Nils Gustaf Håkansson

 

It is a busy week so please forgive my absence yesterday. I have snatching at time to work on a little book about Nils Gustaf Håkansson (1885-1987) a Swedish man who loved to cycle his whole (long, he died aged 101) life. 

Aged 66 he was deemed too old to compete in the endurance race, 'Haparanda to Ystad' that traverses the length of Sweden. Most of the competitors were half his age or younger. Each of the competitors was given a new bike and transported to the start of the race. 

Gustaf cycled to the race starting point (over 600 miles) on an old bike complete with mudguards and he wore his own number bib of '0'. 

He was late starting leaving after the official competitors some say by just a minute, others say by an hour. However, he did not have to follow the official rules as he was not an official competitor and so when the young competitors slept Gustaf cycled through the night on many nights.

It was this endurance and strength of character that meant he arrived at the finish a full day ahead of the race leader. He became known as 'Stalfarfar', Steel Grandfather. I love this story and this twinkly-eyed, determined man. You can see me read this book here.