You are known as a tricky mountain biker. Why have you switched to gravel bikes now?

The geometry of gravel bikes is better suited to wheelies than that of modern mountain bikes: the bottom bracket is lower and the chainstay is shorter. This makes riding a wheelie much more comfortable than on a long mountain bike.

At the end of May, you want to ride 8848 vertical meters in a wheelie. Where are you going to do that?

On a side road in the Thun area. I can only announce the details once I have the permit.

How confident are you that you'll make it?

In a normal position, it's no problem to ride that many meters of altitude in 24 hours. But I don't know how my back and arms will react to the long wheelie ride. It's an experiment. I'm definitely planning enough breaks.

You are collecting donations for Nepal again with this campaign. What is it about this time?

The donations will benefit #pumpforpeace, whose leaders want to build a pump track in Kathmandu. Velosolutions and our organization Wheels4Nepal are teaming up for this cause.

What does a pump track do for a poor country like Nepal?

Of course, there are even more pressing problems in the country. But what the previous bike projects have already shown: Cycling brings people together who would otherwise not talk to each other. Caste-based thinking is still very deeply rooted in Nepal. On our public bike rides in Pokhara, young and older people from different social classes got to talk to each other and get to know people who would otherwise have no contact with each other. I am convinced that this has a positive effect. You can also see in Switzerland that pump tracks bring very different people together.

So far, you have supported an orphanage in Pokhara, the second largest city in Nepal. What will happen next?

The workshop, which we were able to set up thanks to donations, carries out repair orders. The income from this covers the costs of the orphanage's bike fleet. The bike activities have thus become self-supporting and this goal has been achieved. The next step would be to train bike mechanics in the workshop. This is already happening through practical instruction. However, offering formalized bike mechanic training would be a major new project and is not the focus at the moment.

Are you still in contact with the orphanage?

Yes, I am. When I travel to Nepal again this year, I'll be sure to stop by and go on bike tours with the people from there.