Liu Baogui shows photos taken during the journey to reporters.
Not long ago, Tianjin cyclists Liu Baogui, 66, and Zhang Shixiang, 55, rode through Xinjiang and Tibet, crossing the Taklamakan Desert, known as the "Sea of Death." The two elderly men, whose combined age is 121, spent five days crossing the desert and three days living in the uninhabited area.
Heatstroke in the Gobi: "If we give up this time, there won't be another chance"
Challenging the Taklamakan Desert was one of the main goals of their cycling trip. Before actually entering the desert, the two had to cycle through about 100 kilometers of Gobi. And this part of the journey, which couldn’t yet be called the real desert experience, gave them a tough start: "We each prepared four bottles of water, planning to resupply at Lunnan after the 100 kilometers. But unexpectedly, because it was so dry and hot, after just 10 kilometers of riding, we had already drunk half the water. That’s when we realized we hadn’t brought enough." Thanks to a car that stopped to ask for directions along the way, they managed to get emergency help. But due to insufficient water intake and high physical exertion, Zhang Shixiang suffered heatstroke and fainted by the time they reached the Lunnan Oilfield.
High temperatures, dryness, lack of water, and heatstroke... One challenge after another came one after the other before they even entered the desert. But Liu Baogui and his companion never thought of giving up: "If there's not enough water, we’ll bring more. If we don’t feel well, we’ll rest for a couple of days and then set off again. I feel my body can hold up. Most importantly, if we give up this time, as we get older, we might never be able to complete this ride." Three days later, when they set off again, each of them carried over 30 bottles of mineral water and a box of instant noodles: "Locals in Lunnan told us that after entering the desert, there would be 320 kilometers of uninhabited desert area where no resupply is possible, so we must bring enough water and rations. So we brought over 30 bottles of water, calculating one bottle per 10 kilometers, and made full preparations before setting off."
10 flat tires on the first day: "Unexpected situations are unavoidable"
The Taklamakan Desert is China’s largest desert, dry and rainless all year round with strong winds and sand, and the environment is extremely harsh. The road from Lunnan across the desert is 562 kilometers long, and cycling takes five days, with the first three days still in the "uninhabited area." Liu Baogui said that only when he was actually there did he truly understand the power of this "Sea of Death": "We prepared for everything before setting off, but many unexpected situations were still unavoidable."
It was summer, and the temperature in the desert was extremely high during the day: "We brought everything, except a thermometer. We heard from locals that daytime temperatures in the desert can reach 70°C. That’s something we’ve never experienced before, and we were a bit uneasy." To protect against wind and sun, the two were "armed to the teeth," and they strictly controlled their water intake, finishing one bottle every ten kilometers. But just as they felt their bodies had adjusted well, their bikes started having problems. "The weather was too hot, the ground temperature was even higher, and maybe the bicycles weren’t suited to it, so they were especially prone to flat tires," Liu Baogui told reporters. In the space of an hour, their bikes had six flat tires, and on the first day, they had a total of 10 flats, meaning they had to keep stopping to fix them. Once a tire was patched and couldn’t be used anymore, they had to replace it immediately. "We each brought four sets of tires when we set off, but by the time we left the desert, we only had two sets left."
Taking shelter from a sandstorm in a water well house: "It was really dangerous, and I’m still very scared thinking about it"
When the two finally got their "rides" fixed and had ridden through the desert uneventfully for three days and exited the uninhabited area, another accident happened—they encountered a sandstorm. "The sandstorms in the city are nothing compared to disasters like that," Liu Baogui described the situation to reporters. "The wind was so strong you couldn’t move forward, and with the sand blowing up, everything in front of you was just a yellow haze—you couldn’t see anything." To avoid the sandstorm, the two had to seek help from a water well house on the edge of the desert. After being turned away three times, they finally got help at the fourth water well house. "The sandstorm lasted all night, and we couldn’t even set up a tent, so we had to stay in the water well house for the night. Sand was everywhere—on our bodies, the floor, the moisture-proof mats—even the camera inside its bag got sand in it. Thinking back, it’s really scary. If we had actually spent the night outside, it would have been really dangerous."
Besides crossing the desert, Liu Baogui and his companion also took on the challenge of the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway during this Xinjiang-Tibet trip, climbing five peaks over 5,000 meters in elevation, which took them two months. When they finally returned to Tianjin victorious, Liu Baogui had slimmed down from his original 160 jin (about 80 kg) to less than 130 jin (about 65 kg). "I’ve been to Tibet so many times, but this trip was the toughest. Being able to complete this mission at our age makes the hardship worth it!"