Here’s a great story sent to me by a reader that is almost too amazing to be believed. It’s the tale of Heinz Stucke, a German man who set out to ride his bicycle around the World at the age of 22. His plan was to complete his trip over the course of a couple of years, but now, more than 40 years later, he’s still peddling.
Stucke claims to be the “most well traveled man in history” and it’s difficult to dispute his claims. By most accounts, he has now circled the globe ten times on his bike, and he has no intention of stopping anytime soon. After wandering for years, he eventually set a new goal for himself, to visit every country on Earth, which he has yet to complete, but he hasn’t given up on. The changing nature of the map is constantly giving him new goals.
His Wikipedia entry says that as of 2006 he has peddled more than 355,000 miles, all of it on the same three speed bike that he left his hometown of Hövelhof, Germany on back in 1962. He has yet to return to that village. Stucke has had a number of adventures on his travels, including having his bike stolen outside of his tent in the U.K. last year. He’s also been hit by a truck in the Atacama Desert, being beaten unconscious by Egyptian soldiers, and being shot in the foot by Zimbabwean rebels.
It sounds like a pretty amazing story and an amazing adventure. Talk about living the life of the open road and going where ever your bike may take you. You have to admire someone who has a sense of exploration and just keeps going to see new corners of the Globe. I can’t imagine all the things he’s seen and places he’s visited. May his wanderlust never be cured!
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