Extreme sports like ultra-distance cycling and Ironman triathlons often attract individuals with extraordinary resilience and transformative stories. Jana Kesenheimer, a German ultra-cyclist based in Innsbruck, exemplifies this spirit. From overcoming anorexia and a turbulent party lifestyle to tackling epic challenges like the 2022 “Dead Ends and Dolci,” Jana’s journey highlights the power of cycling as a path to personal growth and adventure.
It seems that extreme sports such as ultra distance cycling or Ironman triathlons attract some exteme personalities. There are people who have turned addiction or mental health issues around through sports. For example, Jack Thompson, an Australian cyclist with substance abuse and depression in his background, rode the route of the 2021 Tour de France, chasing the pro peloton. We reviewed his resulting video here: pezcyclingnews.com. In the meantime, Thompson became, in 2022, the first person to ride one million vertical meters in a calendar year.
In the video “Three Peaks and In Between,” about Jana Kesenheimer’s 2020 participation in the self-supported race from Vienna to Barcelona (reviewed here: https://pezcyclingnews.com/features/pez-goes-to-the-movies-three-peaks-in-between/), we saw the grit and confidence needed to ride over 2,000 kms alone and against the clock. What we did not get was much about who Jana Kesenheimer is.
A video featuring this German rider based in Innsbruck was released. As anyone following her Strava activities knows she has continued to be active in the ultra cycling scene. This is an expanding one, with many new approaches. “Dead Ends and Dolci/Cake” (the name is a bit inconsistent in English) began in 2021 and might be considered a much more sophisticated and far harder version of the “Donut Races” beloved in America, where your time on the course is reduced by the number of donuts you can stuff down (and keep down).
The 2022 version of “Dead Ends and Dolci” took riders on a course to five chcckpoints (which order you have to plan yourself), each at the top of an Alpine climb and supplied with fine local cakes, whereupon riders turn around, go downhill and off to the next pastry stop. Jana Kesenheimer is up for this challenge, figuring that it will be a good day’s riding. Putting this into perspective that “good day” would be 500 kms long and with nearly 9,000 m of climbing!
We see Jana at home discussing what cycling means to her and her approach. She enjoys a long ride by herself, but as she says, her idea of “long” is now what most of us would think about. Her training plan is not so much a plan as riding by feel and while she does not do specific preparation for these events she does arrive in the condition necessary to do them.
Riding extreme distances seems to be a way that she has put aside the extremes of her past life. Until she was eighteen she suffered from anorexia, where “success” is measured by sufferers as the ability to avoid eating. Overcoming this, she then switched to another extreme, turning into a party animal, drinking heavily and up all night at clubs in Berlin. Cycling, as one sees with Jack Thompson or Canadian Ironman triathlete (and national One Hour Record holder) Lionel Sanders is an alternative to self-destructive tendencies. Jana Kesenheimer is clearly happiest riding alone and measuring herself against the challenges of these beautiful rides.
And there are plenty of challenges in “Dead Ends and Dolci,” with gravel segments, brutally steep sections, the possibility of navigational mistakes, and the dangers of night riding. And of course there is all that cake to consume, a challenge which (spoiler alert!) Jana has some problems with near the conclusion. As someone whose idea of the Best Bike Ride Imaginable is to cruise from bakery to bakery in the Swiss Alps in summer weather, I found much to savour in this wonderful video but the distance and climbing make this somewhat goofy event into something epic.
One advantage of the Digital Age is that videos like “No Dead Ends” can be produced to such a professional effect at low cost and minimal crews. The credits list only two people besides Jana involved in the project. There are superb images taken throughout the day, including drone shots and ones in darkness, underscoring the beauty of Eastern Switzerland.
For those wanting to enjoy more Swiss scenery (and desserts), “Dead Ends and Cakes” has produced their own video, which you can find here: www.youtube.com. This is another German language video but is also subtitled in English. German speakers may wrestle a bit with the Swiss German!
And if you want to do the ride yourself, enter the lottery for 2024 in January at the event website: www.deadendsedolci.ch/ It is also possible just to ride sections of the course anytime as the organizers encourage this as well and provide route information.
“No Dead Ends—The Journey of the Ultra Cycling Athlete Jana Kesenheimer”
Released October 7, 2023 on YouTube, 36 minutes in length
In German with English subtitles
Directed and Photographed by Vanessa Blankenagel and Hannes Hohfeld
In cooperation with Specialized and supported by Komoot.
Info on the 2025 event at: www.deadendsandcake.ch.
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