Ralph van den Berg and Max Chapuis started their world record project at four o'clock in the morning. To ensure they had as much daylight as possible, they chose June 21 - the longest day of the year. Everything went according to plan without a hitch. In total, Chapuis and van den Berg climbed 14,623 meters of altitude in the specified time window of 16 hours: a new uphill world record. The Davos Klosters region was ideal for this. "The criterion was that we should cover as many meters of altitude as possible with as little distance as possible so that we didn't lose too much time," explains van den Berg. The "Kenveresting Challenge" by former downhill pro Claudio Caluori served as the inspiration for this world record. In 2020, he mastered 13,500 vertical metres on the "Specialized Kenevo" e-bike, from which he created the name "Keneveresting". "Everesting" is in line with the trend: 8848 vertical meters have to be conquered, which corresponds to the height of Mount Everest.

Back to the world record: "We rode the same Specialized Turbo Levo all day. With a 700cc battery, we climbed over 1,500 meters of altitude in power mode," says van den Berg. Nevertheless, good battery planning was important. According to the regulations, the service team was not allowed to accompany the record hunters, but had to wait at a predefined location. This was down in Klosters at the Gotschnabahn. This was the only place where batteries could be replaced or repairs carried out. In addition, only commercially available e-mountainbikes, which are locked at 25 km/h and use normal batteries, were permitted for this world record attempt.

Second mountain bike world record in a row

Ralph van den Berg is no stranger to mountain bike world records. Back in summer 2021, he and Silvan Marfurt broke the single trail world record in Davos Klosters. The two rode 20,100 meters downhill within 16 hours. They beat the singletrail world record at the time by 516 Elevation loss. The special thing: The two did not ride any trail twice. "I wanted to show that even as a family man with a demanding job, you can still experience an adventure in a short space of time," says the 38-year-old, explaining his motivation. The bike destination Davos Klosters, with its 700-kilometre single trail network, provided the playground for this, true to the claim "Sports Unlimited".