I love writing articles about people who live life on the outer limits, beat the odds, push themselves beyond what others think is possible and most of all, follow their passion.
When I think of all those characteristics, one of the first people that comes to my mind is Hans Rey. He is up there with the world’s most extreme thrill seekers, and I’m completely fascinated with what he has been able to accomplish. If you have ever followed the sport of mountain biking, you’ve heard his name and seen his face.
Hansjorg Rey (a.k.a. Hans “No Way” Rey) moved to the United States from Germany when he was 20 years old. All he brought with him were a few words of broken English, a bicycle and a dream.
Since then, he has proven to the world that he can do things with a bicycle that nobody else has ever been able to do. He has traveled to 60 different countries to demonstrate his sport and he has single handedly changed the sport of mountain biking forever. He holds dozens of titles and awards, and was even inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1999.
According to his website at http://www.hansrey.com, his adventure team has filmed trips where they have been, “riding waterfalls in Jamaica, looking for pyramids and a dwarfen tribe in China, amongst wild animals in Africa, in the footsteps of the Inca in Bolivia, searching for headhunters in Borneo, etc…”
Hans also is the founder of ‘Wheels for Life,” a nonprofit charity that provides bikes to people in third world countries for transportation. Hans Rey is an incredible individual who proves once again, if you follow your passion, you can create miracles.
The photo above is courtesy of Victor Lucas.
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