About me

The idea for andy/zyklisch came to me in a sauna one summer day. It was over thirty degrees outside and there were very few people inside. I enjoyed the quiet and thought: actually, I like doing many things against the prevailing rhythm.

That had already worked well on the Camino de Santiago. While many pilgrims followed the daily stages suggested by their guidebooks, I liked choosing slightly different places to start and finish. Outside some hostels, backpacks were already holding their owners’ places in the queue. By offsetting my stages, I usually found a bed without any trouble.

That is the idea behind andy/zyklisch: think for yourself, find your own rhythm and try out the paths that suit you. This attitude connects my travels with my interest in money, economics and a more self-directed life.

Sport has shaped a large part of my life. In the nineties I rode a Snakeboard semiprofessionally. I was European runner-up in 1995, then European champion and German Cup winner in 1996. At the 1996 World Championships in Munich I finished fourth, and in London in 1997 eighth. There were national titles too, including two Southwest German championships.

After an accident in 2010, I discovered hiking. I explored the Taunus and walked the Camino de Santiago across Spain. After roughly a thousand kilometres on foot, I wanted to discover Germany over longer distances as well. The Rheinsteig and the Bonifatius Route followed.

From 2012 to 2016 I worked as a bicycle courier in Frankfurt. Another accident led me to give up that job and go to work at an Alpine hut. I still work there today. My adopted home is now near Lake Tegernsee.

I never completed an apprenticeship or a university degree. When my mother once asked whether I wanted to do an apprenticeship, I replied that I did not want to be put in a box. I wanted to leave room for my interests to develop. Much of what I know I have taught myself, learned through practical work, or started because a question would not leave me alone.

Cycling remained a passion. One trip took me from Lake Tegernsee to Barcelona. I had actually wanted to return to Santiago de Compostela. But a broken gear cable, for which no replacement could be found, brought the trip to an early end. Another tour took me via Prague and along the Elbe to the Danish border.

Sporting challenges continued to appeal to me too. I finished the “Rund um den Henningerturm” cycle race with a result I was personally very pleased with. At the 2023 triathlon in Thiersee, Austria, I completed the Olympic distance in under two hours.

I also trained for an Ironman. In running and cycling I had already worked my way up to the longer distances. But alongside work, I did not have enough time for the necessary swim training.

Today I am less fit than I was then. Together with my girlfriend, I want to bring more movement back into everyday life and go on longer hikes again.

I first heard about Bitcoin when I was a bicycle courier. I thought it was pointless. Even when my father asked in 2017 whether I would lend him money for a bitcoin, I said no.

When he died in 2021, the question returned: what did my father and other people see in it? I began to engage with it seriously. That developed into an intensive exploration of money, the Austrian school of economics and politics. Those questions also brought me into contact with subjects from physics and biology.

My view of Bitcoin has changed fundamentally since then. When I decide to buy today, whether the price has just reached a high or fallen is not the decisive factor. I am interested in what I see in it over the long term. My initial rejection also reminds me how much we can miss by dismissing a subject too quickly.

With andy/zyklisch, I want to give that curiosity space. Here I write about economic relationships, technology and travel. It is also about the practical question of what a more independent life might look like and how it could work.

I am approaching a change myself. In time, I would like to leave my work at the hut behind and have more time for my own projects and travelling. In the long run, I dream of living on a sailing boat. Perhaps a van will come first. My girlfriend and I will work out together what suits us and what we can make happen.

Financing is part of those considerations too. My own projects and occasional work on the road are possible building blocks. This site is meant to contribute. Here I want to share experiences and describe which ideas hold up in everyday life, which plans change and what I learn along the way.

For now, I still work at the hut. The next stage is taking shape.