Steffen Streich is a German
living in Greece, who won the 2015 "Trans Africa Bicycle Race".
Biography
Streich, who was born in
East Berlin
East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
lives and trains on the
island of Lesbos in Greece.
In 2015, Streich won the Trans Afrika Bicycle Race from
Beitbridge
Beitbridge is a border town in the province of Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe. The name also refers to the border post and bridge spanning the Limpopo River, which forms the political border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. The border on the S ...
to
Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
with a time of 8 days 19 hours and 28 minutes,
setting a new record for the event.
In 2016, Streich was leading the
Trans Am Bike Race
The Trans Am Bike Race (TABR) is an annual, self-supported, ultra-distance cycling race across the United States. The route is about long and uses the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail that was developed by the Adventure Cycling Association for the Bike ...
with 110 miles to go. Unfortunately, on the final morning he woke and in confusion, started out in the wrong direction. He realized his error when he encountered
Lael Wilcox, an American woman who had been forty miles behind.
The two met in
Bumpass, Virginia. Streich realized his mistake and turned, and offered to ride with Wilcox to the end, and helped her when she missed a turn.
From that point, Wilcox sprinted away to become the first woman to win a major ultra-distance bikepacking race.
Streich competed in the 2017 Indian Pacific Wheel Race, a 5,500 kilometer race across Australia.
On the fourteenth day of the race, the second-placed rider
Mike Hall was struck by a car and killed, causing the race to be cancelled.
Streich was in eight place at the time
and was one of only a handful of people who decided to complete the course.
In 2018 Streich won the inaugural North Cape-Tarifa bicycle adventure, a 7400 km self supported race from the North Cape to Tarifa. After a race between the leaders Samuli Mäkinen, Kai Edel and Streich till Germany, Streich was in the lead till Col du Galibier. In La Grave France Kai Edel took over the lead and Streich in second position. At the top of Pico del Veleta, Streich took back the lead and finished in 21 days and 57 minutes, 12 hours and 5 minutes before Kai Edel. Streich cycled the last stretch of 757 km, 12,512 m vertical climbing into Tarifa in 44h.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Streich, Steffen
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
German male cyclists
Cyclists from East Berlin
Ultra-distance cyclists