During the Spring Festival this year, 36-year-old Zhang Yingjuan decided to take her elementary school son, Jimmy, to start riding from Shanghai and return to her hometown in Huanggang, Hubei Province. On January 17, the mother and son set off from Pudong New Area, Shanghai, and started their journey home more than 700 kilometers with their son, who had just gone on winter vacation.
Zhang Yingjuan shoots videos every day to document this unique trip. In her videos, there are the difficulties of cycling, but also some precious moments: a drone spraying pesticides, a low-flying plane, the two of them stopping to blow even if they just run into a dandelion on the side of the road, and Jimmy hitting a rock when he hits a pool.
Mother and Child Shadow
The riding experience of this mother and son
also rushed to the hot search, causing concern
The following is Zhang Yingjuan's own statement:
He once took his son to ride from Shanghai to Beijing
I don't want him to play games at home during winter vacation
On January 27th, we arrived in Feixi County, Hefei City, Anhui Province, which is the 11th day of our cycling from Shanghai, we have ridden 500 kilometers, and there are still more than 200 kilometers to reach our hometown.
During the Spring Festival this year, my son and I decided to set off from Shanghai and ride more than 700 kilometers back to my hometown of Yingshan County, Huanggang City, Hubei Province.
I'm a person who can't stay at home, I have been riding in Shanghai before the epidemic, and since the beginning of this year, after the epidemic is over, I can't wait to start a long-distance ride with my son Jimmy. During the summer vacation, I took my son to ride from Shanghai to Beijing for the first time, and Jimmy had a great time crossing the mountains along the way.
Originally, we were scheduled to drive back to my husband's house for the Chinese New Year, but I thought it would be boring to drive back, so I simply decided to ride home. Jimmy's school holiday is early, and I can have a holiday on January 15th, so I do a small business online, and my time is relatively free. I'd like to take him on a ride, and train him by the way.
Jimmy is only in elementary school, he is growing and developing, and he is a little fat, but he loves sports, plays football for two hours a day, and is not averse to cycling. I also don't want him to play games in the room. I discussed it with him before leaving, and he and my dad agreed, and we started to prepare.
The route is not particularly precise, we rode nearly 700 kilometers from Shanghai to Huanggang, and the approximate route is Shanghai - Taicang - Changzhou - Wuxi - Zhenjiang - Nanjing - Anhui - Hubei, all the way to the national or provincial highways.
Luggage carried by two people
The original departure time was January 15th, and Jimmy set off after getting his winter vacation homework, but unfortunately, Jimmy suddenly contracted the virus the day before, with a high fever of more than 38 degrees Celsius, and his face burned red, and the hospital diagnosed it with a viral infection, and after two days of rest, he finally hit the road on January 17.
The two of us shared a little luggage. Jimmy's car was loaded with moisture mats and clothes, which added up to 8 kilograms, and mine, which was loaded with moisture cushions, tents, etc., which added up to 10 kilograms. Both men placed a reflective strip on their luggage and secured it with a rope on the back seat of their bicycles. Jimmy also brought some yam cakes. I brought my car repair tools just in case. Before leaving, Jimmy also purchased a new helmet. As soon as I went out, I met a car accident on an electric car on the road. "Good thing I had helmets. Jimmy said.
Sudden cooling and humid weather
The temperature is 4 degrees Celsius and camping on the side of the road
In the two days since we departed from Shanghai, the sky was clear, and we had optimistically planned to arrive at our destination in 12 days. But what we didn't expect was that there would be so many difficulties in the next few days.
Cold is the first problem we face.
On the fourth day, when I set off from Wuxi Xinwu District and walked towards Changzhou, it was only 4 degrees Celsius outside. The wind was blowing and the drizzle was hitting my face, and I gradually felt my feet start to go numb when pedaling the bike, and Jimmy put our disposable rain boots on the outside of the shoes to prevent the wind from getting through. In the next few days, the temperature dropped below zero, and Jimmy was still numb from the cold after wearing three pairs of wool socks on his feet, so he had to go to the hotel early to soak his feet in hot water.
