It’s that time of the year again: Only a few more days until VELOBerlin opens its doors and exhibition space.

What that also means is that you only have a few more days, until March 29th, to cast your vote for your favorite of the candidates for the VELOBerlin Film Award 2014.

I have a clear favorite – the calm and quiet of tone and voice and spirit, mixed with the movements and animations and memories that we all have when thinking about our own cycling trips and how it all started; this really sends some pleasant shivers down my spine. Look at these relaxed two-wheeler veterans and their take on life and its beautiful, enjoyable moments. These old chaps can teach all of us a lesson or two…

… as did a group of very athletic senior citizens, all in their late 60s whom I just had the honor to cycle with in Sicily last week. I have prided myself in being a pretty good uphill biker, age and gender considered. But I stood corrected when 79-year old Konrad moved by on this 8km steep uphill stretch, cool, relaxed, not even slightly out of breath (in stark contrast to the blog author) to await the rest of the group, all 20 – 30 years his junior, with a calm and knowledgeable smile at the top of the hill.

The reward for the one who climbed the long and steep ramps in the Sicilian heat of spring: A splendid panoramic view of the green of lemon and orange groves

If I would pray at all, I would pray for keeping my health and fitness in comparable shape over the next decades.

The other kind of reward for biking in hot and hilly Sicily: The best coffee EVER

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