Former US national track, road and mountain bike champion Denise Mueller-Korenek has smashed the land speed record on a bicycle on Bonneville Salt Flats, covering one mile at 183.932mph/296.00km/h, which is faster than the takeoff speed of an Airbus A340.

When Project Speed set out to break the world land speed record, they needed the right bike for the job, purpose built for speed and stability. KHS Bicycles created a custom carbon frameset for Mueller-Koronek’s record. The custom-built carbon KHS bike used to break the record has double-reduction gearing, custom built 17-inch motorbike wheels, an elongated frame, a suspension fork in the front to reduce the vibrations over the salt flats, and a Cirrus Cycles Kinekt post in the back to flatten out the salt flat track.

The Kinekt seatpost damps harmonics and vibrations, ensuring a smooth pedaling cadence and optimal traction at speed.

The drive ratio is 62:12, twice,” said John Howard. That’s roughly 488 inches, or approximately 128 feet per revolution. She’s traveling nearly 128 feet/39m every time she turns those cranks. It’s pretty mind-boggling. John Howard is Denis Mueller-Korenek’s coach. John once held the motor-paced record himself at 152 mph back in 1985.

Kinekt the World’s Fastest Seatpost

The custom-built carbon KHS bike used to break the record with Kinekt Seatpost

The Kinekt post allowed Denise to stay properly connected to her bike at over 183mph, when she needed it most!

Mueller-Koronek drafted a modified 1,000-horsepower converted dragster with fairings, which was also used by the previous men’s record holder.

It’s also not a dance for the faint of heart. Ever since 1899, when Charles “Mile-a-Minute” Murphy set the first paced bicycle speed record of 60 mph while drafting off a steam train, it’s been a terrifying tango that has left many a rider dead or mangled. That was especially true after the 1930s, when cyclists took the game to a new level, riding behind souped-up race cars outfitted with wind-blocking fairings. One such rider was Dutch cyclist Fred Rompelberg. Fred crashed twice going over 100 mph at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats, breaking 24 bones in 1988 before returning in 1995 with his custom-made dragster to set the previous speed record of 167 mph. Mueller-Korenek pulled into Bonneville this weekend with that same 1,000-horsepower dragster, which her team had restored.

If you’re surprised that a woman set this new record, don’t be. “I’ve been coaching mostly women, including Denise, for the past 35 or 40 years,” Howard, 70, said. “My theory is that women are able to push that aging envelop a little further than men and are more capable of long-distance peak performance.”

Howard coached Mueller-Korenek on and off for three decades, but spent two hard years training her for the speed record attempt after she had spent some time away from the bike. “So she’s no spring chicken at 45, but she’s a super bike handler and at the peak of her strength after coming back after taking 23 years off and having three kids,” Howard said. “We were ready to break the overall record last time. Though the Range Rover wasn’t quite fast enough and the weather didn’t cooperate. But she was totally ready.” Mueller-Korenek thought so, too. “After we missed it in 2016, we were so full of adrenaline and piss and vinegar from being rained out, we opened our mouths and said, ‘We’re coming back. We’re coming back next year and we’re going to take the men’s record,’” she said. “We wanted to finish what we started in 2016.” Finish they did—going nearly 17 mph faster than anyone has ever been gone before.