In the past two years, in many cities such as Beijing, more and more people like cycling, and urban cycling has become a trendy sport. The popularity of urban cycling reflects the changes in people’s lifestyles: young people who like sports used to choose gyms more, but gyms are relatively boring, and cycling in cities is more interesting than gyms; young people who like to socialize, Gradually forming a team, meeting to ride has become a highly interactive and relaxed social way. From the perspective of cycling itself, it is a sport with a certain mass base and low threshold. These are all factors that can make cycling popular.
Cycling, not only urban riding, but also long-distance riding. Some people ride tens or 100 kilometers back and forth in the city or surrounding areas a day; many people choose to ride long-distance routes such as the Sichuan-Tibet line, riding for seven or eight hours a day, and the journey takes dozens of days.
My cycling story also started with city riding. When I was in Jining, Shandong, cycling in Jining City or cycling to surrounding cities was a pleasant memory of my childhood. During the summer vacation of university in 2014, I tried long-distance cycling for the first time. The route was to ride from Beijing back to Jining, Shandong. In this long-distance ride, I insisted on riding 100 kilometers every day for 8 days. This ride was a breakthrough attempt for me, and it also gave me the confidence to continue to ride further afield in the following annual holidays. Since then, I have cycled around Qinghai Lake one after another, from Shandong to Shanghai and its surrounding areas, from Shanghai to Wuhan, from Urumqi to Kashgar, and even the Sichuan-Tibet line. During the trip around Qinghai Lake, I started from Shandong, rode through Kaifeng, Xi’an, Lanzhou and other cities, and finally went from Lanzhou to Xining, and from Xining to Qinghai Lake. Traveling westward for nearly a month has made me feel the wonderful changes in the landscape and landforms along the way. From Henan to Shaanxi, there are obviously more mountains; from Xi’an to the west, and from the mountainous landforms to the Loess Plateau, the climate has become arid; on the way from Xining to Qinghai Lake, I felt the sky of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The highlands are wide. Not long ago, looking back at the cycling around the island in Hainan, looking at the island scenery taken during the trip, I strongly felt that those riding years were like golden sea water shining in the sun, shining in life.
Compared with traveling directly to the destination by plane or self-driving, cycling brings different experiences to travelers. Cycling can connect these cities into a line, and experience the scenery and changes between different places and cities. For example, the itinerary from Shandong to Qinghai clearly showed the gradual change of food, dialect, and environment, and I also felt the customs and customs of each city. If you travel by train or plane, the travel experience you get is point-to-point, and it is difficult to linearly connect the departure and arrival cities. If you choose to drive by yourself, tourists will not be as impressed with the places they pass by as they are when they ride. For example, when you meet a mountain, you don’t feel the hard work of going up the mountain and the joy of going downhill; when it rains, you don’t feel the touch of the rain hitting your face. Cycling can make people feel the wind in the natural environment and integrate into the ups and downs of each terrain.
Cycling has a unique charm and attracts more and more people to try it. However, because of the mentality of catching up with the trend, many people buy more expensive bicycles and put them in the corner to “eat ashes”. This phenomenon is very common nowadays. Faced with the rising trend of various sports, we must first confirm whether we like this sport. Only by choosing a sport that you like, can you stick to it for a long time. In addition, many people pay more attention to the investment in riding equipment. Whether the car is more expensive or faster is not all about riding. It is to maintain your own rhythm, pay attention to the riding experience, and let yourself get more from the journey. The meaning of riding.
