This is the story of the 456th real person we tell
I am Zhang Dafei @ dreamer Zhang Dafei, post-90s, born in a rural family.
Playing games online made me miss the road of changing my destiny, but it also made me fall in love with the humanistic history and travel of the Three Kingdoms. Later, he spent a year alone through Sichuan and Tibet, riding nearly 20,000 kilometers and covering 138 cities.
Riding, like a catalyst, made me, a rough man in Shandong, mature and my heart became much softer. For me, it is not a dispensable thing, but a necessity in life.
(Me and the used bicycle that accompanied me on my budget trip to Tibet)
In 1991, I was born in a village in Linyi City, Shandong Province. Because family planning is strictly controlled, I am the only child in the family like many of my peers in the village. My parents were farmers, they had farmed and worked, and my mother had a small business of setting up snack stalls.
I think I should be the so-called grassroots bar, and there is no capital of the pride of heaven at all. Therefore, since I was a child, I have not had too high requirements for myself, and I am comfortable and comfortable.
My mother said that I was naughty and did not learn well since kindergarten, and three or four-year-old children beat children in kindergartens every day, often coming home from school and being beaten with a stick by their mothers. But at that time, I didn't know that this was a manifestation of not learning well, so I also felt that this needed to be changed. At that time, I was followed by a group of poor students who loved to play, they liked to surf the Internet, clubbing, playing games, and I began to surf the Internet in the fifth or sixth grade of primary school.
When I was in junior high school, I went to school in the town, there were more Internet cafes, the temptation was greater, just at that time, my mother did a small vendor business with more change, and I had a child at home, and my parents did not restrict me on pocket money, thinking that I would eat a little longer. In this way, I hid from my family to go to school during the day and play games on the Internet at night and on weekends, and at that time I didn't feel that I had been harmed by internet cafes.
(To save money, no man's land sleep bridge hole)
Until junior high school, I was still a poor student, not only did my academic performance not good, but also a little rebellious and disobedient, I did my own thing. Until one day, the city's technical school went to the school to recruit people, and I knew that there was no hope for the middle school entrance examination, so I signed up and chose a computer major. After I went home, I told my parents about school, and they couldn't do anything with me, so they had to pay the money.
Technical school is actually a good opportunity for us poor students, but unfortunately I was too naïve at that time to cherish the opportunity. At that time, I was more free to leave home, and I had more time to play games themed around the Three Kingdoms, and slowly I became fascinated with the historical figures and human geography of the Three Kingdoms, and watched all the TV dramas and geography documentaries of the Three Kingdoms. From the first episode to the last episode, I am not willing to fast-forward at all, and the more I watch it, the more I like it. It wasn't enough, my classmates and I used to travel a lot, and we went to all the places we could go nearby.
(Riding with friends)
Originally, the study time arranged by the technical school was 3 years, but my mathematical and English foundation was too poor, I couldn't learn how to learn programming, and I felt a headache when I learned, and I quit school after insisting on it for more than a year. Since then, I have personally ended my academic career when I was less than 18 years old.
There is a saying that is very correct, if you can't eat the pain of studying, you must eat the hardships of life. After I came out of the technical school, I began to wander the society. Went with his classmates to help in an electronics factory opened by his uncle in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, the factory was short of people, and my classmates and I followed his uncle to learn technology and management, earning more money than ordinary workers every month.
His uncle was afraid that we would spend money indiscriminately, so he only gave us a little living expenses every month, and the rest of the salary was settled annually. He was a very good man, knew that I was studying computers, and enrolled us in computer software courses for me to study. Unfortunately, I worked for a year and a half, felt too far from home, and resigned when I wanted to go home. Later, my classmates opened their own factories as bosses, and I once again rubbed shoulders with the opportunity without knowing it.
(Cooking with a wood-burning knife)
After returning home, I was introduced to work in the auto parts factory by my classmates, close to home, not tired, the salary is good, and the factory is large, and there are many opportunities for promotion and salary increase. I liked to come by nature, and after working there for more than 3 years, I left. Later, I learned that the classmates who went with me have now become management.
Living at home and doing odd jobs, I am also very confused about the future, I don't know what I want to do, I am almost 25 years old, and I feel that I have achieved nothing in life. Anxious to find something to do, I went to a slaughterhouse in the county to work as a technician, the salary was OK, and I took a weekend off to go out with friends.
Slaughtering animals such as cattle and sheep is not a good job for many people, but I am not too bitter and dirty to work for more than 5 years, which is the 5 years when I am most at ease with myself and the most stable.
(Tibetan small gas tank is not easy to buy, use very economical)
In 2018, I came into contact with self-media and found it very interesting. I am a person who likes new things, after studying for a while, I decided to invest 200,000 yuan to start a business with friends to do self-media, and I also maintained the habit of traveling with friends.
