It will come as no surprise that, given the cover of this issue and the image to your left, Jonas Deichmann has been renamed the German Forrest Gump'. In 14 Hollywood-mirroring months, the 34-year-old from Stuttgart cultivated a Gump-Esque beard after swimming, cycling, and running across the planet and collecting a fan group of runners as he crossed Mexico. But just who is Jonas Deichmann? And whatever possessed him to take on such a feat?
A multiple world-record holder, speaker, and adventurer, Deichmann first caught the adventure bug in university, when he completed a two-year, around-the-world bike-packing journey. Ever since, he's thrown himself into extreme, record-breaking endurance challenges. For example...
In 2017, he became the first cyclist in history to ride across Eurasia, traveling the entire 14,331km landmass of Europe and Asia from west to east in just 64 days. The next year, Deichmann cycled 23,000km across the Americas in 97 days, from the Arctic Ocean in northern Alaska to Argentina's Ushuaia, AKA the 'End of the World'.
Ever restless, Deichmann then completed an ambitious Cape to Cape expedition in 2019, cycling 18,000km from Norway's Cape North to Cape Town in South Africa, overcoming violent conflicts, food poisoning, and police harassment to complete his mission 72 days later - that's an average of 250km a day.
Yearning for an even more extreme challenge and undeterred by a pandemic, Jonas set his sights on the gold standard for adventurers - a human-powered, around-the-world trip. Aiming to complete the equivalent of 120 Iron-distance triathlons in just one year, Deichmann departed Munich on 26 September 2020, on an epic journey that would involve swimming 460km along the Croatian coast, battling a Siberian winter on the bike, and surviving a brutal 5,000km run across Mexico. In short, the ultimate test of human endurance.
This story is from the April 2022 edition of 220 Triathlon.
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This story is from the April 2022 edition of 220 Triathlon.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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Whichever distance triathlon you're racing, the intensity and duration of your activity will see your body tap into its stores of carbohydrates (in the form of glycogen) to power your effort. While it's possible to top up your tank on the go, it's better to start your event with your stores full to the brim.
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