Prologue

Yesterday we were at the place where it happened. A little over 10 years ago, my university friend Onur was killed when he slid on a wet road into the opposite lane where he graced an oncoming car, crashed into a tree and died tragically
Although Onur was Muslim, there’s a “Marterl” or wayside cross marking the site. A roadside half- moon would look a bit strange. There’s also another meaning to the cross. Onur was welcomed to Germany in the greatest sense of the word. He had a colorful circle of friends, a German girlfriend and a promising career as a mathematician. The accident happened on the way back from a Catholic youth camp where he took part as a group leader. And no one there was afraid of the bearded Muslim.
I presume that he wore the beard more for fashion. In any case, the “bearded” Muslim now lies buried in Izmir. His body was flown back to Turkey just one day after the accident happened. Only his girlfriend and family could attend the burial. The rest of us could only say goodbye ritually with a Christian service, very moving.
Because everything happened so quickly, we didn’t have the chance to say goodbye at Onur’s grave like we normally would have. And because that public gest, a journey to the grave, is a wonderful way to honor the life, the character and merits of the deceased, that’s why I always had the idea to go there.
By bike in fact .By bike, you can get everywhere during a long holiday. The landscape changes quickly enough that it doesn’t get boring and the change in the people is slow enough that you are able to adjust to this soft change and take it all in. I probably won’t counter balance my ecological footprint by cycling, because of my job, but I certainly will compensate for the health impairments by office work and lack of time to move.
So I set off in 2012, when at last it was in line with my job and Stefan, another presumably mad guy who also had time off for some days. It was 1400 km from Munich to Vrsac in Serbia. For this year there still remained 1500 km to Izmir.
Who now says cycling hurts in the long run gets some terms to research as homework such as, bike frame geometry, cyclist’s position, suspension system, individual saddle with, seat upholstery, several grip positions and pedaling frequency In the end, I think there will be more than one hundred thousand pedal strokes from Munich to Izmir with tens of thousands of meters in heights and what seems like a thousand curses. while you crank more than 100 kilos of weight over the mountains of ten countries with only one aim; to get to Turkey by our own power.
We got in the mood for the trip last Sunday. On the whole, we rode 80 km, over the hills near Glonn, which are no longer so soft, with a stop for refreshments at Lake Steinsee, across a few dirt roads with broken stones and jagged rocks and at last, but not least, towards the magical light that greeted us at Onur’s wayside cross.