From January 1 to April 10, New Zealand-based mountain biker Ben Hildred climbed 10,000 feet on his bike every single day. In total: 1 million feet. 100 days. A testament to something that lies beyond pure stamina, this is a story of how mindset forms the foundation for everything.
Direction, DOP and edit: Scott Robb
Featuring: Ben Hildred
Produced by: POC and Scott Robb
i think I think I’m probably still trying to figure out the why people ask me why and I’m like I don’t know should should there be a why does there need to be a why why not 1 million ft in 100 days it’s simple to say but the selfd disccipline and physical endurance not to mention sacrifice required to achieve this goal is truly phenomenal it means climbing 10,000 ft or 3,000 m every day that’s lake level to Ben Lman saddle three times a day it’s hard to grasp how far up a million ft is to succeed Ben would need to climb Everest seed to summit every 69 hours and he would reach the common line where outer space begins after the first month to accept this challenge is to accept suffering i’ve learned a lot about willpower and what you can do if you remove choice from the equation if you wake up in the morning at 4:00 a.m and you don’t have a choice it’s a lot easier to go out and get it done january 1st first day i haven’t slept much as you can probably see i guess the anxiety and the nerves of starting something like this but I’m hoping that it disappears it usually does as soon as you start riding it best disappear cuz uh it feels pretty it’s pretty grim that’s my own stupid fault isn’t it really january 1st day one lap one there we go first lap of the first day done which is pretty sick need to get to 3,048 every day 9:03 plenty of time and the sprinklers have just come on so that’s a treat five more and then go to work warning what’s the difference between an octopus and a squid not much they’re pretty much identical oat milk musli jobs are good in one one pizza for every 10,000 ft so there’s 70,000 ft there every morning I’d have a family sized plant-based pizza whilst I’m riding protein shake sometimes protein shakes hate them more than drinking i just just need to just go and feel better i just like every day like is so fragile at the minute and like every day feels super delicate like and I just really want to get into a routine that’s the hardest part people think the bike riding is the hardest part yeah man leaving the house is the hardest part when you have a hard day and you’re struggling you become fixated on the numbers and on the wet days as well the miserable days that would be all-encompassing the only thing that mattered which made my choices very very simple oh feel so sick you learn to just put your brain in a bucket and not think about it yeah it’s very quiet i’m not sure some people would say that that’s meditative but um it felt quite the opposite it’s probably the coldest day so far yeah I don’t get angry i get probably emotional but I’m generally on my own when that happens especially on this bike ride because when you forcing yourself and forcing your will so so intensely I feel it depletes every other facet of your mind it’s very easy to to be overwhelmed especially if it’s not going your way which means you know you do get upset some days it can feel like it lasts forever it’s my little perch sit here every day day 50 halfway mental don’t know how it feels because I know how hard 50 days was and I’ve got to do it all over again weird feeling no I was always going to do it it’s just um it takes a lot of willpower probably more than I’ve ever used it is as hard as I imagined i knew it was never going to be a walk in the park but I didn’t think it was going to be all consuming like it is i had fully grander ideas of you know ride your bike and then you go and live your life but you ride your bike and then you recover to ride your bike you can’t feel extra tired and not recover otherwise you’ll never catch up with yourself mostly just on my own as well it’s been wildly isolating i have um three or four friends who come up and do laps every now and again which is really nice but other than that I don’t really see anyone um it’s it’s odd the isolation is tough but it can be nice to to be up here on your own though um it makes actually socializing and integrating a bit weird i felt overwhelmed in the cafe the other day so many people yeah right i’m going to go downhill gnie can be riding ridiculous pirate trails going as big as possible on the biggest jumps everyone has a definition of gnal and this is my definition I think of gnarly it’s it’s it’s that simple with all these big bike rides that I do I spend months beforehand prepping and planning mentally a part of that is convincing myself that it’s doable and knowing full well unequivocally that it’s going to get done to a point where before I start it feels like I’ve accomplished it and the doing is simply proving that it can be done i almost feel the sense of accomplishment before anything’s been been done which is which is odd but the proving is is me going out there and just racking up the numbers heat heat became a tour guide for a lot of people up there four more stair sets till the till the saddle once you get up there then that’s Mount Spiring if you look back here you got this and I’d always make sure people were looking after it yeah i wanted everyone to enjoy themselves on my mountain ben Lman soon to be called Ben Hildred think I’ve got everything right i’m just going to put my shibies on and we’re good to go yeah let’s go life has at 5:00 p.m people are coming for the last lap so I need to get everything done before 5:00 p.m it’s 12:30 now so if I can get everything but 400 meters done before then then that’s that’s the plan cool i’ll leave you to it all right i’m going to go just get a leg done all right see you later i was once told you now today That last day was amazing um to have everyone up there was was so so good and yeah it did feel like a five scoop moment at the top that’s it that’s a million cheers that was well warmed up i’ll give you that that was uh a bit disappointing but we’ll try harder next time never mind cheers thank you i’m excited just to get off the hill um update update activity it’s official it’s done there we go tipped over 5,000K 305,039 m stoked like it’s done it’s actually done let’s um let’s off cheers Scott told you told you we could do it you wouldn’t bloody listen would you yeah there there is a sense of satisfaction in finishing and the achievement i guess a satisfaction in knowing that I’ve proved it’s possible i’m proving myself to myself that it’s possible and to see everyone down at the pub afterwards was was awesome so yeah that was just it was so weird going from 100 days of practically solitude out from the people who would come and ride Latin every now and again to just like everyone in one place at once it’s brilliant it’s a morbid curiosity i think um and when you set these big goals and you achieve them they become kind of uh addictive am I proud of myself golly gosh I’m learning how to be proud of myself not yet yeah yeah not yet
1 Comment
Very inspiring Ben! Long life to the "why not?" motto