Germany – China, by BIKE!

13 Feb Germany – China, by BIKE!

It’s snowing in Bassano del Grappa and it arrives a mail to us:
“Do you have a room free for tomorrow? I’m a cyclist, I just crossed the alps and now and I’m going south because it’s freezing cold.”

The day after arrives Stefan Hannus. After been sitting on his bags for a week and waiting for the snow storm to stop in Germany he found a weather window and left Munich the 16 January.
Final destination of the journey: Beijing, China.
When we meet it’s been a week since he started. The weather window turned out to be just that; a small gap in the snow chaos. Although it was blue sky when he started on the main square in Munich he found closed roads on the way to Austria.

– I underestimated the way of travelling in snow and the weight of my bags. And I overestimated my level of fitness. So everything was worse than I thought, he says with a smile.

The roads where blocked because of danger for avalanches.

– But it was good cause it was no traffic. But it was really hard in Innsbruck when it was -10 degrees.

He changed his road and decided to go south, and so he stopped by us in the hostel. In the beginning he planned to go every kilometer by bike, now he is more flexible and don’t mind to take the train or boat some tracks of the road. The important thing is though to leave a low carbon footprint.

In Germany he was working with cancer research. After years of pressure and stress the euphoria decreased and he felt that he needed some other motivation.

– The first time I felt the euphoria again was when I thought about going to China by bike.

Though it was hard to leave friends and family, once decided he couldn’t change his mind.

He has been prepared for about a year, planning his route and reading about others that has done similar trips.
– I did a lot of research reading. Everybody is sending home a lots of thing and that’s exactly how I feel.

He smiles again and laughs when he admits that he brought his paraglide. It is a part of the 40 kg luggage he carries. He was thinking about bringing a one wheel trailer but considered it would be more a problem than a help, so he put everything on the bike.

– It’s a bit difficult in the up hills, when I go like 3 km/h it is a bit unsteady. And in the down hills I can’t go to fast because of the breaks and it’s getting really warm. The snow is melting on the wheels with a sound as if it was put on fire.

Why China?

– It is easy to get there. You don’t really leave the civilization, only in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, but it’s only for a month. It’s a good long distance way to start with.

And also he lived in China when he was 15, 16 years his dad was working there. He speaks a little Chinese.

– It’s not like coming home, but it’s not out of the blue that I chose Beijing.

He hasn’t be back since the Tiananmen Square massacre 1989 and that will be his last stop.

When we meet the day after he is about to leave for Venice. The sky is blue, but it’s windy and really cold. He is sitting on the sofa and the smile is tired when he hears the weather report. But it’s not a surprise. It will be 10 months filled with surprises but he is prepared. And we wish him all the luck.