It's hard to believe that only a year has passed since the fun New Year's Eve 2014/2015 party in the cap, so much has happened in the last year. We are now using the last days of the year to take a short, deep breath and take a little break to take a look back at the past year. And we also look ahead, to the things that may come.

2015 was an exciting and productive year for us. It was great to see what developed in the cap. And that you, our customers, appreciate our special way and like to come to us. In the last year we have put a lot of effort into expanding our range of hats without being unfaithful to our line. Sometimes it's the beautiful things, sometimes the classic, sometimes the simple and sometimes the innovative things that inspire us and that we choose. We always have a lot of fun broadening our horizons and we are happy that you trust us. And it was nice to see that the companies we work with also understand each other. We are also special in this type of cooperation, we have our own ideas and visions. But so far it has worked well and we are certainly sometimes a very useful inspiration. We are happy when we are seen as a partner in the Düsseldorf cycling landscape and when established colleagues also send customers to us. And we try to do it just as well. Thanks to all of you for the support.

We are pleased that we have received so much encouragement from cycling enthusiasts with our events last year, whether it was an established classic ride, a tour of the Rommerskirchen racing bike exchange, the Bahntag - this time in Cologne - , Women's 100, the revived winter slut parade or new in 2015: Stutenbeiken, Starter Pack, Rapha Mobile Cycle Club Tour, Giro Di Caffè. We've been to L'Eroica and the Rapha Prestige Tour in Limburg. It was all a lot of fun and made new friends. We say thank you to everyone who was there and especially to those who actively helped that everything rolled so well except for small injuries.

Women's 100

But we didn't just ride our bikes, the hat itself was also the place for many great days: We celebrated our first birthday with music by Jonas David, Alex sewed great hats for Nikolaus again and Lena reported on the World Bicycle Relief. In March 2015 we were an exhibitor at the Berlin Bicycle Show, which we value, and we presented our idea of ​​an open bike café on a joint stand with our friends from Austria, the Selberbruzzlers, to great acclaim. And we presented the hat with a small stand at the Düsseldorf Radaktiv Day, our cocktails in traffic light colors were not only snatched from our hands there by local politicians.

Speaking of politics: we have the feeling that in 2015 a number of things started to move in Düsseldorf. The challenge is to integrate bicycle traffic equally into a new traffic concept. We have just been in Copenhagen for a few days to get an idea of ​​what is exemplary in the world. There is still a long way to go, but it is an important first step for politicians to take the visions of a city like Copenhagen seriously and see them as a role model. A few years ago this would have been unthinkable here in Düsseldorf.

Our movie night with Bikes vs. Cars in the Metropol cinema and the following discussion was important and showed that it is fun and productive when we work with everyone who cares about contemporary traffic concepts for the city of Düsseldorf. This is certainly also one of the most exciting points for 2016: The sparrows are whistling from the roofs that we will experience something here. But there will also be sporting events: Düsseldorf will host the Grand Départ, the start of the Tour de France, in 2017, so 2016 will be the year of planning and preparation for the world's largest sporting event. Combined with the opportunity to initiate long-term and sustainable changes.

Road bike Dusseldorf Tour de France

In addition to this floor, however, there is still enough space for our trips and all other events, so there are already new ideas in addition to the things listed above. In addition, we are considering further activities in the cultural field with exciting partners. The cooperation with the film art cinemas was fun and created incentives. We ourselves will also be part of a film in 2016, Oliver Kratz " Racing Bike Fever - Why Happiness Can Be Experienced " also deals with the cap as part of the documentation of the Jedermann scene. More on that soon.

road bike fever

One thing remains: We often think of Sebastian, who we miss with his positive energy and pleasantly calm manner. Again and again.

So start the new year well and take care of yourselves. We look forward to enjoying 2016 to the fullest with you. Riding bikes together, sitting in hats, talking, having and developing ideas.

Welcome to 2016. Let's go!

your hats