I created this blog out of frustration and boredom with social media. For some years I posted my travel und music adventures under the moniker “hoffnungsmaschine” on Instagram and Twitter. But I got more and more annoyed with these platforms, because they became less and less social and more and more commercial and ad nightmares. So I decided to start a good old fashioned blog (tracking and ad free) trying to keep the spirit of long distance cycling and story telling alive.

Cycle travel is changing in many ways these days as most things does. But it is still a wonderful art of travelling. It’s slow for sure. But you see things that you wouldn’t otherwise, speeding down the highways of life in a too big and too loud car, lost to open spaces most of the time.

Of course it’s not always beauty you find cycling long distance. You are always in the thick of it, if it’s scenic landscape around or drab commercial sprawling of towns and cities. The world is full of ugly and dull places and sometimes you wonder if they get more and more by the minute. But the rewards of travelling on your bicycle, pedalling along minor roads and tracks through fields and forests eventually offers pure beauty in your own eyes and your own ears. What cycling gives you, is time to look and see and listen what’s around you, what’s right beside and in front of you.

I try to contribute some stories to enlighten people of the wonders of cycling. For sure it’s often hard enough. But isn’t life all about hardship and wonder too? See for youself if you dare and get on your bike!

Though living in Bonn/Germany and carrying a German/EU passport I am blogging in English. It’s not my native language and I will probably make lots of mistakes. (Entschuldigung, folks!) Please be kind about those and point the worst ones out to me.

The main reason for writing in English is that the people I think will be interested in this blog are mostly English speaking folk. But don’t be surprised either if there suddenly is some post in German or the odd foreign phrase mixed in. In the end it’s all french, right?! But language is all about crossing borders too, if you dare. And maybe in the future I will add the odd translation.

But right now my main objective is to create something to put my thoughts and words in, while cycling to Krankenhaus Festival again in 2026. So stay tuned for what’s to come.

Enjoy and leave a comment, if you like…
Christoph x