Congratulations to Stefan Anthenien for breaking the existing Solo, Male (18-49) Standard bike record for Switzerland N-S- on June 24, 2021. Stefan broke the existing record by 59 minutes

The previous record was held by Philippe Kunzler set on 2016-08-07 in 10 hr 43 min.

Rider’s Narrative Summary

Switzerland North-South WUCA Record Attempt by Stefan Anthenien on June 24th 2021

Start:
Border Station Oberbargen CH, Hoftalstrasse Hwy 4, across the street from the building of the frontier station. Time: 01:19 CEST

Finish:
Border Station Chiasso CH/Dogana Chiasso. Time : 11:03 CEST

Distance: 312km
Time needed : 9h 44min 8s
Average speed: 32.4 km/h
Altitude : 3400m

Conditions:

  • Delayed start because of heavy thunderstorms
  • Light rain at beginning
  • 15min morning shower/heavy rainshower in Airolo
  • Tailwind from Airolo to Faido
  • Headwind from Faido to Mount Ceneri
  • 10-30 degrees Celcius
  • In the city of Zurich no traffic and few red lights.
  • On the Gotthard Pass 7 degrees
  • Heavy traffic in Lugano and Chiasso
  • In conclusion, I can say it was reasonably good weather and wind conditions. The ride in the night makes a lot of sense traffic-wise.

 

..

Final report from the track record N-S.

What was supposed to be plan B, turned out to be an insanely exciting project.

When the Race Across Germany was cancelled, I decided to tackle the course record N-S in CH. Formalities from the WUCA federation, course selection, timing officials, support staff and much more had to be organized. Many people have supported me in this project, alone something like this is not feasible, all these people deserve a big thank you.

On Wednesday we went to Schaffhausen, 3 coaches, 2 officials and a media vetreter, we knew at this time already, the weather will be super.

Nevertheless, I disregarded a postponement.

Near Schaffhausen we were allowed to enjoy with very dear people first a coffee, thank you Gaston Gattlen and later a delicious z night. Thx to Steffi Stamm Susi Bäurle Früher Hofstetter Martin Ruckstuhl Rainer Bäurle.

After a late start and a very short preparation we finally started. Wet, dark, rainy, hectic, that’s how the first hours of racing can be described. Moto, push at the limit.

The race was actually exactly according to my plan, no incidents, top Betreung, long climb in the headwind on the Gotthard, was actually not desired, everything went according to plan until then. After 6h and 180km on the Gotthard, now I knew it could work.

After Airolo a 15-minute morning shower brought the desired morning freshness?.

Tailwind to Faido, headwind from then on up to Mt. Ceneri, it didn’t really matter….

Scarce 30 degrees in Lugano, in Chiasso the customs before loud construction sites and one-way streets almost not found, I could take all this thanks to my time advantage actually relatively loose.

After 9h 44min 08sec I reached the finish. Proud new record holder with a lead of 58 minutes. Average speed of over 32km/h with over 3000 meters of altitude. Just satisfied and happy that we all arrived back home healthy.

I would like to thank all the helpers, sponsors, supporters, media representatives, simply everyone who contributed to the success.

Kind regards

Stefan