Hawaii is something like a second home for Jochen Dembeck. Here he collected a lot of racing kilometers and did crazy things. His latest idea: with a racing bike around the whole island, 420 kilometers without a break.
That the Kailua-Kona pier is a deserted place just before 3:00 a.m. even applies to the days of insanity in October when the Ironman World Cup lives on the west coast
completely governed by Big Island. Here and there an athlete with jet lag who left his bed to run tired, but that’s about it. Now, however, at the beginning of December, it raises all the more questions when a triathlete under the famous Banyan Tree is happily focused on preparing for a big and extremely long day. For example: “What is the man doing?”
The man’s name is Jochen Dembeck and is actually a triathlete. But today there is no three-way fight for him. What Jochen has set himself will occupy him longer than a long distance – an island tour by bike. Big Island by bike. Nonstop.
Jochen knows the route well. He has already driven it several times as a participant in the legendary “Ultraman”. However, very different rules apply to the really tough world championships. At the start, ten kilometers are swum and then the first bike stage is mastered. On the second day the final bike part follows and on the third day there is still a double marathon.
Private challenge with a single participant
On a bike, up to 421 kilometers, divided over two days, depending on the route, which has also been changed over the years. Most of the time, however, Jochen’s favorite route from Kailua-Kona was counterclockwise around the entire island. And that’s exactly what the 51-year-old has in mind for today – as the only participant in his private challenge. How it came about that he will plunge into this adventure in a few minutes is a long story and it began many years ago in front of a television in Leverkusen.
Together with his father, 15-year-old Jochen had watched a report about the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. He had heard the name Dave Scott for the first time and was intrigued to hear that there were Germans with Detlef Kühnel and Manuel Debus who did this crazy sport. He wanted that too. And so it was a good thing that an acquaintance of his father was also a triathlete and could introduce him to the sport. Jochen’s later career in short form: 1987 the first start at a sprint in Duisburg, 1990 the first long distance in Roth. 33 more followed and in 1999 he started for the first time at the Ultraman in Hawaii. It is such a drastic experience for Jochen that he will not be able to leave the very long distances in the future. He experiences the Ultraman adventure eight times, takes the Ironman World Championship three times in the meantime, completes the Transalpine Run, finishes at the Race Across The Alps and circles Switzerland on a road bike tour.
Penchant for extremes
And again and again Hawaii. The island he loves so much and visits for several weeks every year. In 2015 and 2017 Jochen organized his personal Mauna Kea Odyssey here. He swims the 3.8 km long swimming route of the Ironman Hawaii on his own, then cycles 89 km to the Mauna Kea Visitor Center and runs the 10 km trail to the summit of the volcano at 4,205 meters above sea level . Why? “I just feel like adventure, that’s all joy for me,” says Jochen and raves about the enjoyment at the edge of the comfort zone. He loves to be there, and occasionally take the painful jump to the other side.
He calls himself “challenged” his unusual ventures and he sets out for such a challenge today. 420 kilometers ahead of him, 5,000 vertical meters and God knows how many hours in the saddle. There is only one way to find out how many there will actually be: climb up, drive off and arrive at some point. That’s Jochen’s plan. He couldn’t ask anyone anyway, because none of the well-informed locals can remember that someone had already made this trip. But that’s okay too. Elaborate schedules and meal plans in detail and define strategies and pacing? Not yoke’s thing. But since he knows Big Island by heart, he doesn’t even have to study a map. And since he is always following the situation on his island, he knows that the eruption of the Kilauea has made parts of the original Ultraman route in the Puna District inaccessible. So instead of taking the entire Ultraman route under his wheels, he follows Plan B – a slightly shortened route that keeps him 95 kilometers. Or rather saved? We will see.
Lonely freedom
At 3:00 on the dot, Jochen heads south. With Paul van Dyk in his ear, whose “evolution” provides the rhythm for adventure, it goes down the Alii Drive. It is still pitch black when he comes onto Bypass Road towards Southpoint. A lupine Betty, the mother of all bicycle floodlights, is attached to the handlebars of his racing bike, which was stored with friends, next to the clip-ons, which are intended to ensure maximum comfort. To the rear, red lights flash, which, like the entire lighting system, are as far away from being recognized by the German Road Traffic Licensing Regulations as Patrick Lange’s pace from a relaxed end of the day run. But there is nobody there who might be interested. First, this is Hawaii, and second, Jochen overtakes three cars on his ride south.
