I have been working with storytelling all in my life. Moreover, I have been fascinated by stories (mostly reading and watching, but sometimes also writing stories) since my early childhood. I’m deeply convinced by the theory that humans are basically „homo narrans”, creature who are thinking, communicating and dreaming as well in the form of stories.
In other words, we all try to understand the world around us and also ourselves in the form of stories.
Most commonly, stories can be expressed by words and sometimes I feel I have nothing else to offer to the world only my words.
Written words were, are and will always be the tools that help me connect to the world.
Nevertheless, English is not my mother tongue, and I’m aware, considering the quality of my texts written in this foreign language, that it’s hard to prove that I’ve left behind a solid career as literary critic and cultural journalist in Hungarian literary life. (By the way, I have university degrees in cultural management and Hungarian linguistics and literature. Also I had quite a good prospect having a modest academic career as researcher of historical novel, but I gave up my PhD training.)
„Emigrating” to another language and starting (almost) everything from the bottom is not a unique thing among people coming from Central- or Eastern-Europe. Not even over 40. Not even for a woman over 40. (Although I’m completely aware that being unmarried and childless make it less difficult for me.) And our beautiful 21st-centurian digital world provides lots of opportunities to make life-changing decisions easier. Especially, when someone, like me, likes to create blogs and other small-scale online projects.
I started writing about road cycling races in 2009 with creating the original version of my (Hungarian written) TOURázzunk együtt blog. I have been following international cycling events since 1997, but creating online content about this was a sudden idea.
2009 was a different world in terms of online writing. During this early period my blog focused on providing quick and accurate information about the latest international professional cycling events for those Hungarian readers who don’t speak any foreign language. But after a few years the main topic of the blog moved towards more historical and sometimes even hardcore theoretical fields.
Meanwhile, in 2017 I published a book (Változások kora) about the most acute challenges and dilemmas of international professional road cycling races.
I created PelotonTales in February 2020 (not the best moment to launch a new project, I know). The name of the blog is the literal translation of a category name (Peloton-mesék) on my Hungarian cycling blog. The category includes fascinating, unique, sometimes unbelievable stories from the good old days of road cycling.
And this is what PelotonTales is about too: great cycling stories.
Unfortunately, due some special personal reasons, I used to ride bike very rarely.
And because the purpose of this post is the visitors to learn more about me, the author, I would like to tell that I like classic music and classic 1970s/80s disco music. I play piano, mostly music by J. S. Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven.
My favourite time period is the 18th century. But the most influential historical figure in my life is the English Queen, Elizabeth I.
Besides historical fiction, which is my main research topic as independent literary scholar, I like those contemporary dramas scrutinizing the micro-interactions between family members from a very close proximity (f. e. Succession). Also, I’m a big fan of British humor and comedy.
I like sitting in a café on a sunny afternoon, or dining in a nice restaurant in the evening.
And when I’m not reading at least 250 pages and writing at least 2500 words a day, I usually do something useful in my garden.