Portrait of Leo Bröker

Mr Bröker, what role does the bicycle play in your life?

A very big one: I fell for the fascination of the six-day races in Halle Münsterland in the 1950s, have been riding a racing bike myself since 1978, founded the Kiepenkerlrundfahrt and Toller Bomberg cycling tours, and have been the course director of the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro since 2006 ...

Then you must know the Münsterland well - do you travel a lot?

I've been cycling two or three times a week since 1978. I cycle about 9,000 kilometres a year. When I retired on 1 September 1998, five days later I wrote to all the other pensioners with racing bikes in my club Radsportfreunde Münster and invited them to the first pensioners' meeting. So it is now almost 25 years that we meet on Tuesdays at the Aasee steps and on Thursdays at the Heidekrug in the Rieselfeldern. From there we can cover all directions of the Münsterland and always ride a lap of around 100 kilometres.

So you can stay fit in old age on a racing bike?

That's right: I recommend it to anyone who wants to stay healthy, fit and mobile: you're out in the fresh air and in company. And we never go on a tour without coffee and cake!

Then you must have some good tips on where cyclists can stop for a bite to eat?

Countless: On the SteverLandRoute, for example, it would be the Kökelsumer Bauerncafé. In Seppenrade we like to sit on the sun terrace of Naundrups Hof. Near Dülmen, I like to stop at Haus Waldfrieden. You can get very good fresh apple pie at Bäckerei Liesenkötter in Saerbeck, in Lüdinghausen we like to eat pancakes at Café Indigo, and in Senden Café Hartmann is a tempting place. In Freckenhorst Hof Lohmann is a good destination, in Billerbeck the Dom Café, Café Blömker in Lengerich, the "Leib und Seele" restaurant in Walstedde ...

It sounds as if the cafés determine the route - or what makes a good road bike route?

First and foremost, we need a good road surface for our bikes and roads with little traffic. Whenever I'm on the road, I make a note of key points and write them down at home. I have my navigation system in my head, so to speak - and that's how I've kept completing my Münsterland map. Even though I plan the tours on the computer and have a GPS navigation device on my bike. I attach great importance to good vantage points or sights along the way.

How did you become the route director of the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro?

I am known in Münsterland not least because of the cycling tours I have developed, such as the Kiepenkerlrundfahrt and the Tollen Bomberg. So in 2006 the chief organiser of the Münsterland Giro, Rainer Bergmann, approached me - 'You know your way around...', he said. Since then I have been developing the race courses. Today the Giro is a good ambassador for the Münsterland ¬- it is the second largest cycling event in Germany! Nearly 5,000 amateurs take part and almost all the pros come.

Can you still remember your first bike?

"I was born in Wettringen in 1937 - by the way, Wettringen repeatedly won first place in the cycling climate test of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrradclub (ADFC) (editor's note: in the category of cities with up to 20,000 inhabitants). My father bought me my first bicycle around the fourth grade. It was one with solid rubber tyres, the rubber was stapled together at one point. Clack-clack-clack - that's what it sounded like when I rode it.

Finally: What makes the Münsterland a cycling region for you personally?

"I'm fascinated by the beautiful large farms, the many wonderful moated castles and the countless easily navigable farm tracks. There have also been a noticeable number of new cycle paths recently. We simply have a great landscape here - last year we counted 39 storks in the fields in Senden. Keep your eyes open when cycling!

Thank you very much for the interview and have a good trip!