Video: Ben Hildred Completes Double Everest
Ben Hildred completed a double Everest ride this spring in Queenstown, with 33 hours of moving time. His final total of 17,925 m of climbing over 277.5 km (that's 58,808 feet and 172.5 miles) beggars belief. Ben climbed to the Ben Lomond Saddle 17 and a half times, through and above Queenstown's bike park on his trail bike. His friends were there to capture the effort, culminating in this awesome short film.
 | If you find yourself thinking “Why?”, you’re not alone. A humble and quiet rider, Ben Hildred has been amassing a cult following for the titan-like efforts surrounding his rides. He isn’t quick to shout his efforts from the rooftops, and he isn’t what you expect when you think of a high-performance athlete, but Ben is a bruiser. The “Everest” is a feather few cyclists have in their caps, but Ben’s cap is full. So full in fact, he thought “why not do two?”. The route? 18 laps of his local trails with an average lap time of 2.5 hours. If that math sounds wonky to you, that’s because it is. Rough singletrack and no sleep is the winning recipe for an ascent into madness, but for him it’s just another ride. As for the “why?” we'll leave that to Ben to answer. |
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That may be "inspiring" but that outcome is not the challenge I would want anyone to endure. Instead, may we all just climb up the hill, roll down, start a bbq, then go back to our warm beds.
I hate ebikes as much as the next curmudgeon but don't ever confuse flat pedal users with newbies or ebikers . In Scotland anyway it's still about a 50/50 split on flats or clippers regardless of bike
Maybe you are just crap at utilizing flat pedals? I have no preference even though I use clipless all the time now. Never had an issue climbing in flats. More of an issue descending really rough stuff.
To everyone asking the question "Why would anyone ever do this to themselves?": I'm not trying to be all pretentious, but with challenges like these, it's about overcoming the challenge as much as it is about overcoming yourself. To see what you are truly capable of, it almost has an element of super-human transcendence to it. On challenges like these, if you peresvere and push through the suffering, your reward is truly epic. Sex is cool and all, but this transcendence you achieve is literally the best feeling in the world. And forgive me for saying something which would sound this corny, but: Suffering is temporary, glory is eternal. That moment when you're done, that feeling of victory, you'll remember that for the rest of your life.
Ben you are an inspiration.
Also, Ben is a lean bean 194cm @ 80kg!
So yeah, I guess I'm turning down my invite hahahaha
I don't get these fake milestones....dont people have better things to do? Do some trail work, ride 17 different real mountains, visit 17 different friends.
I can't see how that would be fun, let alone the next few days after...
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