“HAHNENKAMM IS BRUTAL ON SKIS, WORSE ON A BIKE” “I thought, ‘This must be possible on a bike. I must at least try it,’” says Stöckl
T
he Streif is one of the world’s most challenging downhill ski slopes; a 3.3kmlong death run down Austria’s Mount Hahnenkamm that tips to an 85 per cent gradient at its steepest, and unloads at 145kph at its fastest. And this January, Markus ‘Max’ Stöckl rode it on two wheels. The 43-year-old mountain biker is no stranger to deadly descents. In 2007, he broke the world speed record for a standard bike on snow, hitting 210kph in the Chilean Andes. He holds the record on dirt, too, topping 167kph down the side of a volcano in the Atacama Desert in 2016. But, for the Austrian cyclist, conquering the Streif was always the ultimate goal. “I’d thought of riding down the Streif before [the Hahnenkamm Races] 15 years ago,” he says, “but it was hard to earn the ski club’s trust that I knew what I was doing and wasn’t trying to kill myself.” This year, the World Cup race organisers finally gave him permission to ride the track whenever there was a slot between ski runs. Stöckl became the first person on two wheels to complete it in winter, doing it in three minutes and six seconds, with a top speed of 103kph.
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The ski club may have thought the Austrian’s stunt was pure bravado, but it was also a scientific experiment – to see how far in advance the human body reacts to a crash. Beneath Stöckl’s suit were sensors measuring his pulse, brain waves and muscle contractions. Microphones and cameras were attached to the bike. When his brakes failed completely, the data started rolling in. “The mics showed that the noise of the brake pads on the disc had disappeared,” recalls Stöckl. “The sensors recorded an irregularity in my pulse – a sign of stress – with muscle contractions increasing in intensity. I was four seconds from coming off into the plastic sheeting in front of the safety net, and my body had already prepared for the crash.” Of course, we’re measuring the responsiveness of a superhuman in this instance, but the bike he was riding is something altogether more ordinary: an off-the-shelf Mondraker Summum Carbon Pro Team – “The same as we use for races in summer,” says Stöckl, who owns the MS Mondraker World Cup MTB team. The only additions were metal spikes – custommachined to a 15mm tip and studded to his tyres – and a carbon rear mudguard to protect his butt from being shredded by them. Everything else was stock. “My goal is to do everything with a regular bike,” Stöckl explains. “It’s a pure way of riding, so everybody could go to the bike shop and do it. Not too many people do, though.” See Max Stöckl’s Streif run at redbull.com
START 1,665m Karussell Mausefalle Steilhang
Alte Schneise Seidlalmsprung Lärchenschuss
Hausbergkante Querfahrt
Zielschuss
TOURING THE STREIF The 3.3km course plunges racers from an altitude of 1,665m to 805m in less than two minutes. Since 1997, the record has been held by Austrian skier Fritz Strobl: one minute and 51.58 seconds at an average speed of 106.9kph.
END 805m
THE RED BULLETIN