In November 1962, 22-year-old Heinz Stücke pedaled away from his hometown of Hövelhof, Germany. No sponsors, no grand plan—just a three-speed bicycle, a camera, and a burning desire to see the world.
He had been working in a factory. The thought of returning to that life day after day was unbearable. So he left—and never stopped moving.
Heinz cycled through jungles, deserts, mountains, and frozen roads. He survived accidents, attacks, and detentions. In Chile, a truck hit him. In Egypt, soldiers beat him. In Haiti, a mob chased him. In Zambia, rebels shot him in the foot.
Still, he refused to quit. Sleeping in tents, cooking by the roadside, selling handmade postcards, Heinz captured over 100,000 photographs along the way.
His bicycle became legendary. Welded back together 16 times, stolen and recovered five times, it carried him over 580,000 kilometers—enough to circle the Earth 16 times.
Over fifty years, Heinz visited 196 countries and 86 territories, filling 21 passports and setting a Guinness World Record for traveling more widely by bicycle than anyone ever.
In 2012, he returned to Germany—not a celebrity, not with fanfare—but as a man who proved adventure needs only a heart willing to chase the horizon.
He once said, “It is the unknown around the corner that turns my wheels.” Today, at 85, his story inspires a museum in Hövelhof, a testament to courage, curiosity, and freedom.
[Music swells, fade out on a bicycle against a sunset horizon]
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