Conquering over 20,050 metres of altitude in 24 hours by bike is the goal of the extreme cyclist Christoph Fuhrbach.
On 24/25 July, Fuhrbach will be on the hunt for altitude metres and wants to beat the current world record. In 2007, the Austrian twins Gernot and Horst Turnowsky set the current world record of 20,049.9 metres in altitude. The German endurance athlete Christoph Fuhrbach won the Stoppomat Challenge in 2008 and 2009.
In 2009, he once tested his 24-hour endurance on his favourite mountain, the Kalmit in the Palatinate. In late summer, he rode up there 42 times non-stop and set an unofficial German record with 17,615 metres of altitude. It was clear from the outset that the Kalmit route was not suitable for a world record: too many bends, too little incline.
After a long search, a road suitable for the world record has now been found. To break this record, the route has to be just right: It must not be too flat or too steep and, above all, must not contain any bends so that the highest possible speed (70 to 80 km/h) can be maintained on the descent. The only thing that counts is the metres of ascent, so Christoph Fuhrbach must not lose any time on the descents. In Grenzach-Wyhlen (near Lörrach) there is a road that is just under two kilometres long and has a relatively even gradient of ten percent. Christoph Fuhrbach wants to cycle up the Rührberg near Grenzach-Wyhlen at least 112 times in July.
He had just taken part in the Jeantex-TOUR-Transalp powered by Sigma for training. He stood out in the field of participants mainly because of his shoes: He was wearing Birkenstock sandals.
