Watch // 1 MILLION FEET in 100 DAYS with Ben Hildred

From January 1 to April 10, New Zealand-based mountain biker Ben Hildred climbed 10,000 feet on his bike every single day. In total: 1 million feet. 100 days. A testament to something that lies beyond pure stamina, this is a story of how mindset forms the foundation for everything.

It’s been about two months since Ben Hildred, a New Zealand-based mountain biker, finished his quest to climb 1,000,000 feet in 100 days. Now, after taking the time to look back on his physical and mental journey, Ben has put his thoughts into words, reflecting on the mindset it took to prepare, persevere, and perhaps most challenging of all, return to a sense of normalcy after living 100 days planned minute by minute.

How do you prepare for something you’ve never done before, a benchmark you are setting, something many people find it hard to equate, something for which there aren’t any peers, no guidelines to follow, a formula for which ingredients are a guess and a gamble, based on previous, similar tastes.”

The visualisation of finishing would always get me through, I wanted to feel the relief in competition more than I wanted to stop.”

Ben Hildred