English

For my foreign friends and for visitors from abroad, this is an English version of my weblog: Biking Banker – Cycling to the Iberian Peninsula, in the footsteps of Alonso Quijano.

‘Home’, is actually ‘on the road’.

Welcome on the ‘biking banker’ weblog; my name is Frank Stoop. Thank you for your visit.
Please read on and I will tell you about my biking trip from Holland to Spain. If you would like to leave a message, please do! (see the tab: ‘Berichten’). I will read all your encouragements, cheers, comments and advices during my long trip to the south… and maybe, I will even give you a reply. Depending ofcourse on the availability of access to the web.

Why ‘biking banker’? Well, first of all I like the catchy name. And strangely enough, the domain was still available (not many biking bankers are there?). As the domain name expresses: I am a banker… and I like biking. I am also a biker… who likes banking. One way, or the other.
The reason for my trip is… ah well, there is not one reason in particular, actually. Like Alonso Quijano, who mounted his skinny horse around his 50th birthday and set off, in search of adventure, so am I, just passed the age of 50 (no, not suffering from a midlife crisis!), going ‘on the road’ on a my steel horse. Awesome!

And because I do not want to wait until my retirement, which is becoming more and more deffered, I conceived a plan. The plan began to take shape gradually. I discussed my plan at home and at work, saved money and took a few months off. Easy as it is!

As a matter of fact, first I bought a second hand trekkingbike (Koga Miyata Worldtraveller), fetched my tent from the attic (a small dome tent), checked if the burner was still working (MSR Whisperlite; it will work under all conditions), bought some new equipment, like waterproof bags for my bike (brand: Ortlieb, but they might have been Vaude as well), pots and pans for cooking, and some new, highly synthetic sportswear. That is about it.
Oh.. and yes, I did some excercises: I started to cycle to the bank (20 km) for a couple of months, to get my legs used to the 3000 km that lie ahead. So I even reduced CO2-emission (a very tiny bit). But every tiny bit helps; that’s how the knife cuts both ways!

Shall I tell you more about my Plan now?