29/10/2021
UPDATE ABOUT HEINZ
Hi, my name is Henrik Schumacher and since September I am one of the administrator of Heinz facebook-page. I have been cycling 3,5 years and >50.000km on six continents including the Caribbean and the Pacific. Heinz has always been an idol and legend for me like for many other long-distance cyclist.
In June 2021 I met him for the first time in his home in Hövelhof, his hometown. Me and a friend stayed overnight and it was an unforgettable evening, night and morning, where we had a lot of conversation about cycling, the world and everything in-between. Since then we kept the contact, I visit him or we are phoning once or twice a month. A real friendship 🙂
Every time I visit him, I buy a lot of his books and sell them in Denmark without profits, just to support him. His pension is very small and his fridge is nearly always empty, but he is never complaining.
In 2014 at the age of 74 he decided to go back to Germany after 54 years on the road, the last couple of years he had his base in Paris. He contact the Mayor of his hometown and this Mayor was clever enough to make a good deal for Heinz and Hövelhof. Heinz is staying for free in an one-story house with three room. The deal is, that Heinz works on the project "museum", so at a time Hövelhof will have a museum about the world most traveled person. He is daily working on this project, if he is not phoning around the world with friends or other travelers visiting him. His home is open for all travelers, but of course most of them are long-distance cyclist.
His hips are not doing well 😞. He is mowing around with a rollator at home and with a kind of electric wheelchair for longer distance. As a ICU nurse I tried to convince him to get some new hips and start an appeal for donation here on his page, but he doubts about the success and as long as he is not convince, it doesn't make any sense to start a donation.
Anywhere, he is always in a good mood, even if he cannot cycle anymore. He reviews some of his 15000-18000 pages he wrote in his diary and categorize his >100.000 slide photos and >30.000 digital photos. He need another 50 years to do so, as he told me 😉
Heinz is a phone-guy and he doesn't trust the internet, so don't expect a response on mails or messenger. I tell him about all your comments and messengers and he can remember most of you, wherever you met somewhere in the world.
Thats all for now, have a nice weekend...I will post some more videos and pictures, unfortunately the videos are in German, but the next time I will interview him in English...I promise 🙂
Henrik
