Zac Alsop vs. The Impossible Hill Climb! | KTM

Now I could potentially be the second person ever to do it, and I think that's a hell of a choice for the grandkids. Hello, my name is Zach Allsopp and I'm at the Andler Impossible Hill Climb today with one mission, try and make it to the top of that hill. Pushing the limits for me is all about getting outside your comfort zone. I think I've made a career out of doing just that on YouTube. I used to race motocross from the age of four all the way through to about 21 years old. I'm 30 now, I've not been on a bike in about nine years, and I've seen these viral videos every year, and I'm not getting any younger, and I thought if I can come back off the sofa and be the king of the hill, that's a hell of a story. Anytime you can step outside your comfort zone, I think you grow a bit as a person, and you know, there's a voice in my head that says I can't do that hill today, but realistically, if I give it my all, there's every chance I make it to the top. My first impression of a hill was absolute terror because it doesn't do it justice on video. I think it looks like it towers over you, and the top, I think 40 meters is just sheer cliff, so there's no chance you can really ride over that properly with any sort of predictability. In terms of strategy, I've picked out the only line where I think the hill is possible consistently, and I've been training with the current champion, Roel Goertz, and he's picked out this particular line on the rocks, which you can use as a takeoff. Whether I can hit that or not, you've got to thread the needle between multiple rocks, and then you land at the top, and it's just full throttle to the top. That's the line choice. Strategy-wise is just hold it full throttle. Today, I'm riding the KTM 450 SXF 2026 model. I picked this bike because it's the fastest out of the crate, and I need all the power I can get up the hill. Also, I've rode KTMs my entire life, so it felt like a natural fit. The only thing I've done to set up the bike for the hill is make the forks and back shock really spongy to absorb the cliff face that I'm going to be hitting at full speed. Then the only other thing in terms of gearing, I've got a 13-tooth sprocket on the front, which will allow a lot of torque on the bottom end, so I can get as much speed from the start in the first 20 meters of the hill. I've also attached a kill switch so that if the bike leaves my side, then it will turn off automatically and hopefully save the bike. One thing that surprised me about riding the KTM 450 was the immediate power. Just the torque and the power on the bottom end is crazy. If I were to describe this in three words, I would say a rocket ship, because that's exactly what it is. It's scarily fast, which is great, because I need it. Yes, anyone can buy this bike fresh out of the box. I think the toughest moment of the climb is definitely just sitting at the bottom waiting to go, because you see somebody who's crashed before you. You see carnage. You look around, there's about 3,000 people behind you all wanting you to get up there. There's a lot of pressure. When you're on the hill, it's a bit of a blur. I don't really remember much apart from starting and landing at the top, and then the middle bit is a complete blur. The goal was to get 100 meters, which I've heard is the completion of the hill. That's the full distance of the hill. I did it by 0.4 of a meter. We threw the bike there, but we reached our goal. The bike performed exactly how I wanted it to. It was super fast. The suspension works perfectly. Every time I hit the rocks super fast, it just bounced me up to the top of the hill. It was a rider error at the top that I couldn't fully get it onto the top of the hill. There was barely any traction. I was riding up a cliff face. The bike did its job, and it's still in one piece, which is the best thing. This bike is 100% ready to race straight out of the box. I think it's perfect. The setup, the suspension, the power, it's an ultimate race bike. If I was still racing, I would 100% do it on a KTM.