World record: 15 summits in one day

BIKE: As many summits as possible in one day - that was your record attempt. How do you come up with an idea like that?

Tom ÖhlerMy sponsor Haibike asked me if I would like to set a world record on an e-bike. Of course I would! I thought about what the best moment of mountain biking is for me - and that's standing on top of the summit. So I came up with the idea of cycling to as many summits as possible in one day. So I wanted to use the e-bike to experience the summit more often.

Some people roll their eyes at such records.

There are even wilder record ideas. Criticism is justified, and you can also scrutinise it. But a certified world record is still a cool thing. For me, it's not the fulfilment of a huge dream, but rather an opportunity to generate visibility and tell a story. It was important for me to remain authentic - and I can tell you, it was a really great day and I would do it again in a heartbeat, record or no record.

You already have several world records. Including the highest wall climb. What can I expect from that?

You can use a ramp with a maximum height of 50 centimetres. And it must be no more than one metre away from the wall. I then jumped up the ramp onto a pallet tower. The record height was 2.89 metres. I had to land on top of it without falling down again.

From monster bunnyhop to summit collector

Sounds like a huge bunny hop.

Yes, but with a ramp, so you fly correspondingly higher. The sticking point was more the distance of the kicker from the "wall", which is why I don't think you can go any higher.

You are a former trials world champion and incredibly skilful in uphills. Braydon Bringhurst has made a name for himself there. What is the fascination?

The fascination lies in the technical challenge, whether with e-assistance or without. For me, however, the e-bike is more of a means to an end, to get to the summit better and faster. If I have the choice between a trail and a gravel road, I take the gravel road.

Oh, that surprises me now.

I only ride on the trails once I reach a certain altitude. But there are usually only trails. The better your technique, the higher you get. Because I want to avoid pushing and carrying an e-bike; it's no fun - but at least it's good training.

Do you play in the same league as Braydon Bringhurst when it comes to technical uphills?

He certainly has more power. In case of doubt, I have a bit more technique. That would be an exciting duel. I'd be interested in trying out the sections where he was travelling.

Vertical artist Braydon Bringhurst sends his regards

Does an e-bike have any advantages?

No, not necessarily. It just goes much further. In other words, you don't run out of strength so quickly. You can see that very well with Braydon. He bites his way through the key sections, but then he has to stop and catch his breath. With the e-bike, on the other hand, you keep moving and can continue straight away.

Do I understand you correctly: you can't ride uphill more extremely on an e-bike, just with less effort?

With the normal bike, you have the advantage of being more precise on the road. Especially when you have to use trial techniques, the normal bike has advantages. But technical uphills require an infinite amount of power, and of course you can get further with an additional 750 watts of power.

Okay, I would have thought the e-bike would be superior to the normal bike. Especially when I think of Chris Akrigg's films. You get the feeling that you can ride up anywhere on an e-bike.

The problem with the normal bike is connecting the sections. The e-bike has the advantage of being able to ride many stages in a row where you would otherwise run out of power. But really technical difficulties can be easier with the e-bike. My aim is to ride everything. I don't fancy the trial jumps in between. That goes against my aesthetic standards. If you allowed the jumps, you could do a lot more with the Bio-Bike and hop up almost anywhere.

You say you like climbing peaks. How many have you done so far in your life?

Wow, no idea. A lot. When I go to Davos in the summer, I stand on a summit almost every day.

You were on the road for 14 hours when you set your record. What hurt you afterwards?

My knee. I overexerted it. A few days before my record attempt, I skied all the peaks, without support, all by myself. In addition to the training, this briefly overstrained my knee.

What, a record before the record?

Yes, that's my mentality. I first want to know whether it works or not. (laughs) And you can only really know once you've tried it. On the world record day, my knee started to tweak. Strangely enough, it hurt when I pedalled, when I pedalled round. Not when pushing or carrying.

How is the knee now?

Everything is OK again. It was the overload.

Was there anything you hadn't expected?