Jochen enjoys the lonely journey through the dark. Then he is completely with himself and feels free, he says. Sometimes with music in one ear, sometimes without, and sometimes he just sings himself. From the Dire Straits to U2, from Trance to Supertramp. A wild mix that covers all moods. Current state of mind: maximum satisfaction.
When he reaches Black Sands Beach after around four hours, the first rays of sun begin to turn night into day. What a feeling. “I completely absorb such moments. To experience these different lighting conditions, the different phases of the day so intensely, fills me with tremendous energy. That drives me and makes me thankful, ”Jochen describes his mood at sunrise. But he knows that this number will not remain just sunshine. He knows all too well about the really long distances.
Invisible robber
The first real test is waiting right here: From Black Sands Beach it is about 40 kilometers uphill to Volcano. Not obvious, but clearly noticeable. 1,300 vertical meters, which fatally have to be sneaked up in headwinds. And as if that wasn’t enough, not even the subsequent departure is a gift. On the way to Hilo it starts to rain, the hard shoulder is littered with dirt and gravel and the reflectors, which are embedded in the ground but still protrude nastily, require full concentration instead of relaxation at top speed.
In Hilo, food is the first thing to do. Three spontaneously concerned rolls of cinnamon turn the mood barometer back into a good mood – and that is now necessary, because Jochen’s wife Judith, who drove across the island by car to support from here, has bad news: The weather in Northwest is catastrophic. Wind and rain are waiting there – not exactly the motivation that Jochen would have liked. Now he has to get it in another way and the solution is the island itself. There are always views of the sea towards Honokaa. The humidity is enormous and the landscape extremely green. The complete contrast to the lava desert that characterizes the Hawaii image of so many Ironman athletes. And not only is the difference tangible, says Jochen. He feels a completely different energy here than on the Kona coast – and he is now using it to defy the rain and the route that is starting again. Because it’s uphill again: 20 kilometers in a row through a landscape that only true insiders can immediately assign to Hawaii. Green hobbit hills that look like New Zealand or Ireland, and somehow the weather would suit them better.
Continue or shorten?
When Jochen finally reaches Waimea, it gets hairy for a moment. Unfortunately, the place has an intersection and this intersection opens up various options for exhausted athletes. Option 1: continue towards Hawi. Follow the original plan of the largest possible tour of the island and don’t let the prospect of another climb make you small. Option 2: turn south and put an end to misery. After all, it’s not a competition. Everything completely voluntarily and nobody would complain. And the weather is really bad …
What to do? Jochen looks up to the Kohala Mountains and can guess that sun and warmth await him there again. So away with the negative thoughts and everything on option 1. A good decision. Suddenly it runs again and a complete rainbow spans the bright green of the meadows. The spectacle is felt so close that one is surprised not to see gold diggers digging at the ends.
Jochen masters the descent to Hawi without difficulty and when he reaches the village in the north, the famous turning point of the World Cup, he knows that it will be easy for him from now on. From here there is only one way and it leads home. A path that Jochen has driven so often that the autopilot can now take over and enjoy it completely. On the way to Kawaihae, where it goes on the Queen Kaahumanu Highway, the sun is already sinking in the Pacific again. What a sight, what a mood. Or as Jochen sums it up: “Just awesome!”
With a tailwind he flies towards Kailua-Kona. Every ten kilometers now Judith stands on the roadside and cheers him on. It is now dark again, but Jochen doesn’t care. That is the spirit. And then it’s done. Judith welcomes him to the pier. After almost 15 hours, Jochen gets off the bike, sits on the top tube, extends his arms in the night sky and thanks the volcano goddess Madame Pele for shortening the route with her lava number from spring. Because as beautiful as it was, now it was enough.
A little later, Jochen and Judith sit contentedly by the sea and silently listen to a little bit of the live music that echoes from a bar. Now is not the time for excessive victory celebrations. Mission accomplished and good. After a while, Judith asks: “You want a burger now, right?” Jochen wants. And he gets it. Triple. With bacon and cheese. And two servings of home fries. His own and that of Judith. Adventure end.
The report is in the triathlon 168 appeared.
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