Episode 148: Heinz Stücke (Part One)

Cycling the World “Little by Little”

Cycling the World “Little by Little”: My Conversation with Heinz Stücke

Sometimes you meet someone whose story shifts the way you see the world. Not with big statements, more so just with their presence. For me, that someone is Heinz Stücke. I had the absolute pleasure of spending a day with Heinz at his home in Hövelhof in Northern Germany, to learn more about his expansive bike travel journey. The first thing he did when I entered the room was take my photo – “I need it for the visitor book!” he told me. I of course obliged and then took a selfie with him myself.

Heinz is known as the man who cycled the world for 51 years, visiting 196 countries and 86 territories. In 1995, he was officially recognised by Guinness World Records for having travelled more widely by bicycle than anyone in history. Now he is 85 years old and bedridden. It struck me as ironic that the person who has travelled the most in this world, now isn’t not physically able to get out of his house.

But a record isn’t what defines Heinz and after speaking with him, I’m fairly certain it never did.

It Didn’t Start With 51 Years

One of the most grounding things Heinz shared was that his journey didn’t begin with an epic plan. He didn’t wake up and decide to go and ride all the way around the world. He took small trips first when he had time off from his apprenticeship as a tool and diemaker. He spoke about a 4 month journey around the mediterranean and how those smaller trips gave him the confidence to take bigger ones. With each journey he was able to expand his world far beyond his modest upbringing in Hövelhof.

He wasn’t running away from anything he insisted on many occasions. He wasn’t searching for himself. He hadn’t been rejected by a girlfriend. He simply felt drawn to what might be around the next corner.

As he told me, “It was little by little, by little by little.” Then once he got a taste for it, that urge to travel soon became an addiction.

The First Bike Journey That Hooked Me…

Heinz’s first “big trip” in 1961 was meant to last one year. The goal (loosely!) was to reach South Africa. But in true Heinz fashion, the journey had ideas of its own. He boarded a ship… which went to Sri Lanka instead. Then he found himself in Singapore. Then North Vietnam. Eventually the ship docked in Russia. That’s where he would cycle home from which was certainly not exactly the most direct (or legal) option at the time.

Even navigating obstructions in Russia, he didn’t go straight back to Germany. Instead taking a detour up to the North Cape and extending his trip that bit more. Listening to him retell the story, there’s no drama, or ego about it. I got a sense of, of course that’s what happened! He was very much allowing the road to lead, instead of trying to control it. The eventual route was anything but planned out.

A Man Who Never Wanted a Factory Life

Throughout our conversation, Heinz referenced the life that would have awaited him had he stayed in Germany. That was one of repetition, of factory work, the same day over and over. He mentioned this more than once, not bitterly, but with a quiet relief that he had avoided it. His curiosity pulled him somewhere bigger, further, wider than Hövelhof ever could. It also harks back to the time that Heinz was setting out in. Born in 1940 during the war in Germany, then growing up in poverty. He wasn’t escaping. Instead he was expanding.

A Life Built on Human Connection

One thing Heinz made very clear was his journey was defined by people. Strangers who became friends. Families who fed him, sheltered him, welcomed him into their lives. He was clever in how he made this possible. He customised his bike by painting signs and affixing them to it “Around the world by bicycle”. He also wrote the names of the countries and cities on his mudguards and across his bike frame, not as a way of showing off. Rather, this was to spark intrigue and curiosity in people which in turn would be the trigger to spark a conversation. People would stop him, ask questions… and then often offer up a meal, bed and a place to stay, That small act of making his bike stand out helped him sustain his lifestyle for decades.

A Pragmatic Traveller and Never in a Rush

Heinz travelled on a heavy steel three-gear bicycle for over 40 years, before eventually switching to a Bike Friday and later a Brompton. He never rushed. He walked up anything over 5%, because why strain when the journey wasn’t about speed? He pointed out a few times that while people would attach sport to what he was doing, for him it was anything but. His heavy steel bike (which weighed around 25kgs itself, before attaching 50kgs+ of luggage to it!), was simply the perfect tool to get around. Slow enough to see places, but solid enough to reliably get him across countries…and continents!

The Road Became His Yoga

At one point, Heinz described cycling as his form of yoga, not stillness, but meditative motion. The road calmed his mind. He likens himself to a master craftsmen, who is never working. Travel is his passion and it is very much his identity.

“I’m still permanently in my journey.”

Those words struck me deeply. Because Heinz is now bedridden, spending up to 18 hours a day documenting, archiving, and preserving his life’s work. Even though his physical travels are behind him, his mind is still on the road. He is all consumed, albeit lovingly, by the life he lived and determined that his story won’t be lost. There is something both tender and powerful in that.

A Legacy Captured in Books and on Screen

Heinz’s incredible life has been shared with the world through books and a Netflix documentary, allowing us to see the journey through his eyes. His memory remains very vivid. He can easily recall names, dates, encounters even the wind direction, all recalled with incredible clarity. And through his photographs, journals, and recordings, he is still travelling, still sharing, still inspiring.

He literally has over 100,000 images from his travels. I quipped that really he wasn’t just a story telling traveller. He ended up being quite the photo journalist. And Heinz did perfect this skill. He talked about learning how to take great images by observing the photos being published in magazines such as National Geographic.

To assist with funding his journey he sold his images, and wrote stories to be published in magazines and newspapers all around the world. In addition to this he developed his booklet, a few pages written all about his travels, and within it were samples of photos he’d taken along the way. He’d often tailor it to the countries he was travelling in, to appeal to those strangers who’d ask him questions. Heinz could sell the booklet for a few dollars each, and a few thousand would be sold in each country. Because he lived on a shoestring budget, these funds would sustain him for the year. He was even smart enough to gain sponsorship by various German companies to cover the cost of its production!

What I Took Away

After speaking with Heinz, I sat with a few big realisations:

• Adventure doesn’t need a grand plan.
• You don’t need to know the ending.
• You only need the curiousity to take the first small trip… and then the next one.

This episode is part 1 of 2 from my conversation with Heinz that day at his home in Hövelhof, as well as a follow-up phone conversation I had with him a couple of weeks later.

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🎧 Listen to the full conversation:
Episode 148 — Heinz Stücke: The Man Who Cycled the World for 51 Years
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