The Rev. Johannes (Hans) Erich Myors has been bicycling around the country for 16 years, and has clocked in more than 191,000 miles in that time. His latest sojourn, begun in March, brought him under the good graces of the Carpenter’s Boat Shop in Bristol for a layover on May 21.
Myors, (“That’s, not ‘your oars,’ but ‘my oars,'” said Hans of his surname pronunciation) was in Newcastle traveling north late Wednesday afternoon, when he suffered a blow-out while pedaling his recumbent bike.
“I sat down with needle, thread, and a patch and set to work,” he said.
However, it being late in the day, his next task was finding a place to stay.
An ordained minister, Myors decided to get to Damariscotta and locate a church in which to stay the night. At the Damariscotta Baptist Church, he crashed a women’s Bible Study group, and they graciously helped him get in touch with Rev. Robert Ives at the Carpenter’s Boat Shop in Pemaquid who reached out and brought Myors in.
“They’ve fixed my tire so I can get on the road to a bike shop in Rockland, Bikes-n-java, to get a new tire,” Myors said. After repairs, he’ll head to above Calais, and turn westward heading to Colorado. He plans to arrive in Georgia in November.
His life story is a fascinating one.
The first born of Holocaust survivors in Bad Toelz in Bavaria, Germany in 1956, Myors visited the U.S. as an exchange student in Ohio in his senior year in high school. That year, he took his first trip on a bike, traveling 1000 miles.
Back in Germany, he received a bachelor’s degree in counseling, and Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and computer science, optical physics from Universitaet Ludwig-Maxmilian in Munich in 1978.
However, at age 20, he began examining his religious beliefs and accepted Christianity, without turning aside Judaism. The result was complete banishment from his family.
He emigrated to the states, and worked for numerous nonprofit agencies including Habitat For Humanity, St. Vincent de Paul, and other charities, finally attending St. Luke Evangelical Christian Ministry seminary, Augusta, Ga., graduating in 1998.
Myors has been biking around the country since 1993, but he began his ministry in 1998, and has attained a following since. On the road, Myors doesn’t delay much on his travels; he keeps to a somewhat rigid schedule of goals, averaging 60 miles per day, and drinking about a gallon of water a day.
His mission is self-sustaining. His entire life is piled up behind his seat, including tent, clothes, food, water, and bike repairing supplies. He travels without concern for seasons or weather, averaging about 15,000 miles per year. Myors counts not only miles, but tire revolutions.
“Beginning in ’93, I’m over 1 billion revolutions,” he said.
He has suffered mishaps, and life threatening accidents. Once, two youths on bikes rode him down, forced a crash, mugged him and stole all of belongings. Hospitalized with a concussion, Myors was not deterred. He bussed to his home base in Americus, Ga., and upon arrival was greeted with thousands of donation dollars, enough to buy a new bike and equipment.
In short order, he was on the road again. “I have to do this, every revolution sends a prayer to heaven,” Myors said.
Hans Myors has an extensive website where people from everywhere follow his progress. For more information and to read more extensively on his story, visit www.pedalprayers.org., and email Myors at pprayers@gmail.com.
