So it was for shure not the wrong transport that he had chosen, when he was kicked off the road by a bunch of civil agents of the state police.

His main problem was, that he carried a loaded gun and a mobile phone with him. Another problem was, that during one week the whole German police was searching him, after he left his home-jail – JVA Achen – using a key for the front door..

They tracked his mobile phone that was switched “on” while he was observated already during days. On a lonely, German country road they efficiency of Police-work lead to a stunt-look-a-like arrest scene. (There was not so much efficiency before and especially @ JVA Achen, where a prison guard did help him to escape… but this is another story)

So what do we learn from this?

1. Do not use a  28er Kettler, 6-gear bicycle on the wrong side of the Dutch border.

2. Use of mobile phones on a bicycle is dangerous

3. Never, ever a commuter bike had such a public attention:

[Show as slideshow]

This is a story about an idealist

Paulo Guerra do Santos, born 1973 decided to use his bicycle.

Nothing spectacular so far?

Of course, if we would talk about Munich, Amsterdam or Berlin.

But we talk about Lisbon. Portugal.

A city and a country still made for car drivers. The natural enemy of a cyclist. And city planners. The fulfilling helpers of these car drivers. Where are these bicycle lanes, that we are used to from other countries? Where is this legislation, that gives us – at least – theoretical protection?

No my friends, nothing so far in Portugal. We have to step back in time to the early 80ies, where everything started to become a peaceful revolution in traffic spaces. OK, Portugal in the early 80ies still had to suffer from another peaceful revolution, that lead the country from dark and decent dictatorship to a democratic and progress orientated place in Europe.

But meanwhile we changed the century. Bicycles and their daily use could be the solution for collapsing cities. And therefore it is an anachronism, that we are talking about something special, when someone uses his bicycle in a European city. This should be natural nowadays. But it isn´t. Take a look of what happened to Paulo. I will visit him in Lisbon and talk about his story and his experience. Maybe we can find some points together, where we can work on a CHANGE!

BTW: he overtook the 100 days. We are counting day Nr. 225..

What hell of an idealist!