An elderly Chinese man recently cycled alone across North America, his most recent achievement in a cycling career spanning 25 countries across four continents, according to Beijing Youth Daily.
On April 7, 2007, Xu Yukun rode north to Beijing, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, ending in the Arctic village of Mohe. During this first cycle, Xu quickly fell in love with the sport. To date, he has been on 14 such trips, traveling to almost all provinces in China and 25 countries across four continents, covering more than 100,000 kilometers.
This is Xu's sixth trip outside of China. According to the original plan, he would have set off from Los Angeles on April 1 and spent two months crossing the United States and two more months spanning Canada before finishing the ride on August 1.
His daughter said that he set off from Los Angeles on April 4. Along the way, he got up at 4 a.m. and started to ride at 6 a.m. every day. Xu rarely stayed in a hotel, instead choosing to find places to set up a tent due to his limited funds. However, the ride didn't go as planned. The Rocky Mountains were so steep that he needed to push his bike in many places. Therefore, he did not enter Canada until July 9. As his visa expired on August 1, Xu decided to ride western Canada and go back to China on August 1.
Xu, a 72-year-old farmer from Henan, began cycling at the age of 61. In 2007, long after his father had died and his four daughters married, Xu decided to see the outside world by bike. He had never before had the chance, because he had to drop out of school at 13 to take care of his blind father.
Riding alone all year round, Xu has faced danger many times. In 2008, he got acute gastroenteritis in Tibet. He should have rested, but instead insisted on crossing the mountain. At night, he could not see the road to ride down the other side. Luckily, the People's Liberation Army of China came to his aid.
To begin with, Xu's family and friends didn't support him. His daughter said that Xu had never been far away from their hometown, and it was dangerous to cycle alone. However, thanks to Xu's insistence, the whole family eventually came around.
Recently, Xu posted on his official WeChat account that he planned to ride from Egypt to South Africa and across the African continent in March next year. Xu decided to cycle with friends on this occasion, which we're sure his family will be pleased to hear.