At that time, there was a fellow who liked to ride, so I went out with him to ride, which was the first bike trip I was exposed to. But I haven't been passing by alone, and I may still lack courage. Until the team disbanded in 2020, and the career once again fell into a low ebb, I was depressed and confused, and I wanted to go out to relax.
So, on June 24, 2020, I plucked up the courage to challenge myself to travel alone. I drove from Yunnan into Tibet, Sichuan, and along the way I stopped and walked, saw different people and landscapes, and my horizons became wide, and my little annoyance was not a big deal. After 5 months of travel, I returned home in time to return home 1 month before the Lunar New Year.
(Now I'm very tanned)
As soon as my family saw me, I said that I was tanned and thin, but my heart was very relaxed and happy. I'm not even afraid to go on the road alone, what else am I afraid of? Traveling is like a healing, and I am no longer afraid of the unknown. Compared to the monotonous and busy daily routine of workers, traveling on the road makes me more mentally happy, and I look forward to starting again.
Unexpectedly, the outbreak of the epidemic suddenly broke out, everywhere was closed, the situation became very tense, and it was no longer feasible to travel by car. My family didn't agree with me running around, but I always had an opinion, I had to do what I wanted to do, and after I promised my family to pay attention to safety, when I started again at the end of the New Year in early 2021, I put the car at home and prepared to ride on the road.
(Inflating bicycle tires on the road)
My personality is like this, I will do it when I think about it, I don't suffer from gain and loss, and I start to implement it when I think about buying a car. In order to save money, I thought about buying a used car first. Before I also had a little understanding of cycling, I know that the price of cycling bicycles varies from high to low, I do not pay attention to any brand name, only require safety and practicality.
So I went to the second-hand bicycle website to start looking for a car to compare prices, and finally took a fancy to a Guangxi rider's car, the price is also very appropriate, immediately I decided to buy.
In the past few years of work, I have scattered the southeast and north China, but I am very yearning for the mysterious Xinjiang, and I want to ride slowly to see what the historical Yumen Pass looks like. I have always believed that the scenery seen in my eyes is the nourishment of the soul. Since you are not good at reading thousands of books, then take a good trip, every step of life counts.
(Ride outside the three-piece set, me, car and tent)
Soon I made an appointment with the seller to get the car, that day with the nucleic acid certificate, simply packed up some clothes, took the original tent and other riding equipment, and sat on the car to Guangxi. After getting the car, I began to go on the road, planning to go from Guangxi to Sichuan and Tibet, see the famous three kingdom sites, then go to Xinjiang through Inner Mongolia, and finally ride around the territory of the motherland.
This is my first time on a solo bike trip, and it is unknown what dangers I will encounter along the way, but it is precisely because of this that I am full of expectations. This bicycle is my dream horse, it takes me to scenery that I have never seen before, to meet people I have never met.
I'm a very casual person, I don't think there's any need to compare my riding gear, and I don't like the bells and whistles. Equipment according to their own needs on the line, practical and comfortable is the most important. Tents like the ones I brought are old friends who have been with me for almost 2 years, and the price is not expensive.
Later, sleeping bags, wood knives and some cooking utensils were added. It is very important to replenish water on the road, and I specially bought a large thermos pot for hot water, and all the supplies add up to more than a hundred pounds.
(The total number of materials is more than 100 pounds)
When I first started riding these things on the road, I felt very heavy and very difficult to ride. At first, I was more anxious and inexperienced, and at most I rode 200 kilometers a day, and my ass hurt badly. However, I told myself not to worry, everything is difficult at the beginning, and riding also requires a 3-month adaptation period.
Now I have learned to ride at a slow pace, only about 50 kilometers a day, rest and tidy up before going on the road. My riding speed is also not the fastest because I feel that riding is not a race, and it is more important to enjoy the process.
In order to save money, I buy my own vegetables to cook when I eat on the road, and I will only cook some simple home-cooked meals, although the taste of the restaurant is not good, but it is also very satisfying to eat in the mouth.
At an altitude of more than 4,000 meters in Tibet, the conditions are really limited, eat what you have, dry steamed buns as long as you can fill your stomach, and eat 3 buckets of instant noodles when you are hungriest. On a sunny day, I chop wood and burn firewood to cook, and the wood knife was originally used to cut vegetables, but now it has become a wood cutting knife. When it's windy and rainy, I use small air tanks, and the gas tanks in the northwest are not easy to buy, so I use them sparingly.
(When I was hungriest, I even ate 3 buckets of instant noodles, and the boss was stunned)
After I posted my cycling life to the self-media, many fans said that I was the second son of the riders and had too hard. Maybe my desire for material things is not high, but I don't feel that I am in suffering.
