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Jonas Deichmann: “German Forrest Gump” completes US tour
The German athlete Jonas Deichmann with his bike against the backdrop of the Hollywood Hills in the USA. photo
© Markus Weinberg/Jonas Deichmann/dpa
More than 10,000 kilometers using only physical strength: The extreme athlete Jonas Deichmann cycled from New York to Los Angeles and ran back. One section of the route was particularly tough.
You can sit on a plane for a few hours or in a car for a few days to get from one end of the USA to get to the other. Or you’re an extreme athlete and don’t need a motor, but you just need four months.
The German Jonas Deichmann rode his bike from New York to Los Angeles at the beginning of July – and then walked back. The 36-year-old has gotten to know the United States like very few people before him. And he now understands the country better, he says.
Physically, the well over 10,000 kilometers were not a big problem, Deichmann told the German Press Agency after his arrival in New York on Saturday. He has just walked the last few kilometers through Manhattan, through Central Park, across Times Square. Now he stands on the edge of the East River, with the skyline behind him. His beard is long, his hair is disheveled under his red cap, his face is weather-beaten. In fact, he’s very reminiscent of the main character of his favorite film, Forrest Gump, who has a similar run in the Oscar-winning masterpiece.
Uncommon vastness – and big differences in the USA
And like Gump, Deichmann ran through the spectacular Monument Valley in Arizona, through the incomparable landscape of Utah, jumped into the Pacific on Santa Monica Beach and sweated in 50 degree temperatures in the Mojave Desert in California. What became clear to Deichmann during his weeks all alone on the street, he says, was the vastness and great differences in the United States.
He now understands better why the superpower is so divided exactly one year before what was seen as a fateful presidential election. Deichmann ran through rich areas where “everything works” – and through “extremely left-behind” regions whose residents are deeply frustrated. “It’s the land of opportunity, but not for everyone.”
Deichmann’s preferred means of transport is actually the bicycle, with which he made it into the Guinness Book of Records in recent years: in 64 days he rode 16,000 kilometers from Portugal to Vladivostok in Russia. This was followed by tours from Alaska to Patagonia and from the North Cape in Norway to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
With the “Triathlon around the world” – from September 2020 to November 2021 he cycled, swam and ran for more than 400 days – Deichmann received international attention. His 120 Ironman distances in a row inspired athletes all over the world. In contrast, Deichmann’s adventure in the USA seemed almost relaxed, with around 200 kilometers on the bike or over 50 kilometers on foot every day.
“Sometimes I call someone”
But the more than 2,000 kilometer long running route through corn fields in the Midwest that always looked the same was mentally demanding, says the Stuttgart native. “The main thing is to distract yourself.” He then listens to podcasts, music and audio books. “Sometimes, when it’s really, really monotonous all day, I call someone.”
Deichmann usually didn’t have a team at his side on his tour, but instead transported his minimalist luggage, which weighed only a few kilograms, on a bicycle or in a cart that he pulled behind him while jogging. For the last distance in the USA, he ran the famous New York Marathon on Sunday along with thousands of other people, as photos published on Instagram showed. Then he goes back to Europe, where Deichmann is particularly looking forward to his favorite dish: cheese spaetzle.
Afterwards, new adventures await again. The extreme athlete says he will start his next project in May. What it is won’t be revealed for now. Just this much: It will be “a little harder” than the USA tour. “No one has done that before.”