Almost a year ago, mountain bike legend Thomas Frischknecht and Ride editor Thomas Giger set a new record in Davos: the pair completed 13,572 meters of altitude difference spread over 14 different singletrail descents in over 13 hours. Now two women are toppling the two record holders from the throne.

The impetus for the record-breaking ride came from the Swiss Television SRF summer challenge, for which the twin sisters applied with their project "15,000 vertical meters downhill". With the single trails around Latsch in South Tyrol, Carolin and Anita Gehrig found the ideal conditions to realize their project. July 16, 2014 is the day. At 05:00 in the morning, they take the shuttle bus to the first trail. However, the pre-start to the summer challenge is tough. Anita gets a headache and feels nervous. Carolin adds with a laugh: "If you're not used to getting out of bed so early, you can't feel good. During the first descent, the headache disappears along with the fluttering nerves. One water-filled descent follows the next. By 11.00 a.m. we have already covered around 5,000 meters in altitude. Even a puncture can be quickly fixed with a wheel change.At the halfway point and the supposedly short lunch break, however, time management errors creep in. The team around the twins with guide and hotelier Martin Pirhofer becomes agitated. In addition, the onset of fatigue means that the bikers' chances are dwindling. The next ascent is made late on the local chairlift, where the next incident occurs. The lift attendant fails to take the first bike off the chair at the top. Having stopped the chair, the lift attendant runs down to the first mast, climbs up it and shimmies over to the chair, from where he ropes the bike down. After this brief scare and the worry about the lift attendant, Carolin and Anita are slow to get going. Nevertheless, the two reach the 10,000-meter mark at 4.00 pm. "That was the turning point. We had energy again and from then on there was no stopping us," explains Anita Gehrig.Without further incidents to the record
In fact, the two enduro specialists ride the remaining 5,000 vertical meters with a fresh guide virtually non-stop. They don't even get tired on the climbs. Shuttle driver Franz makes the tires squeal in almost every bend, which does nothing to calm the twin sisters' adrenaline levels. Daylight is running out and so a descent in the dark becomes unavoidable in order to reach the desired destination. But the darkness could no longer stop Carolin and Anita. Armed with powerful bike lights, they tackle the final, technically demanding descent and break the record. "This last descent - I call it the "Lupine Downhill" - was one of the highlights of the Challenge for me. After all, such long descents in the dark are not part of the daily routine," admits Carolin.After a good 17 hours, 16 descents, a puncture, three pairs of worn brake pads and a worn brake disc, Carolin and Anita Gehrig improved the unofficial singletrail world record of 13,572 vertical meters by 1,545 to 15,117 vertical meters without crashing - and without ever riding a descent twice. "The feeling is incredible and we are over the moon to have completed the challenge," says a delighted Anita Gehrig and Carolin adds: "I had imagined it would be much tougher. Always very focused, I never felt in danger. After the reconnaissance I was more scared, as some of the trails are quite demanding and can make such a big task considerably more difficult." After successfully completing the challenge after 10 p.m., the sustained production of happy hormones allowed the new record holders to stay up for a while and enjoy their success.
The first part of the 2014 Summer Challenge is expected to be broadcast on Swiss television on September 23.

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