Markus Stitz : Peebles Cycling Club

Peebles Cycling Club is proud to present the third and final speaker from its 2023 Jubilee year series of talks, Markus Stitz. Growing up in East Germany, Markus soon discovered the freedom a bike could give him, even as a child living right behind the Iron Curtain. He made Scotland his new home in 2009 and after mapping his first bikepacking route, the Capital Trail, he went on a lap of the world on a single speed bike, cycling 34,000km across 26 countries in less than a year, fully self-supported.  In 2019/20 he successfully completed the Highland Trail 550, the Silk Road Mountain Race and the Atlas Mountain Race - three of the hardest bikepacking races in the world - all in the course of a year.  Since then he has portrayed gravel riding and bikepacking in Britain in various short films and his book ‘Great British Gravel Rides’. His latest book, ‘Bikepacking Scotland’, is a compilation of 20 inspiring bikepacking routes across the country he has called home since 2009. Markus will take you on a journey through his life, reflecting on a career defined by pushing the boundaries of what is possible on a bike.