I'm not new to cycling at all. I've started at a pretty young age thanks to my dad who is an enthusiast. In my teens he took me on my first longer rides of 50km and from there it absolutely escalated like with most of my hobbies.
My day tours got longer and I was quickly doing day rides of 180km and more. I was always more interested in endurance than racing and I love being by myself for long stretches of time so touring came absolutely natural for me. It all culminated in my first bikepacking tour through Germany at around age 18 or so. It was 2000km across all of Germany in 12 days. Alone of course. Planned and booked everything by myself and spent my own money on it. It was a time before Smartphones so I went equiped with a bunch of giant paper maps and a genuine compass. Made the whole trip with only minor hickups.
After that I settled down for a bit and only rode occasionally, some years not at all.
Picked up riding last year again and went full hog when I got my first ever road bike this year. That was basically a complete revelation for me since I only ever rode heavy trekking bikes before. Road bikes felt like absolute cheating. And then I discovered clipless pedals and found the easy mode to cycling. I've been driving weekly ever since.
I recently climbed one of the toughest mountains in Germany and it got me hooked on mountains. Currently looking into more routes in the mountains and a good gravelbike to be able to go off the path.
My current setup is this:
- Scott Addict 20 Disc with enduro geometry and reinforced wheels for heavier loads
- Shimano PD combo pedals
- Shimano SH-XC7 shoes (amazing things)
- Topeak MTX Trunkbag and Rack combo for longer tours
- Garmin Fenix 5 Plus
- Bose Quiet Control 30 Wireless Headphones
- Generic bike helmet for anything longer than 50km
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