Hi, my name is Simon I am British, and I lived for 4 years in NRW, now am in my fifth year living in Austria. It’s been an amazing journey to what brings me to ride the Grenzsteintrophy. I was a mountain biker since I was young and have been riding on the road, long distance since 2015.
I can remember when I was a boy and my uncles would talk about their time stationed in Germany and it always interested me. As a kid I never really understood why they were stationed here I just assumed it had something to do with the second world war. As a teenager I then learned about the cold war and what that meant for Europe as a whole. To separate the whole continent along the iron curtain was such a terrifying concept for me to understand. Since I was born weeks after the wall came down it always seemed crazy to me, almost alien that a country was separated for so long, all down to ideology.
German history always interested me and as a young adult I made the decision to move and make a life for myself there. I think deep down I was so impressed by the tales I heard from my uncles that I also I wanted ‘my time in Germany’
As I took up road cycling I always tried to theme my tours and a number had cold war sites as the main attraction. Since then I moved into randonneuring and long distance on the road. Now I have some quite impressive Palmarès. Berlin-Munich-Berlin, Paris-Brest-Paris and a BRM 1000 in Austria.
I would love to ride the Grenzsteintrophy for so many reasons, it hits so many of my interests of mine all in one event. But to ride along the old inner German border boundary would be a dream come true. To see such an important boundary that separated not only Germany and the German people but also Europe would be a privilege. To ride a long distance event off road would also be a new experience and one I am very much looking forward to.