Hi guys, just a relaxed ride and introducing myself and showing you a small part of Porta Westfalica.
to morning here in Germany. It’s about 4° outside Celsius, so it’s a bit chilly, but any day on the bike is a good day. This is just a quick ride to introduce myself, where I’m from, what my plans are. So, in the next clip, we will carry on. This is like the first day with no rain. It’s been basically storming for about 2 weeks non-stop, heavy rains, wind up to 80 km an hour. So, there hasn’t been much of riding at all. Just dodge these huge puddles. Get out of the way. This here is an abandoned old mine. I don’t know how long it’s been abandoned for. I moved to Germany in 2012. lived in South Africa for 29 years. So that would explain my funny accent. So I would like to go in here, explore a bit and see what we can find. Oh, what’s on there? Muddy, slippery. is a pretty cool lake. I’m guessing this is where they got the material out for mining. Now, it’s just a home to a few ducks, but it’s still pretty cool here. Let’s explore more on the back side of this old abandoned mine. All full of graffiti. Let’s go through all this long wet grass here. Get up here. And this this I’m guessing this is what they mind or leftovers of what they mind. Heat. Heat. The wind is starting to pick up already. I might get wet here in a minute, but hey, it’s okay. The next location I want to show you guys is called Ga Va Morgan. Direct translation means something like big river bend or great river bend. And the river that runs through this part of where I live, the province is called the VZA. I think it’s one of the biggest rivers in Germany. I’m not sure about that. But when we get there, I’ll show you some more. Talk to you guys what my plan is, how I got here in this situation. So, see you guys there. This here is a little dual track trail on the way to Gross is a Borggan. The autumn colors is really starting to come through now. But this is basically just a bog. It’s just mud, water, leaves, but it’s pretty fun. Cruise through here. You can see all the trails left by farmers working the fields on the other side. fluffy clouds cows. So on my right, I don’t know if you can see that is the va. We go down for a closer look. There’s a little pathway down here. So this is a VZA running through my province. So let’s sit have a chat. So, let’s talk how I got here. I moved to Germany in 2012. Uh, I pay I married. I have one 7-year-old daughter. I’ve been working for the same company for about 11 years now. Then they made it known they’re looking to get uh let 50 people go. Not a very big company. There’s only about over 300 employees. Let 50 people go. And if you volunteer, you’ll get a bigger incentive to leave. For the first, I would say eight years. very happy at the company. Had fun, hard work, physical work. I’ve had multiple injuries from working there. But it was nice. The people are awesome. But in the last three years then company company have just been taking taking taking from its employees implementing different strategies different I would say agendas to get more out of us and give us less in return. So after speaking to my wife, discussing it, I decided to volunteer, take one of these uh packages. So as of the 1st of November, I’m unemployed. It was early this year, or not early this year, middle this year, I found my love for mountain biking. Got myself a ebike. uh didn’t have much time to ride between work and family, just here and there for a bit of fitness. But my goal is now that I have the time is to start improving my skills, definitely improving talking on camera. I’m actually very shy. And to improve my video editing skills. At the moment, I only have the one camera, Insta 360 Go Ultra, but today or tomorrow, my A2 Pro from Insta 360 should arrive so I can uh create better video clips, better shots for you guys. Just a disclaimer, by no means am I a professional at mountain biking. I am starting right at the bottom. The same with video editing. I’ve never edited a video in my life before. I’ve never spoken on camera. So, it’s just a disclaimer. Bear with me. I want to share my improvements with you guys. I want to share my success by fails, the stresses of being unemployed at this moment. By no means am I a motivational speaker. I have my ups and downs like everyone else. I’m not the youngest anymore. I’m 43. But if not now, when will you start chasing your goals, chasing your passions? I will never be the best best uh YouTube YouTuber. I would never be the best mountain biking, but this this is actually bringing me through these hard times, helping me de-stressing, getting my mind busy, getting creative again. So, this is how I got here. Hopefully there were many more videos to be made, many more rides to share, share my beautiful town, Port of Espalikica with you guys in Germany. So, I think I’ll end this video now. Remember, it’s never too late. Chase your dreams. Don’t worry what other people say or think. Your life, live it. Cheers guys.