DEAD ENDS & cake 2023

Featured photo by Ben Tobias Schürer

And that's it! DEAD ENDS & cake 2023 is baked. Every single rider made it to the finish and all the cake was devoured.

Our Lanterne Rouge Seraina Blum came in last night at 10pm. Seraina had an amazing ride taking her through some of the most beautiful parts of the route!

There is something special about the DEAD ENDS races. With such a low scratch rate, so many interesting route choices and cake everywhere you look. It really is a recipe for a unique and enjoyable race.

DEAD ENDS & cake Recipe

Ingredients

5 dead end checkpoints

1 or 2 intrepid cyclists

1 bikepacking bike, determined by route choice

1 full set of bikepacking gear

5 delicious cakes

unlimited views

up to 3 days to complete the race

Preparation

Spend hours researching your dead ends. Try and find the most direct, most enjoyable or most challenging route connecting your dead ends and then change it at least 20 times prior to the race.

Lay out all of your bikepacking gear and try shoving it or neatly packing it in different combinations depending on your style. Ensure you have a last minute repack the night before and leave out one crucial item, a good one to leave is your toothbrush or tyre levers.

Check your bike is in a roadworthy condition. If you like to live on the edge you can leave this until the day before and then have to run around every bike shop in the area trying to find some new brake pads.

Cooking Instructions

Arrive at the start in St. Gallen, meet your fellow riders and remember your forgotten toothbrush. Whatever you do, do NOT compare your route with other riders, it's too late now.

Set off and ride for 19 hours to 3 days depending on desired experience, those who are looking to hike-a-bike should allow more time to rise. Make sure to stop and rest every so often to allow the rider to recharge and enjoy the cakes on offer.

If your spirits become low, make sure to resupply any sugar stores with a local Swiss cake or sweet.

Finish the race to a spread of fantastic foods and cakes, with home-made ramen courtesy of the team at DE&c.

To finish the experience, make sure you arrive home, put your feet up and enjoy the next race on DotWatcher that will get you in the mood to do it all again.

• Kitty @ DotWatcher

As we see our riders trickling into the finish, we celebrate 2nd and 3rd woman - Irene Graf and Sibylle Mumenthaler. An incredibly close finish with a time of 39 hours 31 mins and 39 hours 39 mins! A nailbiting race to the podium.

Photo by Jonas Traber

Cake

Something we haven't mentioned yet is cake, each checkpoint has cake which is sourced from local bakeries and huts. They are representative of local sweet tooths and always provide the riders with a great hit of sugar and carbs. Throughout the race we keenly look for the best cake and it seems the 5/7 of Dominik's cake focus group voted for the Schlorzifladen at the Calfeisental checkpoint. A win for the multi-layered tart lovers.

Low Scratch Rate

Due to a combination of cake, kind checkpoint volunteers, thorough organisation and just general good vibes and routes, DE&c often has a very low scratch rate. Often with scratches that are due to insurmountable challenges (mechanicals and crashes). Last year saw a 0% scratch rate and Dominik is hoping for this again. He had a call from one rider who was already on the train, but with a good pep talk and promise of cake and beautiful views, our rider went back to the scratch point, performing the big foot of ultra-racing, the unscratch.

General Update

With plenty of riders still on the road, the incredibly nice riding conditions will hopefully mean there'll be smiles all round. With all riders looking like they may finish by this evening, there's plenty of DotWatching left to fill your Sunday.

The first pair in was Laura Bär & Carolin Barbey in 32 hrs 5 mins. This speedy duo headed for the more road route, leading to lots of Dead Ends. Well done to our duo!

Second in was Eric Knoll & Nathan Saurer and then third was Tanja Frischknecht & Samuel Meili in 34 hrs 46 mins and 35 hrs 6 mins respectively. Interestingly all the pairs came in with a route around the 480km mark.

Riding as a pair in a race like this can be uplifting and enjoyable, sharing the load, the route planning and the tactics. Well done to our speedy teamies.

Photo by Ben Tobias Schürer

Alessia Sträuli (pictured) Is our women's winner. Coming in at an extrememly fast 27 hrs 47 mins she finished with 485.08 KM on the clock. An extremely impressive almost non-stop ride. 10th overall in one of the most competitive editions yet.

Close to the finish, Irene Graf and Sibylle Mumenthaler are 17th and 18th respectively as they race for the women's 2nd and 3rd place, should all go to plan. Simone Allemann and Franziska Schöni are next up. Franziska's progress seems to have slowed a little, maybe the fantastic cake is too hard to leave! Alicia Köster is also up there, seemingly taking a very similar route to Irene.

