For my 50th birthday, I decided to give myself a different kind of present: getting fit again. Properly fit. Before my body starts going downhill.
I needed a goal to get me there.
The TORTOUR. 500 kilometres for my 50th.
The fact that the TORTOUR was heading back to Schaffhausen with its "Back to the Roots” edition made the decision even easier. That’s where I lined up for my very first cycling race in 2018.
For the past six years, my wife and I have been running our family business together. During that time, we’ve also become parents to three children. Work and family came first. Sport had to wait.
Now the timing felt right. I wanted to see what I could still do at 50.
I knew I needed a plan. I come from wrestling and Swiss wrestling. 500 kilometres is a completely different challenge.
For this project, I got support from Florian Vogel. He structured my training and tailored every session to me and my everyday life. Work, family and training all had to fit together. And when a session was scheduled, it got done. Consistently.
I never thought I could get this fit again after six years away from sport.
I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed it. Not just being fit, but feeling like an athlete again.
Training again reminded me just how much the details matter. How everything – training, nutrition and recovery – has to work together. And how much you can achieve with a clear goal, the right plan and the determination to see it through.
We work with some of the best athletes in the world. Their feedback is invaluable. But nothing replaces what I experience myself.
I’m interested in the moment when things stop being easy. That’s when you find out what really works. In training just as much as with a product. As an athlete and as a product developer. That’s why I test every new development myself.
Back then, I founded WINFORCE because I needed products that simply didn’t exist. This year, I needed them again. And they work.
Going the distance.
TORTOUR 500
Date: 14 August 2026
Route: Schaffhausen to Schaffhausen
Distance: Approx. 515 kilometres
Elevation gain: Approx. 6,600 metres
Format: Unsupported
