The most vertical metres in 24 hours
Kai Saaler wanted to climb 18,304 metres of altitude in 24 hours - he narrowly failed. Nevertheless: world record! He deliberately refrained from making an official entry.
It all started in a beer mood. Ultra biker Kai Saaler is sitting with his mate Andreas Schmelzer over a beer. Schmelzer suffers from multiple sclerosis. Together they think about how they could raise awareness of the nerve disease. Schmelzer comes up with an idea: Saaler from Baden should break the unofficial altitude world record set by Slim Gamh-Drid from Singen. That means conquering 18,304 metres of altitude in 24 hours. More than twice the height of Mount Everest. Crazy!
"Finding the right route was the be-all and end-all," explains Saaler. The only problem was that four weeks before the record attempt, forestry work was taking place on his route. So a new route had to be found. Saaler finds a 1.3-kilometre loop with 122 metres of elevation gain that seems suitable to him. From his work equipment to his outfit, everything is trimmed for efficiency. The right supporting programme is also provided. Almost 2000 people cheer Saaler on during his record attempt and want to be provided with live music, sausages and beer.
At three o'clock at night, at an altitude of 9774 metres, Saaler sets the 12-hour record along the way. Then rain falls and softens the ground. After 24 hours, there are only 17,392 metres of altitude on the clock. Saaler only just misses his target. Nevertheless, he would have been sure of an entry in the Guinness Book because Slim Gamh-Drid's record was never official. But Saaler refrains, out of respect for Gamh-Drid's achievement. He has certainly achieved his actual goal: to raise awareness for multiple sclerosis patients.
World altitude record
Extreme biker Guido Kunze from Thuringia rode from the Pacific coast to the Ojos del Salado volcano in 2014 - from 0 to 6233 metres. The wind, cold and oxygen-depleted air took their toll on Kunze. After 37 hours and 11 minutes, he reached the top. His bike computer showed 343 kilometres and 6899 metres in altitude.
Speed on gravel: Markus Stöckl - 167 km/h
In 2017, Markus Stöckl, Tyrolean downhiller and manager of the MS Mondraker downhill team, set a new speed record on gravel in Chile on a slope with a 45-degree gradient. On the 1200 metre long slope in the Atacama Mountains, Markus reached a speed of 167 km/h with a standard downhiller, latex suit and special helmet. This beat his own record from 2011 by 2 km/h.
Longest reverse journey with a bicycle
Australian Andrew Hellinga covered a whole 337.6 kilometres in 24 hours in 2013 - sitting backwards on the handlebars! He only stopped once during the entire time. According to him, the biggest challenge was not to keep his balance, but to ignore the pain in his bum. Ouch!
Longest stopie ...
...with his feet on the handlebars (2011): Latex racing suit and special bike? No way! For the record, Abdul Rahaman from India is pedalling on an ordinary men's bike somewhere in India, wearing a flapping jacket and without a helmet. On a cross-hatched surface, he applies the front brake in a controlled manner and puts his feet on the handlebars. After 17.5 metres, the ride on the front wheel is over and the rear wheel snaps to the ground. World record!
Longest backflip on a mountain bike
The US American and Red Bull Rampage winner Cam Zink (33) is regarded as the Daredevil of the scene. A world record is a must. So in 2014, Zink decided to do the longest backflip of all time. He raced towards a ramp at almost 80 km/h, put his head back, rotated around his own axis and landed smoothly on an XXL landing hill after exactly 30.55 metres. World record!
Speed-Manual-King Bobby Root
The name Bobby Root should still be familiar to attentive BIKE readers. The crazy US-American became famous with some daring world records, among other things. His speciality: manuals, i.e. rolling on a bike. In 2001, Bobby set the record for the fastest front manual. At 94.62 km/h, he grabbed the front brake and stretched over the handlebars to ride on the front tyre. He also set the world record for the fastest ride on the rear tyre on the same day - 138.56 km/h.
Long jump with bicycle on ski jump
Professional biker Igor Obu jumps off the Olympic ski jump in Garmisch in 1999. The world record of 42.11 metres earned Obu the nickname "the Eagle". Rumour has it that the record will soon be beaten.
295.96 km/h! Top speed with a bike in the slipstream - speed record on the salt lake
In September 2018, US-American Denise Müller-Korenek (46) beat the old record by almost 30 km/h. On a salt lake in the Utah desert, she reached a top speed of 295.96 km/h in the slipstream of a dragster. The bike was a custom-built model with probably the stiffest carbon frame in the world and a gear ratio that only allowed her to pedal at speeds of 170 km/h and above.
The longest underwater journey with a bicycle
For the longest underwater journey, Jens Stötzner from Franconia managed 6.7 kilometres in a swimming pool. It took him 4:48 hours. For the record (2013), he prepared an everyday bike with weights. Right from the start, Stötzner had problems with the gears, so he had to ride almost entirely in the cradle. Nevertheless, he broke the old world record and remains unbeaten to this day.
