Ben Hildred is a full-time bike mechanic in the stable of the US luxury brand Santa Cruz and lives in Queentown, New Zealand. And he has a hobby that can be quite demanding at times. He collects a lot of metres in altitude, which gives him the nickname Vertical Meter Eater has brought in.
It all started a few years ago with the "Everesting", i.e. riding 8848 metres of altitude in one tour. As an ambitious rider, you might still think: Ok, it's all a question of time. The next project was 55,000 metres of altitude in 30 days, the distance to the outer limit of our stratosphere - or "stratosphering". That meant 1,834 metres of altitude per day, for 30 days. And while we're in space - he must have thought - the highest mountain in the solar system was Ben Hildred's goal. The Olympic Mons on Mars with 21,287 metres. Ben wanted to climb it by mountain bike in 72 hours, i.e. 3 days or tours.
Ride Mount Everest twice in one tour - why?
And now this: Double Everest17,925 metres on a mountain bike in one tour! That's pretty comparable to our BIKE Transalp 2023 - just all the stages in one go. But Ben Hindred doesn't do this on a light XC hardtail over easy forest roads, but on his trail bike, including challenging descents. Of course, he takes his Santa Cruz Tall Boy.
The route for the Double Everest? 18 laps of the local trails above Queensland with an average ride time of 2.5 hours. Rough singletrack, up and down, and no sleep. What already sounds so crazy was Ben's recipe for success on a climb into madness. The initial question of "Why?" - Ben probably doesn't ask himself: Because it works! His Strava activity can be found here: strava.com/activities/8629697186
- Distance: 277.5 km
- Time: 33:20:53
- Difference in altitude: 17,925 m
- Calories: 26531
At this point, you will find external content that complements the article. You can display and hide it with a click.
Marc Strucken
Editor
