The sign we leave on the path, the traces the path leaves on us. Where were we when we heard a news we didn’t want to hear, what time it was when we decided not to withdraw, what our eyes were looking at when we were trying not to be chocked by the struggle of yet another hairpin turn. Bike journeys make you leave signs, and you leave them on the places you ride through: that’s how, since 2015, Rando Imperator has been riding cyclists’ stories losing and finding themselves between Munich, Bozen and Ferrara along Via Claudio Augusta.
The 9th edition is less than a month away, and we took some time to talk with an old friend of ours. Bernd rode the first edition of the European randonnée: in the middle of the night, and having slept a couple of hours under the rain on a bench near the gazebo, he got to the finish line on his bike. After that, Bernd rode almost all other Rando, always his way: like someone who can’t avoid going far, screaming out of joy and happiness, stopping when it’s needed to. Bernd has always a light in his eyes, in the middle of mountains, kissed by sunlight, and on the finish line, completely knackered. And that’s why we asked Bernd what Rando Imperator means to him. Why he always leaves on a new journey. What are the marks left on him by all that way. Bernd is not just someone who rides, he is above all someone who listens: to himself, his body, his head, everything and everywhere his bike takes him. It’s never too little, it will never be enough.
Rando Imperator comes back on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 May with its 9th edition. Three different brevets from Germany to Italy: Munich-Ferrara 600km, Munich-Bozen 300km, Bozen-Ferrara 300km. Register online.
🇪🇺🇪🇺 Rando Imperator 2024 🇪🇺🇪🇺
4-5 May
9th edition
Munich – Bozen – Ferrara
From Germany to Italy in two days by bicycle
With: Treesport