I once asked an old boy 4x4 daywalker: what would you do in your amateur if you didn't go off-road?
He quickly replied: Then I guess in addition to playing basketball is also playing games.
Of course, there are no ifs.
At the age of 35, an engineering veteran who is engaged in the IT industry fell in love with off-road and opened the door to a new world.
Two years later, Lao Zeng, who had become a Daywalker Ranger, changed to a Prado LC120 and walked towards the wilderness without a man's land with concentration and determination.
As a result, the middle-aged life of an ordinary man, which would have been boring, underwent a "great change" and came alive.
This issue of "56 Off-road Bike Project" is also a special feature of the "Prado's Friends" series, I want to tell you the story of the old boy 4x4 expedition captain Daywalker, a story about a middle-aged man who opens a window to life because of his love and opens another adventure life.
Special note: For the purpose of expression, this article is in the first person
01
I was born in the late 70s, and after graduating from university, I stayed in Beijing to enter the Internet industry and become an IT person.
Turning 35 was a watershed moment in my life, because that year, I discovered that there was such a fun thing as off-roading, and before that, I didn't even have a trip in my life dictionary, let alone an off-road adventure.
At first, I didn't know much about off-road and cars, and even bought an urban SUV and mistook it for an off-road vehicle, and drove it to Chaobaihe, Beijing's off-road mecca, on weekends.
In Chaobai River, I made cross-country friends, opened my eyes, and slowly learned a little bit about cross-country.
Later, I became obsessed with desert off-road like I was poisoned, and I went to Kubuqi and Wengniute every week to practice my skills in the sand, increasing the difficulty of the challenge little by little.
I modified that urban SUV to a higher level, and I took its playability to the extreme.
02
October 2014 was the first time I went to the plateau to find the source of the Yangtze River. I checked a lot of information before leaving, and I thought I had done my homework, so I made an appointment with a few friends who drove hard-core off-road vehicles to set off.
A few ignorant and fearless off-road enthusiasts, of course, were "educated" by nature, during which they experienced a trap that took three days to get out.
It was freezing to death at night, digging cars on the plateau, which was really devastating. But everything in the wilderness excites me, and the shock brought to me by the Yangtze River Zhengyuan Jiang Gudi is like a glacier, which is enough to offset the torture and fatigue along the way.
It was also after that time that I swapped my SUV, which was almost broken apart, for the most seen off-road vehicle in the West: the Prado.
Since then, I have officially started my life exploration in the wilderness.
03
I had my first extreme trip to the plateau after Prado, and I went straight to Lop Nur + Altyn + Kumukuri.
Looking back now, it was really with the courage of ignorance and fearlessness to dare to do this.
In October 2015, my friend Ostrich and I, I drove a Prado, he drove Super Vitra, and he thought he was well prepared, but in fact he was in a bad situation. It can only be said that we were extremely lucky, experienced some embarrassing suffering, and even the fuel tank was dry to the point of oil leakage, but finally we went home safely.
In this line, the geographical window in my heart was completely opened, the wilderness is vast, there are many things worth exploring, and I am completely fascinated by the free, vast, mysterious, and charming wilderness and no man's land.
It was also in October of that year that a friend of mine had a serious accident due to desert off-roading and ended up unfortunately leaving. This incident hit me very hard, and while I was sad for my friend, my addiction to the desert dissipated and I quit.
I used to have fun rushing through the sand mountains and challenging high difficulties, but after that, I was no longer interested in doing things that looked cool but were actually dangerous and meaningless.
Since then, I've defined the desert as something I can cross over. Safety awareness of off-road is rapidly increasing at a tragic cost.
Also in October of this year, I initiated the formation of Old Boys 4×4 with my friends. This is a hobby-oriented, exploration-oriented, no-man's-land off-road team, most of the initial team members are about 40 years old, each with their own careers, but love the wilderness and want to explore scientifically.
Later, in just a few years, our team co-produced a series of documentaries that explored the history of human geography in no man's land.
Part of the documentary on Old Boy 4x4
04
I am still an office worker, and I only have the opportunity to travel twice a year, once around May Day and once around Eleventh, and I have to work hard to make time for travel every year.
Half a year after the establishment of the team, I planned a large-scale crossing activity, connecting the three uninhabited areas of the plateau from north to south.
The "adventure" of this crossing made the team popular to a certain extent: we unfortunately encountered a wreck in the ice lake at Wudan Lake, but accidentally found and brought back the relics of Li Congming, a cyclist who had been missing in Qiangtang for a year and a half.
But in fact, the day of the sinking of Lexie Wudan Lake was the darkest day in my life at present.
I still remember a series of "coincidences" around April 25 of that year.
The day before, there was heavy snow at Sun Lake, and we had to camp in advance.
The next day, we first abandoned the original trajectory and wanted to explore a new route; Then those who "died" had to go to the north shore of Wudan Lake. The north shore is so steep that it is almost impossible to drive.
Then, we first encountered the terrible ice lake wreck, the water depth is 1.5m, the ice is 30cm thick, there is no experience in breaking the ice, and we have experienced a desperate seven-hour difficult rescue; later, the car was pulled out, but it broke down and could not be started; at night, there were three teammates with a high fever of 39 degrees, in the plateau, this will be fatal.