Mother and son camped on the side of the road in the wind and rain
In such a cold weather, riding a bicycle without gloves, and after a while, his fingers were red, Jimmy first bought a labor protection glove on the side of the road in Suzhou, and asked the shopkeeper to cut a small hole in his fingers with scissors to facilitate movement, and then the labor protection gloves were not used, and he bought a dishwashing glove to cover outside, but it was still very cold, and finally he still wore the gloves he bought to ride a motorcycle. I kept my hands tucked up in my sleeves and rode.
When the temperature is low, you should wear more clothes. Considering that it is difficult to move while wearing clothes that are too thick, and that it is easy to catch a cold after sweating during exercise, I adopted a multi-layered dressing method. In the days when the temperature dropped below freezing, we wore five pieces of clothing, from the inside to the outside, a quick-drying coat, a thin underwear, a fleece jacket, a down jacket, a jacket, and a poncho if it rained.
Humidity is the second biggest problem we face.
Three or four days after riding out of Shanghai, it was drizzling every day. If it's heavy rain, we simply don't ride. The next drizzle, it looks like it can ride, but the whole body is wet when riding, and people are particularly prone to hypothermia in this situation.
On the fifth day of cycling, at about 3 p.m., because of the rain and slow cycling, we did not arrive at the hotel as planned, but arrived at a nearby village - Dongxu Village (located in Luoyang Town, Wujin District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province). After a day of running, the rain soaked our clothes and hats, and I ran to the nearby village council to ask if there was a place to camp. The villagers pointed me to a nearby pavilion – although it was leaking on all sides, the ground was dry anyway.
We first spread moisture-proof mats on the ground, set up tents, washed wet clothes in a nearby public toilet, and changed into dry clothes. The two soaked instant noodles in the hot water in their own thermos kettle, and used their own luncheon meat as a side dish. At that time, I was already very satisfied.
Jimmy reading English in a camping tent
Before going to bed, Jimmy also reads English under a small camping lamp — one of his winter vacation assignments.
After a night's sleep in the pavilion, the things we put outside, including the sleeping bags in the tent, were soaking wet. Because it was too wet, the two of them also stuffed napkins into the mouths of the face towels, and the face towels were already soaked.
Ride slowly
See a different landscape
After the most difficult three days, we arrived in Nanjing. On January 22nd, Jimmy and I finally rode from Zhenjiang to Nanjing. Although the temperature was minus 5 degrees Celsius and there was still unmelted ice on the side of the road, the weather finally cleared up and it stopped raining. We ate hot soup dumplings and bought a pair of sunglasses as protective glasses.
According to the plan, we rode more than 40 kilometers a day, but sometimes we couldn't ride at all. Our route is not specially planned, just a general direction, according to the daily physical strength to see where to ride, to find a nearby place to stay.
Jimmy and I set off every morning around 8:30 a.m. and finished at about 3:30 p.m., before the sun went down, sometimes with an hour or two break at noon. Because of the cooling, the temperature plummeted after 4 p.m., and the cold was unbearable, so the winter riding time was not long.
Unlike professional cyclists, we often have to take a break after less than 1 hour. Jimmy, after all, was a kid and couldn't ride as long as a professional cyclist, and he would often want to go to the toilet or drink water, so we would stop and rest.
Jimmy is riding
With the exception of the first day and two camping trips in Changzhou, we stayed at the hotel for the past few nights, and sometimes when we were hungry, we rode a few kilometers with Jimmy to a nearby town for dinner. So in the videos I shoot, we are often playing or shooting landscapes, and we are not in a hurry.
Jimmy and I were both walking this road for the first time, and it was a novelty to encounter anything on the side of the road, sometimes I photographed a drone spraying pesticides, a low-flying airplane, we would stop and blow a dandelion on the side of the road, and Jimmy would hit a pond with a rock.
Now that we're about to enter the mountains, we are about to face the third major difficulty - climbing. Although it has been a hard few days, Jimmy has not complained. He's been quite happy. Sometimes cycling is better than I am. When it came to the uphill climb, Jimmy always laughed at me, "The climb is too slow, I have to wait at the back". In the camera, he always went far in front with a pout, leaving me behind to hum. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Netizen comments
@杰克: Enviable family atmosphere @ Xu Youya: It is a precious childhood experience for children @ Carbon Baking Storm: Mother and son have a deep love
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Source: Future.com