Feeling light-hearted and without worry, is a state of mind that always requires particular caution, as the strangest things happen in the city and on its streets at night.

Driving fast, too fast, and direcctly into a bright flash before I slipped away into the darkness again. My heart was beating like mad. Running a red light in an open roadster was going to have some serious consequences.

They took so long to weigh up my case, I almost forgot about the punishment they might impose on me. Used to drive my car to the supermarket around the corner, some completely new challenges arose when my driver’s license was officially suspended. It was time for a change.

An new mode of transportation was needed, something fast. A bit of money was left after paying the fine and at the bicycle shop, a fragile Peugeot frame was dangling from the ceiling at the far end.

To this day, and I’ve thought it over in great depth, I can’t honestly say what attracted me to this particular bike. The seller, while providing tips on how to adjust the far too small frame, came to the well-founded and expert conclusion that this racer was simply perfect for me. Back then, there were more concerns about finding a suitable pair of sunglasses.

While purchasing the bike was child’s play, riding it turned out to be quite difficult as my feet touched the front tire while steering. Even though the bike was pretty flexible due to its small size, it did not always turn in the direction it should go. And using the click pedals on the first trip was an utter disaster. I’d already diced with the devil at traffic lights before and had no particular desire to do so again…

By the time the first winter came, the bike and I had become friends. But it was increasingly difficult to handle my nine-to-five lifestyle, sitting at my desk, restlessly anticipating the most incredible adventures, while the black beast of a bike was waiting for me, locked away in the basement.

Those were the days when the cycling bug first actually infected me. And the fever got me out of the office to the waterside by the harbor. The winter sun still provided some degree of warmth, while my thoughts were on exciting alternatives to my current profession, when unexpected help occurred in the form of a haggard bike messenger.

It was quite an effort to actually get to speak to him, but when he enthusiastically described his life on the streets to me, I was convinced and converted for good. Back at the office followed the announcement that I was going to be a bike messenger and the management didn’t try to stop me. My colleagues, the old ones at the office and the new one’s at the messenger service thought of me a complete idiot, but it slowly dawned upon me what I had let myself in for: namely the biggest adventure of my life, which ended up taking me to a distant continent.