At the intersection of the three uninhabited areas, the straight-line distance of Lexie Wudan Lake is almost 250 km in all directions (the actual driving distance is about 500 km).
At the time, no one spoke, but everyone was worried about whether they would be able to get out of the country smoothly.
We erected Lee's bike and performed a simple ceremony to pay tribute to the lone rider. And pray that if you can go out smoothly, then you must find an opportunity to come back and erect a monument to Li Congming.
The next day, the three people who had a high fever were all unexpectedly cured.
Everyone was very encouraged and finally decided to go south. The broken car, tow it, and drag it as hard as you can until you can't drag it anymore.
Later, we climbed all the way over the snow-capped mountains of the plateau, through the soft sandy land south of Gangzhari Peak, crossed the water to the monstrous Hongyuquan River, and dragged over the swamps......
Dragged and towed, 500km, dragged for 4 days, dragged across the Shuanghu, towed to Amdo, and dragged the car that could have been abandoned back to the world.
It is the car that is towed, and it is also the friendship that does not abandon or give up.
This experience once again gave me a severe wake-up call: no man's land is not simple, even scary, and should not be rushed into, because not always good luck can get out of danger.
After I came back, I was deeply introspected for a long time: what is the value of my blind crossing adventure?
05
In 2017, I was still "reflecting", and I realized that I liked history, especially the history of the Han and Tang dynasties.
I always have to study the things I like thoroughly before I give up.
At some point, it occurred to me that I wanted to record and pass on what I had learned in the field. Isn't that more valuable and meaningful?
So in April 2017, I led the filming of the documentary "Exquisite Exploration", which explored almost all the historical sites of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Han Dynasty in the Lop Nur area, and then went deep into the Taklamakan Desert to find the exquisite ancient city.
Since then, I have officially started to explore the geography, humanities and history of wilderness and uninhabited areas in the name of off-road. Find the traces of history, trace the origin of culture, record it, and pass it on.
06
Later, the many large-scale crossings of the Old Boy 4×4 convoy were somewhat with a sense of mission.
I'm past the period of simple play, and I don't have the strength to prove that I'm awesome. I just want to do something meaningful.
Therefore, later there was the "N35 Heroic Road" that paid tribute to the soldiers, martyrs, heroes, and lone riders who walked in Qiangtang; "The Soul of Kriya", which explores the historical changes of the Kriya River basin and the migration of the Kriya people; "The Soul of Luobu", which restores the migration route of the Luobu people, the descendants of Loulan, and the unknown construction changes of Lop Nur in modern times; It restores the historical definition and changes of the ancient road of the Han and Tang Dynasties, such as "The Way of Guarding the Sea", and a series of documentaries that explore the history of human geography in the wilderness and no man's land......
Of course, we later returned to Qiangtang to erect a monument to Li Congming; Later, in order to help a strange veteran realize his wish, he went to Qiangtang three times to find the sacrifice place of the martyr Li Zhenquan and erected a monument to pay tribute to him in Zhenquan Lake.
Return to Qiangtang to erect a monument for Li Congming
A monument was erected for the martyr Li Zhenquan in Zhenquan Lake
Heroes should not be forgotten. There is not much we can do, we can pay tribute to the martyrs, we can do something for the families of the heroes, and my friends and I are honored, grateful, and proud.
07
During the three years when it was difficult to travel, I had more time to share. From long documentaries to short videos, we use the most real experience to share the stories of extreme exploration of the plateau uninhabited area, share the secrets of the Western Regions, and share the experience of crossing vehicles, equipment, routes, etc., most of the content is practical dry goods.
I think it is more meaningful to share it to let more people know, otherwise there are some contents that I have studied profoundly, but others may not understand bragging B. It's better to share it, and you can also attract some friends on the same frequency.
The fact that no man's land crossing is itself very niche, and it is rare to meet more friends. And if you can learn something from my sharing, it is also a motivation and achievement for me.
08
In total, this year is exactly ten years since I first went to explore the highland wilderness; Also Prado, the tenth year that accompanied me.
In the past ten years, Prado has repeatedly accompanied me to the extreme of the wilderness and no man's land; Accompany me to see the wilderness, walk all over the rivers and mountains, accompany me to adventure, to explore; accompanied me from an ignorant and blind off-road novice to a qualified off-road person; It also accompanies me through the congested commute to work, and because it is there, it makes daily life fresh and beautiful.
I am very grateful, because of Prado's company, I have always kept my original intention and purely enjoyed the fun brought by my love of off-road.
When people reach middle age, it is a blessing in life to have a pure hobby and a group of pure friends. And it is also a blessing in life to have a partner who has been with me through many extreme tests but is still strong.
In the future, I should choose a new Prado, but I don't want to leave my LC120 behind, because it is no longer a car, but the strongest support for my ten years of interesting life.
But if there is any regret, it must be that I met Prado early enough, although he has been with me for ten years, I still feel short; Also, I like the new Prado a lot, but its price is for me, an office worker, and I have to work a little harder to make it easier to accompany it.
Text: Yan Qi Picture: Old Boy 4x4 Daywalker