Photo by Jonas Traber

Alessia Sträuli is quickly closing in on the finish choosing a similar route to Thomas Schlatter, Alessia was one of the first riders to reach Alp Nurdagn. She looks like she may be in within the next hour or so. Alessia rides for Cycle Team Ost and is no stranger to riding fast. She took a single rest at around 9pm but has pushed through the entire race.

Our next woman is Irene Graf, she took a decent rest overnight last night and is pushing on this morning.She's left Alp Nurdagn and is on the long journey to Bischofalp.

Franziska Schöni is our third woman in the rankings at the moment.She took a rest last night but is off, riding strong this morning. She's currently on her way back North after bagging Alp Nurdagn.

Photo by Jonas Traber

After an incredibly fierce day of riding, Ben Koch is our 2023 DEAD ENDS & cake champion. After having a low point at Alp Nurdagn, he pressed on through. With a blistering finish time of 19 hrs and 34 mins, Ben was rewarded with a piece of rhubarb from a friend at the finish. His route has been the shortest so far at 450km.

In just an hour and 15 minutes later was Luca Widmer who did pretty much Ben's route in reverse with an additional 10km. Luca is a strong rider and made short work of a lot of the climbs.

The podium is completed by Lorenz Inauen who rolled in less than an hour later. A silver medalist at the long distance duathlon world champs, he's really proved himself a force to be reckoned with.

Also in under 24 hours were Lucas Rüesch, Moritz Grämiger and Thomas Schlatter.

Photo by Jonas Traber

Dominik has sent through the first full brevet! Luca Widmer has right this second just completed his brevet at Bischofalp. However, it's not over yet - Lorenz is trailing as is Ben, who is heading for Kamor which is much closer to the finish.

Riders flock to DE&c each year and the ballot fills extremely quickly, the feedback is always glowing and so we've recruited veteran racer Hetty Kingston to provide some insight into the more quirky parts of the race.

The Checkpoints

Obviously, each checkpoint provides the riders with some cake - a treat and a reward in such a tough ride. But, did you know it's not just the cake that riders are treated to?

At Kamor checkpoint volunteers serenade the incoming riders with a ukelele and a smile, ensuring spirits are lifted as they roll in. In Calfeisental there's a hot tub and a sauna which riders can hop into and warm the cockles of their cycling hearts whilst they enjoy their cake and satisfaction of reaching another goal.

The Race Interval

At the DEAD ENDS events Dominik Bokstaller (organiser) has noticed a phenomenon that seems to only happen at his races - the interval. In 2022 Christof Jeker left for a wedding (keeping his DE&c socks on for his outfit) he then returned to finish the race. Emma Pooley left DEAD ENDS & dolci this year to compete in a national trail running race and returned to finish. This year, Niko Maric has left for a book launch of a friend and is now heading back to the race.

The Hike-a-Bike Potential

A final quirk of the Dead Ends races is the ability to hike-a-bike. As spurred on in the first edition by Emma Pooley, it seems to have now become the alternative race for some. Ulrich and Filip's route between Calfeisental and Bischofalp is not for the faint of heart. With snow still on the tops it's a pretty perilous journey for the uninitiated taking them all day to complete. Those who remember Dead Ends & dolci this year will also be acquainted with this as a rider took snow shoes to complete his race.

Featured Photo by Ben Tobias Schürer

From what seemed to have been two completely different routes by Ben Koch and Luca Widmer and Lorenz Inauen, we can now see they're essentially running the same route backwards with Ben doing the reverse of the other two. With such a close race, there's no way to call it!

Now the riders are spread all over eastern Switzerland. Some are pushing really hard - all of them on different routes. Time will tell whats faster - eating all cakes clockwise ore counter clockwise.

Ben Koch decided to go counter clockwise and went to Bischofalp first. This means covering a lot of distance and validating "only" one checkpoint. He went flat along Walensee, checked Alp Nurdagn and is now on the hike-a-bike up to Obermutten. Later on his Menu: Calfeisental (up the very steep side of Kunkelspass) and then the grueling long and very hard climb to Kamor from Rüthi. Once he's up there, it's all downhill to the finishline!

Lorenz Inauen looks like he is in the lead of the group going the other way around. Not too far behind Moritz Grämiger and Thomas Schlatter are following. But - Luca Widmer has one big advantage! He already had his cake at Calfeisental and is the first to visit four of our five checkpoints! He will now enjoy a long stretch of flat riding towards Bischofalp.

Who will be first to collect all cakes? We honestly can't say yet. One thing we can say for sure - they will be back very early! Crazy pace!!

In our more intrepid hike-a-bike, two riders, Ulrich Rose and Filip Ieleszuk have taken a mammoth hike-a-bike from Bischofalp to Calfeisental, the weather conditions are stabilised.

Photo by Jonas Traber