Jiri Bina

I bought my first bike for my 50th birthday. During the following 5 years, I cycled on this mountain bike across many forests, hills and meadows in the Czech Republic. My first foreign trip was to New Zealand. There I got it clear in my mind that I enjoy bike touring and since then have chosen my destinations accordingly. I like desolate, expansive regions spiced additionally with extreme weather – cold, hot, wind. Of course I am not dogmatic and welcome the exceptions. My main objective is the adventurous experience in remote countryside as well as in hectic traffic when passing through big cities. I have a nomadic nature and, at my age, bicycle touring enables me to wander with dignity. Planning is minimal, I decide on the further direction of my trips while actually en route. On principle, I travel alone so I do not have to justify my, often erroneous, decisions to anyone and I can do what I really want to do. Of course, I also bear full responsibility for possible failures and have to cope with those alone too. I regard being "well organized" as the greatest virtue, which means to be constantly on the alert, assessing potential dangers and preventing them, avoiding disease and accidents, conserving the bike and my own strength, not losing the equipment. In other words – strive to survive. Moreover, bike travel especially provides great joy, a daily dose of endorphins, a permanent good mood, and a continual feeling of happiness which cannot be spoiled by foul weather or challenging terrain. I hope that this can also be sensed from my books. I have cycled through many countries – New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Japan, Alaska, USA, Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Easter Island, Namibia and South Africa. I love travel, yet I always return home with pleasure to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, to my family and numerous grandchildren.