Hairy Posted October 16, 2013 Share http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Action-Cam-by-Sony-presents-One-Million-Down-video-2013.html Mountain bikers seem to have an unwavering desire to challenge how far they can push their limits. For some it means jumping farther. For others it means riding a line that terrifies them. For Whistler legend Adam Billinghurst, it meant attempting to ride way more than he ever had in a single season. The mission: to descend one million vertical feet as quickly as humanly possible in one bike park season. Armed with a GPS to track the ride, Adam started racking up the laps, and filmed every single run on his Sony Action Cam. By the numbers, completing a million vertical foot descent is equivalent to walking down the Empire State building 750 times, or down Mt. Everest 48 times. A mountain high enough to complete the descent in one run would rise past the atmosphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and past the Aurora Borealis – all the way up to the orbit of the International Space Station. http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb10003679/p5pb10003679.jpg Riding all day, every day may sound like a dream... but sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for. Anyone who’s ridden in a bike park knows the opportunity for disaster drastically increases with your lap count. Adam's mission wasn’t complete without hitting the deck hard a few times. Fortunately, none of those crashes prevented him from reaching his goal. In the end, Adam’s Dream Capture took 57 days. He rode 565 lower mountain laps, 169 from the Garbanzo chair, 2 from the round house and 1 from top of the peak. http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb10003579/p5pb10003579.jpg http://es.pinkbike.org/238/sprt/i/bigquotes.png I was able to drop in to Adam's final day of riding and I couldn't believe what he had already been through to get there. Riding 1 million vertical feet is one thing, but to do it in 57 days requires a full time commitment and takes a huge physical toll on you. It's a very impressive accomplishment, one that I have no interest in trying to match. -Thomas Vanderham http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb10003580/p5pb10003580.jpg http://es.pinkbike.org/238/sprt/i/bigquotes.png Adam is the king park rat! If anyone could commit to 1,000,000 feet of big riding, it's the berminator. Now he looks like Popeye. - Kenny Smith http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb10003585/p5pb10003585.jpg http://es.pinkbike.org/238/sprt/i/bigquotes.png 3 years worth of riding in less than two months.... mind blowing. Adam is a beast! - Ian Morrison http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb10003589/p5pb10003589.jpg http://es.pinkbike.org/238/sprt/i/bigquotes.png I turned what I love to do most into something I had to do. It became the best first world problem I've ever had. I had to ride my downhill bike too much. Sometimes it wasn't as fun as I wanted it to be, most of the time it was. Even after 15 years of riding here like a fiend, every October I felt like I didn't ride the park enough that season. This is the year though. I rode enough. I say that now, knowing I'll be dying for an A-Line hot lap as soon as it closes for the season. Thanks to everybody that helped me accomplish this goal and good luck to anybody else who wants to go for it. - Adam Billinghurst http://ep1.pinkbike.org/p5pb10003590/p5pb10003590.jpg Subscribe to Sony's Action Cam YouTube channel to see more Dream Capture short films. Coenie and Captain Fastbastard Mayhem 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted October 16, 2013 Share That's insaaaane! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rouxtjie Posted October 16, 2013 Share Demmit...very cool story. ***Rouxtjie quickly opens sporttracks to see how many meters he has descended since he got his garmin*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rouxtjie Posted October 16, 2013 Share 78826 meters descended so far.....this is only logged rides though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 16, 2013 Share http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=213xt08LjuM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rouxtjie Posted October 16, 2013 Share to go down 1 million feet would mean 304800 meters... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted October 16, 2013 Share to go down 1 million feet would mean 304800 meters... in 56 days... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTBeer Posted October 16, 2013 Share I wonder what the maintenance costs were on his bike. Steven Knoetze (sk27) and TopFuel 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rouxtjie Posted October 16, 2013 Share in 56 days...Insane....but jis give me half a chance and I will try...ski-lift on the umko will do nicely for this exercise. Steven Knoetze (sk27) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted October 16, 2013 Share Insane....but jis give me half a chance and I will try...ski-lift on the umko will do nicely for this exercise. I'd be dead from arm pump in 10 days flat... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 16, 2013 Share I wonder what the maintenance costs were on his bike.End of the clip they give stats, you get an idea of shock rebuilds, a set of tyres per week, etc ... you can do a rough guesstimate on that ... the shuttle costs though must have been astronomical ... although I assume this was sponsored by the park. Steven Knoetze (sk27) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rouxtjie Posted October 16, 2013 Share I'd be dead from arm pump in 10 days flat...Ok so just to put numbers to my dream...the umko descent is roughly 910m. So it would mean doing the umko 335 times...where do I sign up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTBeer Posted October 16, 2013 Share End of the clip they give stats, you get an idea of shock rebuilds, a set of tyres per week, etc ... you can do a rough guesstimate on that ... the shuttle costs though must have been astronomical ... although I assume this was sponsored by the park.Oh, ok, thanks. Haven't watched it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted October 16, 2013 Share End of the clip they give stats, you get an idea of shock rebuilds, a set of tyres per week, etc ... you can do a rough guesstimate on that ... the shuttle costs though must have been astronomical ... although I assume this was sponsored by the park. I'm SURE you pay per day / month / whatever, so it wouldn't have been a problem... Not as much as if he paid per lift! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted October 16, 2013 Share Ok so just to put numbers to my dream...the umko descent is roughly 910m. So it would mean doing the umko 335 times...where do I sign up? 6 times per day... Sjoe. If your skills haven't been honed by the time you finish that, you have no business riding anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rouxtjie Posted October 16, 2013 Share 6 times per day... Sjoe. If your skills haven't been honed by the time you finish that, you have no business riding anythingRight we getting closer....6 times per day at an avg time 1:25 for 36km. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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