A few years ago Jonas Deichmann worked as a salesperson for a German start-up, Benify, when he had a revelation: Why spend eight hours a day sitting in an office in Munich when he could spend eight hours a day cycling around the world on his bike? So, he quit his job. And changed professions. Today he is an adventurer. He makes a living by completing challenges, showcasing them in the media and social networks, documenting them in books and documentaries, and explaining them in conferences. That's all he does. He cycles, swims, or runs and shares it. A dream job?
"I have my sponsors and I know how to seek funds. I also don't need much to live," explains Deichmann in a conversation with EL MUNDO from Munich, where he lives and trains around 50 hours per week for challenges. His latest challenge, completed between May and September, was finishing an Ironman every day for 120 consecutive days. That means 3,800 meters of swimming, 180 kilometers of cycling, and a marathon each day. He always did it on the official route of the German challenge Roth, one of the most famous races in the world, surrounded by friends or followers who wanted to accompany him for a while.
"It was really tough, the toughest thing I've ever done. I had to maintain a fairly high pace to have time to rest before starting again the next day," comments the German, the world's leading specialist in ultra-distance challenges, who hints at going even further in 2025 without providing details.
At 37 years old, his resume is impressive: in 2017, even before leaving his job, he cycled from Cabo da Roca in Portugal to Vladivostok in Asian Russia; in 2018, he covered the Pan-American route from Alaska to Ushuaia by bike; the following year, he traveled from Cape Town to the northern tip of Norway and back to Cape Town; and in 2021, after the pandemic break, he decided to travel the world in over 400 days doing triathlons. First, he swam 450 kilometers in the Adriatic, then cycled 21,000 kilometers throughout Europe - including the Spanish Mediterranean coast - and finally ran the 5,060 kilometers crossing Mexico from side to side. There, he had one of the experiences of his life: a dog started following him, and he, nicknamed the 'German Forrest Gump,' became famous throughout the country. "It was my favorite movie as a child, so I loved that nickname. I grew a long beard and wore the Bubba Gump cap," he recalls.
Born in Stuttgart and raised in a small village in the Black Forest in Germany, Deichmann graduated in Business Administration and Management (ADE) in Sweden and then completed a master's degree in Denmark before starting to work as a salesperson in his country and realizing that it wasn't his calling.
"My grandfather was already an adventurer, he hunted snakes in Guinea, and was a great influence on me. As a child, I did cycling and even competed as a cadet or junior, but speed was not my thing, endurance was. During my university days, I organized trips on my own in the Alps and discovered how much I enjoyed it," recalls the German, who follows a diet based on carbohydrates of between 7,000 and 10,000 calories a day to be able to complete his adventures. "Basically, I eat everything I can. At home, it's relatively easy to do. Also in places like Spain, where I remember eating incredibly well. But in some countries, I have been very hungry and lost a lot of weight," Deichmann concludes, the salesperson who left the office to become a full-time adventurer.