A new beginning

So well, long time no posts. It might appear to the reader, that there have been loads of things going on in my life, which is clearly the fact. So no time to write them all down! Still not. Ever since I wrote the last entry, I found myself on some rather serious bike trips, left my job, did cycle more and then often. Went back to Europe and got a new job, did more cycling, and some reading.

After a long time I finally found the strong will to stick my teeth into books again. Travel books like the ones to be found in your favourite book store around the corner. Currently it is 'Long Way Round' from Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, and it's wicked. Maybe reading another book beforehand about four lonely people living in an apartment in a big town wasn't the appropriate book to read while you are away travelling (sometimes on my own). It's still a nice one, but in the meantime I have spend lonely nights reading books about ordinary people doing extraordinary things (most of them were speaking English, that's why this blog is in English too, a start to be extraordinary). And reading travel books really fired me up again, already having done my utmost best to publish some pictures of my last three years travelling, still hundreds remaining unsorted. But things can only get better, as the days are getting shorter and my will to ride bicycles clashes with either darkness or cold. Lights and warm stuff should improve that soon, meanwhile I keep sorting things (pictures, not my life). And I must say that I can at least compete with the pictures in the books, mine might even be a bit better.

To write about the stuff that happened in retrospect would be a good prospect to get writing again, but I think it may not happen due to the unsortedness and spontaneity of my world around me. Unless I see myself in a few years time becoming a famous writer and then have to explore every year of my life to search for suitable content to exploit. Surely 2009 has enough content so far, but looking back this is unlikely to happen soon. Meanwhile I decided to maybe pick a few things to write about that are worth it. Maybe somebody is interested in a story that tells him that after riding a bike with big nobby 2.3 tires 150km on tarmac, with considerable hills in between, I found myself in the middle of a naturist camp on my last xmas trip. Despite being of German descent and having survived my worst hangover and the 'suicide highway' already, I felt the considerable pain of having to cook my porridge the next morning with no cover on much worse than getting yet another 15 km in my legs. Only to find myself as translator for a Czech couple at the next camp ground. But after spending half an hour translating with a considerable 'Thank you' given from the owner, I quickly found myself giving them some salt to cook their plain rice afterwards as well. Munching my 'flavoured' laksa noodles made me somehow feel privileged after all. It was not only a pleasure, but also made me enjoy the comfort of a bike trip. For the rest of the week I managed to average 130km a day, passing more sheep than people, and facing a cold southerly on NZ's highest road on Christmas day. I wonder what's in this year for me.


However, I can't help writing again, after this longer break, as I think I have things to say, and stories to tell, and I would love to more frequently. Rather amusing or serious, whatever happens. And as I read all the books about ordinary people doing extraordinary things (whether on bikes or not), I can't help but to do the same, write it down (and do it first). Not that I have done seriously dangerous stuff so far, I still managed to pack a few adventures in so far, and there will be more to come. Bike Aotearoa might become a bit of a misleading title, but as I started taking biking serious in NZ, it is still the appropriate title for the blog. And will be again some day, I am not too unsure of that.


Meanwhile I've been wondering what keeps me going out there again and again, making my life a rather bumpy rollercoaster so far. Not a smooth city ride as maybe suggested by my parents when they financed my studies, only to find out that, after 3 years, I still haven't progressed in my attempts to settle. Not that something called ’career’ by others has taken serious damage so far; I am possibly clever enough to bridge gaps in my CV, but settling finally? Maybe I will never do so, always in the search for what I found out it is - beauty. I wonder why it has taken my so long to find out, but after sitting in a rather beautiful (!) concert in August I managed to think about it and, there we go, I think I got it that night. Is there anything more satisfying than experiencing beauty in all its shapes, forms and whatever, even if the road there is a rough one? Simply no. So in all those rather demanding bike trips lays a beauty in many aspects, some of them expressed in my pictures, and I am aiming to express more in words that I used too. I did the same for a long time while I was standing behind the decks that mean the world. But times have changed, and so has my way to express things. As it is getting a bit philosophical for the moment I am off, but will hopefully write this blog more frequently now. Meanwhile, look at the pictures so far.