My dress rehearsal was almost more exciting because everything was completely new and I didn't know what was going to happen. And the Weissfluh summit surprised me. It's the second highest peak on the route. I didn't believe that the trail to the summit was even remotely rideable. Then I tried it during the dress rehearsal and actually got to the top in 20 minutes. I hadn't expected that at all. The route is already extremely challenging on the way down. Otherwise everything went really well. No flat tyres, no technical problems.

Thick is trumps: the Tyre carcass

What kind of tyres did you choose, DH tyres?

Yes, the thickest carcass. That put me on the safe side. A flat tyre would only cost time and nerves.

The definition of "summit" is not so clear-cut. Even super mountaineer Reinhold Messner has allegedly stumbled over it. He was criticised for not having been on the summit of some eight-thousanders, but a few metres away on a pre-summit. How did you solve that?

That was indeed an important issue. Because if you want to set a world record, it has to be reproducible. During my research, I came across a summit categorisation that you can calculate. There is an online calculator that calculates according to three values: Altitude, exposure - in other words, how far away is the nearest land point that is just as high - and the embrasure height. In other words, how far down do I have to go to get back up to the next higher point. The result is a categorisation that ranges from 1 to 7. 1 is a world mountain like Mount Everest or the Matterhorn, i.e. free-standing mountains where there is nothing comparable nearby. Category 5 would be a secondary peak, for example, and 6 and 7 are just hills. For my record, I used mountains in categories 1 to 5. I had to be very careful.

How was this checked?

Using three GPS devices that I had with me. In addition, the record judge was there live and took a look.

I had to laugh when I heard that there was a German record institute that monitored your record.

The founder was previously at Guinness World Records and thought: cool business idea, I'll do that in Germany now. You need an organisation that can officially confirm a world record. Haibike wanted to use the event for an advertising campaign - the costs would have exploded at Guinness.

Have you ever fallen?

No, thank God not. Although concentration wanes considerably after 14 hours. I had a few glitches when starting up, but nothing happened. There were no problems on the way down. It was very important to me that I could really get everything down during the project. It wasn't possible to go up, but it was possible to go down. And I rode down everything. If a bend didn't work out, which is supposed to happen sometimes, I went back up to ride it properly.

I read somewhere that it was one of the best days of your life. Really?

Yes, that was really cool.

Which was better, the record-breaking day or the lonely dress rehearsal?

The annoying thing about the record was that I slept badly during the night because there was so much to organise. The best moment was when I finally set off at 6am. I was alone on the bike again. Annoying though: the drone buzz. Drones were following me so that we could get some cool video footage. I could still hear the drones buzzing in my ears the night after. During the dress rehearsal, however, I was able to enjoy the silence of the mountains. On the record day, my wife was waiting for me on the last summit and we skied down the last descent together.

The facts about Tom Öhler's world record

The world record

• 3 mountain ranges
• 15 Summit
• 14 hours
• 102 kilometres
• 5,550 metres in altitude
• 3 kilowatt hours of energy consumed
• To the tour on Komoot

Tom Öhler

• born 1983
• Trial world champion
• Switchback enthusiast
• World record holder
• "Highest wall climb on a bike" (2.89 m)
• "Fastest 400 m hurdles on the bike" (44.62 s)
• "Most summits in one day with an E-MTB" (15 summits)

The bike: Haibike Hybe CF11

• Powerful thanks to the new Bosch Performance Line CX motor
• Agile thanks to 29/27.5" mullet set-up and new kinematic concept
• Uncompromising in any terrain with 170/160mm suspension travel
• Innovative motor integration and therefore quick & easy battery removal
• Price: 10,000 euros >> available here

The region: Davos/Klosters

• Location: Graubünden in Switzerland
• Best time to visit: Summer and early autumn
• Tour character: alpine and high alpine terrain above the tree line, mostly really flowy, sometimes very technical.
• Weapon of choice: Haibike Hybe or Lyke
• Cable car: The region is well developed and is perfect for tours.
• Arrival: by train directly to the local railway station or by car.

The Record Institute for Germany (RID)

• The RID is the German-language counterpart to the international record book from London.
• It collects and tests top performances from the entire German-speaking world.
• RID world records achieved in German-speaking countries are officially recognised.

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