How a Mountain Biker Clocked 138 MPH Riding Downhill

Two weeks ago, a 54-year-old Frenchman broke his own world record for speed on a mountain bike on snow. Éric Barone, called "The Red Baron," clocked 138.75 mph on the perfectly groomed piste of the KL Chabrières track in the French Alps, one of the fastest speed tracks in the world. On the morning of March 28, at an elevation of 8,850 feet with 43 mph winds whipping across the mountain for a wind chill of minus 4 degrees, Barone accomplished what he'd been trying to do for the past three years.

A team of 23 engineers assisted with staging the ride and measuring Barone's speed. The total cost of setting the record was nearly $200,000, which included track improvements and designing and building his prototype bike, the SUNN F2.0. The steel-framed bike weighs 57 pounds, rides on Suntour carbon fiber forks, and has dual suspension. Barone wore a fitted suit made of stretched rubber designed to hold its shape at high speed and hold his body together in a crash. His helmet, more like that of an astronaut than a cyclist, fully encapsulates his head and neck. The track is a mile and a half of packed snow and ice.

"Mental peace and control is essential in my discipline," Barone says. "The full commitment is when you start from the top. The scary [part is] braking on icy snow after the speed official calls it. In such crazy weather conditions, I get a little bit nervous."

Barone set his prior record of 138.42 mph on snow in 2000 at Les Arcs ski resort, also in the French Alps. Two years later on the pumice slopes of Cerro Negro volcano in Nicaragua, Barone set the world record for downhill speed on a mountain bike over gravel at 107 mph. Immediately after reaching his top speed, the front fork of the bike broke from the frame. Barone plowed face-first into the dirt, lost his helmet, and rag-dolled several hundred feet down the mountain. Although he suffered only minor injuries—six broken ribs, both shoulders torn—the incident sidelined him for nearly a decade.

"It took me about six years to recover physically, mentally and financially," Barone says. "In 2012, my runs from the top of Les Arcs speed track at around 130 mph delivered me from my past demons… I felt unbreakable again, and ready for a real challenge."

Barone started biking competitively at the age of 34 after working for several years as a ski patrolman and a Hollywood stunt double, performing in place of actors Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van Damme, among others. He set his first speed record on a bike in 1994 and continued to break downhill records until his crash in 2002. Barone set both of his current records—downhill speed on snow and downhill speed on gravel—riding prototype bikes, which the record books differentiate from serial production bikes. He has also won the European and World MTB Downhill Masters twice.

Barone is one of the world's fastest men on a mountain bike, but he's far from the youngest. The 54-year-old Frenchman stays fit through Pilates and X-Fit training programs to build strength and stay nimble, but hurtling downhill at speeds faster than the average car is capable of may be something of his past. His future plans—tackling several runs in the U.S. and night riding with LED lights—sound comparatively slower, but are likely to be anything but safe.

"I still have things to do," he says. "I still have the fire in me."