"You need female companionship sometimes, but this is another person. And that's too bad because you have to deal with another person. ...
"I've had many little affairs. Now, it's more complicated: I'm 66, and on a bicycle, and I sleep in a tent ..."
Relationships are always complicated. That's Heinz Stucke, the German cyclist who has pedaled 335,000 miles since 1962, talking to a reporter with the Guardian Unlimited. Stucke's bike was stolen in Portsmouth, UK, earlier this week. It's been stolen numerous times before, but always recovered.
When I initially wrote about Stucke's bicycle -- it weighs about 50 pounds and he carries more than 80 pounds of gear -- I was amazed at its mass. Yet that has its advantages. He says his most frequent accident is being car-doored, and the door always suffers more damage than he does.
