Solo odyssey: as far as his feet could pedal
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CYCLING knows no age. Zhu Junxian, 82, has been pedaling around China for 18 years and now holds the Guinness record for the “longest distance on a one-man bike” — covering a distance equal to twice the equator.
He has pedaled to the snow-capped Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province, through grasslands of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, up into the Tibetan Plateau and to the cities of Hong Kong and Macau.
He visited Tibet Autonomous Region six times, flew the red flag of China at a base camp on Mount Everest and was a carrier of the Olympic Torch in 2008.
“I just wanted to visit the beautiful sites in China as much as possible,” the old man said.
He laughs loudly and talks rapidly, looking much younger than his age despite decades of exposure to sun, wind and rain.
He first got the idea of bicycling across China while in the trenches during the Korean War more than 60 years ago. In 1952, the Songjiang-native joined the army and served as a medical doctor.
“Every day I had to carry more than 20 kilograms, not including my medical supplies,” Zhu said. “The war was stressful. We dug trenches on this side of the 38th parallel, while on the other side, US troops placed machine guns and landmines. The shortest distance between us was less than 200 meters.”
As Zhu and his fellow soldiers lay in the trenches at night, they dreamed about the future.
“I want to ride to Beijing and see Chairman Mao,” he told his comrades.
After he retired from the army, Zhu became a judge in a local court. The work left him no time to pursue his dream, but he kept fit by daily jogging, cycling and exercising.
His time finally came in 1990. Then 55 years old, Zhu started his first long-distance bike ride from Shanghai to Beijing to watch the Asian Games in Beijing. The ease of the round journey of about 3,100 kilometers greatly encouraged him.
“It became an addiction,” he said. “Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I wanted to do longer and longer rides.”
In 1999, Zhu made his first trip to Tibet. He stayed there for 17 days, and when he finally returned to Shanghai six months later, he had 13,000 kilometers.
“I carried five days of food at any one time,” he said. “Diet is important on a trip like that.”
A durable bike, a reliable electric torch, a compass and clothing that was both waterproof and cold-resistant were also essentials.
Zhu kept diaries of his travels. They now span more than 600,000 words.
One of his most dangerous adventures came when traversing the Kunlun and Dangla mountain ranges.
“Amid masses of ripraps, out of a giant, deep crack came a white lightning, which made me dizzy for a second,” he wrote in his diary. “I looked down, and there was the fathomless Kunlun River under my feet.”
Zhu had to pedal over Fenghuo Mountain and survived the road known as the “gate of hell.” The mountain, which means “fire and wind in Chinese” earned its name for the fiery-red cliffs and force 10 winds. The pass is at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters, and temperatures ranged from 50 degrees Celsius in the daytime to below zero at night.
The road ahead appeared like a black ribbon extending into the unknown. The higher Zhu rode, the harder it got.
“The wind penetrated my bones like a knife,” he recalled. “Eventually I had to dismount and push the bike up the grade, step by step. Not even a blade of grass grew there.”
When he finally reached the top of the pass on Fenghuo Mountain, the wind was too strong for him to set up a camera tripod.
“The scenery was so magnificent, but I couldn’t stay there long because the high altitude made breathing difficult and I didn’t want to put myself in a precarious situation,” Zhu said.
Two years later, he was back in Tibet. From April 2001 to February 2002, he cycled for 302 days, reaching a base camp at Mount Everest. He flew the national flag to celebrate China’s successful bid for the 2008 Olympic Games. The whole trip traversed 17 provinces and covered 19,000km.
Danger was always a companion. Zhu once found himself lost in a sandstorm in the Tengger Desert and having to ration every drop of water in the Taklimakan Desert. He almost froze to death when his alcohol-fuel stove refused to light amid low oxygen at an altitude of 6,700 meters.
He has pedaled to Tibet six times, each trip along a different route. On his last visit, Zhu was 76.
On his trips, He often stayed in army service stations. Other times, he slept in a tent in the wild. He carried a fishing rod and slingshots to forage for food along the way.
One night, not being able to find a proper place to put up his tent, Zhu bunked down with a flock of sheep.
“It was very warm because I had a natural woolen blanket,” he said, with a laugh.
Zhu said he never felt lonely because he met so many kind-hearted people in his travels. Families often invited him to eat with them, serving fresh wild berries picked along the Yalu Tsangpo River, tasty fish from Bangong Lake and traditional Tibetan dishes.
“I could never quite express my heartfelt gratitude for the hospitality of locals and soldiers who helped me along my travels,” Zhu said. “Without them, I never would have been able to go as far as I did.”
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