly gives rise to a vision in my mind in 2 years. Go down at night in 2016 with the full moon and in 2017 an ultimate world record attempt. I announced this to my team a few hours after this record, 223.30 km/h.
