"The Zofingen Experience
This is the big one, at least in my book. It’s the one I spend 364 days a year pushing pedals, pounding pavement, and countless hours daydreaming about. It’s Powerman Zofingen. It’s a tremendous race throughout the Swiss countryside that has a brutal 10k opening run, a 93 mile bike ride with 6100 feet of elevation change, and finishes up with 30k (18.6 miles) of trail running/walking/crawling with 2000 feet of elevation change. In short, the race is a near death experience, but the atmosphere and surroundings make it more than enjoyable.
This year Jan and I packed up two bikes- one for me and one for her. We also had two suitcases of loot to go along with us. Perhaps the organizers of the race should add a luggage run, because Jan and I got quite good at wheeling 250 pounds of junk around busy airports! I’ll spare you any airport stories…traveling now is pretty difficult.
After 7 hours of a direct flight to Zurich, we were greeted with the keys to a rather beat-down rental car that I quickly dismantled in an effort to pile our belongings in it. With the rear end sagging of our tiny dented tin can of a car we took off towards our homestay family, which lives just outside of Zofingen.
Now many intense athletes use these homestays as crash pads for them to sleep, eat, and train- no more. Jan and I have stayed with Walter, Pia, Manuel, and Leandra for 4 years and once at their house you automatically become part of the family. It is so fun! For me, that means playing soccer, speedmitten, jumping on the trampoline, and in the case of last year, mowing the grass. It’s not that they make you do these things, it’s that they are so fun you want to. Sure we got our rest, but hanging with the Pfaffli’s is our favorite part of the trip.
Like every other year, we had a “special” lined up by Walter and Pia. This year all 6 of us piled into the van and took off towards the Alps. A couple of mountain passes and a gondola ride later we were at the top of a 8000 foot mountain. In a move that would make just about any other serious athlete cringe with fear, we all donned helmets and raced down the mountain on scooters! Much to other tourists shock, the six of us flew down the mountain on paved trails at 35 mph. When you are with the Pfaffli’s nothing is done slow, so this activity soon becomes a race to see who can get to the bottom first without flying into the Swiss countryside. Fortunately no one did and we even did it a second time.
I could write a book about our experiences with the Pfaffli’s, but I’ll spare you and move on to the race!
Come Friday night, the opening ceremonies kick up and everyone gathers to see the parade of nations. This year 27 countries were lined up. There is no other feeling like seeing a small Swiss kid carrying the ol’ stars and bars up to the front of the room. This year we had just two Americans, myself and John Phillips, competing so it was important to me to represent the US the best we could.
Saturday came and went in the blink of an eye. I did watch the Powerkids race, which brings all the local kids out in their mini racing suits and bikes to compete over a small course. It’s a blast to watch them all and to see the parents racing around the block to see where their kid is in the race.
Then it’s time to go off to the races! My race started Sunday morning at 8:58 am. This is 58 minutes after the women. Like other years, there is an overall prize to the first person to cross the line, be it man or woman. It was really nice to not have to wake up at 4 am to eat before a race. It was also really nice not to have sixteen layers of clothes on and warmup in the rain! This was the first Zofingen I had done where it was not raining and cold, which I thought was a disadvantage for me.
The first run starts out on a steep (like pitches up to 15%) 800 meter hill before it weaves its way through the forest. Once the gun goes off it’s a mad dash for the first 400 meters, with just 6 of us pulling away by the top. I knew all the favorites were in this group, so I stayed at the back and kept pace the best I could. It was, after all, going to be a long day!
After going up countless false flats we dove back down towards the city to start our second lap. By the middle of the second lap I was content to keep my pace 50 meters of so behind the leaders. I raced into T1 with a 31 minute and change 10k, which is crazy fast by my standards. I changed, threw down a powergel, and took off on the bike.
My strategy on the bike, after a few years of experience, was to ride behind the two leaders and ahead of the looming pack that would pace each other. This way I could be out of sight and out of mind to both groups. That strategy worked until the end of the first lap, where a pack of 12 caught me. I was bummed that they caught me, but glad that I wasn’t burning up matches trying to stay away from them.
The rules say that you must have 10 meters distance between the rider in front of you, so that there is no drafting. When you take 12 guys, 10 meters apart, there is a definite draft going on! This group had 8 guys that did absolutely nothing but sit in the rear and eat rice cakes all day. I was at the front trying to keep everyone moving, especially since the leaders now had an 11 minute lead on us. I didn’t want to settle into racing for second place, even though a lot of guys were content with that. The second lap was animated by some hard climbing; especially on the Bodenberg by a few local Swiss stars. I kept pace and worked hard to keep my bottle consumption going, as it was getting near 90 degrees.
On the third and final lap I gave it some gas on the Bodenberg in an effort to split our group up. My tactic worked and our group was down to just 7 sets of tired legs instead of 13. I ended up downing 16 bottles of fluids, 7 gels, a Clif Bar, and a banana during my 4 hour and 2 minute ride. I thought that would be more than enough to get me through the last 2 hours of torture!
In T2 I downed a Pepsi and a gel just to start things off and started the ascent up the mountain. By the top I was in 4th place and I was feeling good. I remembered my blowup last year, so I kept the pace back a little bit and dumped water over my head at every aid station. Finally I came out of the forest and saw my cheering section, which made things seem like they were going a little faster. That was a good thing, because it was getting really hot and I needed to wrap this thing up before I turned into a big pile of American goop in the middle of the forest like last year.
As the long descent at the end of lap one arrived I was hurtin’. It happened so fast! I went from seeing straight and being completely in tune with my body to thinking about rolling myself down the hill. I did everything I could to find some kind of relief. I dove into the bushes to go to the bathroom. I dunked my head in an enormous water fountain. I started dumping coke and Gatorade over my head along with the water. My legs felt like were as big as straws and my muscles felt like guitar strings. I had to start walking, and not just walking, I was mall walking! I can’t imagine walking slower than I was going. I made it halfway through the second lap this way, trying to just finish this blasted race and get my T-shirt and go home. Finally, with Jan’s encouragement, I started jogging in the forest. It was more of a shuffle, but it was forward progress. My dreams for this year were shattered, but at least I burned out bright. That was the only satisfaction I could give myself as I wrapped up my mega-long 2 hour and 35 minute second run. I crossed the line, grabbed my shirt, and tumbled on the ground next to John, my fellow American who finished in his fastest time ever.
After a few minutes of trying to spit out complete sentences to the Pfaffli’s and Jan, I started to realize that I was lucky to just finish. I finished in 7 hour and 9 minutes, which is more than respectable, just not by Josh Beck standards. An hour ago I was thinking about how stupid this race was and that I couldn’t believe that the same thing happened to me as last year. Now, after 30 minutes of rest I was ready to tackle a new training program for Zofingen 2008- as soon as I could walk again!
To wrap it up, I finished 20th on the day out of 250. I was bummed that I got cooked by the heat again, but the rest of the trip more than made up for it. This year more than ever we had more fun than we could handle. The race was awesome…great running trails and epic climbs that have hearty crowds and enormous cattle staring you right in the eyes. It pushes you further into your “pain cave” than you ever though possible. To do it while flying the stars and stripes and in front of a Swiss “family” makes it all the more rewarding.
Now it’s time to go back to work- and training too!
Thanks for reading!
Josh"
