Giant Bicycles

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"...The Giant of Rotterdam who lived from 1923 and died at the age of 36 in 1959. His name was Rigardus (Rijn) Rijnhout, better known as The Giant of Rotterdam.

He was born as a normal baby, but after the age of 3 he began to grow faster than the other children of his age. Doctors tried to find out what was wrong with him and they discovered a deviation in the pineal gland, that was the cause of his enormous length.

Rigardus (Rijn) Rijnhout ate 5 times as much than a normal man. For his family was this a financial stroke because they weren't a family who had much money to spend. This problem was luckily solved thanks to the help of Social Security in the local tradesmen in Rotterdam. To earn some money, companies could rent The Giant as a walking bill board. Shortly after that, the Giant, with the length of 2 meters 36 (7' 9"), a shoe size of 62 (normal shoe size is about 44) and a weight of 460 pounds, became a well known man in Rotterdam.

When he fell off his bike, the Giant of Rotterdam had to spend his time in a wheelchair. After this was happened, he sold cards to tourists for the upcoming few years but his health began to give him some problems.

He became very ill and he had to be brought to a academic hospital in Leiden. A crane was needed to bring him down trough the window of the second floor from the place he stayed. Six months later the Giant of Rotterdam died at the age of 36..."

via Land of Giants