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 forthetitan-likeefforts 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.—SRAM

Queenstown