When I set out from Yunnan last year, I met a rider who came from Jiangxi, and he only ate noodles along the way, and when he was hungry, he was hungry and even reluctant to buy green vegetables. Seeing people who are harder than me, I feel very happy, with meat and vegetables and occasionally going to restaurants to eat a delicious meal.
If you don't pay attention to eating, the place to live is more casual. Because I was on a budget trip, I spent most of my time in abandoned houses along the way, and a few times in no man's land was under the sleeping bridge hole.
Abandoned houses are generally full of dust and debris, and I will sweep the floor first and lay a dust mat under the tent so that it will be more comfortable to sleep. When I need to wash my clothes or replenish electricity and hot water, I have to pay for a hostel.
(Live in the hostel to replenish electricity and hot water)
Outdoor riding is really expensive, I have 6 charging treasures, all of which can be used for a week if they are full. The traffic must be saved, otherwise the cost is too high.
Riding outside, my life is to ride during the day to watch the scenery and cook, and to lie in a tent and camp at night to sleep. Feeling physically busy and mentally fulfilled, and without time to think wildly, the online games that I coveted when I was young have magically quit.
Although I eat and live casually, I attach great importance to safety issues. My experience is that when riding in inland provinces, try to avoid places where there are people, but in Tibet you have to find places where there are people to be safe. I have also encountered many dangers, seen snakes at my feet, wolves chasing after the back of the car, too frightened to move, and have spent the night in an abandoned house and been driven away.
The most dangerous one was when I woke up in the morning to find a large group of Tibetan mastiffs outside surrounding my tent, and finally I took a wood knife and scared them away. There are many wild animals outside the no-man's land on this side of Tibet, and when a person goes out, he must ensure the safety of his life.
(Tibetan wildlife is common)
I have always been opposed to cycling as a brainless game, at any time life is the first, safety on the basis of talking about dreams. There was a rider who insisted on riding through the Afghan war zone, and then as soon as he rode in, the person was gone, either kidnapped or shot by artillery fire.
It is said that before he went, some riders advised him not to go over there and not to take his life to ride. But he just wouldn't listen, didn't want to really cause tragedy. In contrast, domestic cycling is really safe.
Before I was a very simple person, I didn't think there were bad people in the world, and I didn't know that there were really ones after I came out on a ride, but there are always more good people than bad people. Once at three o'clock in the afternoon, when riding to a village at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, 3 children also specially sent me hot water to drink, which made me feel warm.
I also gave them apples and some snacks, because I found that there was no commissary in the whole village, and they had to travel dozens of kilometers to buy snacks, and their material life was really much poorer than that of children in the inland. Riding, let my Heart, a rough man in Shandong, also become a lot softer.
(I gave my candy to the children as a token of gratitude)
I also met a lot of like-minded riders on the road, and now that there are more travelers in their 20s, the team of travelers is getting younger and younger. Once, when I was riding a difficult hill in the wind on the road, I suddenly heard someone calling me. Looking back, it was a pair of brothers who drove ARV, who were worried that I was too hard to ride and had no strength, so they sent me a bottle of milk to cheer me up, which was the first time in 7 months that I had drunk milk.
There will be more topics to talk about at similar ages, and when we meet on the road, we will eat and drink together, talk about life and ideals, and strange things along the way. The words are spoken freely, and the meal is also eaten with extraordinary satisfaction. In the Spring Festival of 2022, I challenged my first time to celebrate the New Year outside, and on that day at the hotel, I also specially ordered a meat dish to celebrate the New Year.
(A person spent the Spring Festival and ate a meat dish)
Looking back on this ride, I haven't even bought a new piece of clothing, and maybe the long-term outdoor ride has made me have no desire for material things. In the past, I did every job very short, and people who couldn't settle down were also very impetuous, and in the end there was nothing left in my hands.
After riding, I have changed a lot now, not only my body has changed a lot better than before. Even mentally, it seems to be reborn, and when there is a goal, the mind is calmed down, and people are more mature.
What hasn't changed is that I still have a childlike heart in life, and I still like to explore the unknown. A few days of riding will take you through a city and meet new landscapes and crowds. After nearly a year of cycling, my footprints have spread across 138 cities, riding nearly 20,000 kilometers, and I can circle the earth in half a circle.
(Sleeping in an abandoned house in Tibet)
When I was younger, I didn't think I'd be a cyclist, but now I'm in love with this slow-paced travel and I'm glad I found a lifestyle that suits me in my thirties.
Although my peers are busy working hard in their careers, I am also satisfied with my life. Life is different, and everyone can live as they want according to their own wishes. In the future, I am going to find a comfortable southern city to settle down, take my parents to live, and live neatly as a family.
【Dictation: Zhang Dafei】
【Editor: Nan Fang】
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