After 1.5 months (not years) of planning and preparations I set out from Gundelsheim, my hometown in the south-west of Germany. The first 200km of nightride brought me to the manufacturer of my recumbent bicycle where I had it checked and some parts changed. Together with 2 friends I cycled to the Special Bikes Show in Germersheim, the annual gathering of the whole special bikes community of Germany.
Afterwards I went up to Cologne/Bonn and further through Holland and Belgium to Brussels – a small detour to make and visit friends in a place where just 6 decades ago my grandfather was fighting in WWII. In Brussels the CouchSurfing meeting and the VeloCity kind of critical mass ride just the next morning were just taking place 
On the way to Paris, the official start of the Carfree Rallye, I met Claude Hanras and his wonderful family who saved me from the rain for at least one day. But the next 2 weeks, including May 10, the day I left Paris, were packed of rain and headwinds – a first hard probe for the beginning adventurer.
All through Europe I didn’t sleep in a hotel/motel/youth hostel/B&B a single time but under the sky, in farms, chimneys, ruins and not finished buildings. I met some CouchSurfers who often hosted me for a night or two and connected to the internet with my laptop mostly through open wireless networks.
The rainy weather followed me to every single country I visited and even in Greece I had a shower at least once a day (2 months later the Greek had to fight heavy bush fires all through the country). In Thessaloniki Nasta and Vasilis, very nice and enjoyable people and my CouchSurfing idols, hosted me in their special CS unit.
Continuing my way along the Black Sea coast in Turkey a stunning scenery and constant up-and-downs together with stomach aches caused by grapes slowed me down a bit.
Surviving and continuing through Iran, the center of the Axis of Evil, was one of the hardest tasks as I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and warmth of the people over there, especially my long-time host and friend Saber and his friends from Tehran and his great family. Getting the visa for the Central Asian countries in Tehran caused a month long delay (”assholes Uzbekistan”’s fault (quotation from the movie “Borat”) – there are in fact many friendly and welcoming people in these countries!).
The nightrides through the deserts that had been possible in Iran would have very likely caused severe accidents with probably deadly outcome in Turk- and Uzbekistan. But as the temperatures were often above 40degrees C combined with heavy headwinds the 5 days transit visa for Turkmenistan was a tough nut.
Through Uzbekistan I speeded as fast as I could but still missed my fellow Beijing to Paris riders on their way in the opposite direction.
Together with Goska and Herve from Paris I had 4 beautiful days in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and cycled the first pass above 3000m (3615m) to Sari Tash and the stunning Pamir mountain range in the background with 7000m+ Peak Lenin in the center.
Because I got a 3 month visa and a planning mistake I got a chance to cycle through Tibet just after arriving in China. And even though my style of traveling was absolutely minimalistic and some of the equipment not make for the extreme conditions on the Roof of the World, I made it, together with my friends Marc (not a minimalist at all) and Boris (same style as I). The biggest extremes were a pass of 5400m, a night at -31 deg C temperatures (when the thermometer in the cycling computer stopped working), and a 1.5 month period with only 3 or 4 days below 4000m altitude!
Having left Tibet behind I made a big mistake in leaving some of my clothes behind in expectancy of warmer temperatures on the way through Inner Mongolia to Beijing. This and some problems with my heels and changing money made the 2 remaining weeks to the capital, Olympic City 2008 and finish line Beijing an adventure in itself.
And what a coincidence: Just 3 days before my arrival in Beijing I met French Sebastien from Lyon-Pekin again and together we had a lot of fun and a pleasant ride to the finish line of our tours, the Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing.
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