A father and son on the road
"Cycling to Lhasa" may be a long-cherished romantic journey for many, but for Li Shuangsheng, 36, and his 16-year-old son Li Xuyao, who cycled to Lhasa together in 36 days, it was a transformative experience filled with sweat and laughter, danger and delight, solitude and touching moments. Two bicycles, 36 days, 2,298 kilometers, crossing 14 mountains over 4,000 meters above sea level, and the ever-present altitude sickness. This was a positive and empowering 16th birthday rite of passage that a father gave to his son.
The original intention: giving the son a positive rite of passage
Yesterday, reporters contacted this father-son duo from Qijiang. Li Shuangsheng, 43, is a teacher at Tongda Middle School in Qijiang, and his son Li Xuyao is 16. When the reporter met Li Shuangsheng, he was flipping through photos of his summer cycling trip to Lhasa with his son.
"My son is the star of this cycling trip. Taking him on such a journey is the 16th birthday gift I want to give him, and all I did along the way was accompany him." Looking at the photos of his son, covered in mud from falls and with peeling skin from sunburn, Li Shuangsheng spoke emotionally to the reporter about the original intention behind their ride.
"June 19, 2012 — this day is destined to belong to my son and me. It happened to be his lunar birthday. Of course, what made it most unforgettable is that he began his most memorable, toughest, and longest experience of his life. And I will be with him every step of the way. No matter what happens in the future, I will always be by his side." Li Shuangsheng wrote in his diary.
Touching moment: son cycles in rain, full of emotion
The real cycling journey began, accompanied by scorching sun, torrential rain, hailstorms, headaches and dizziness from altitude sickness, as well as the loneliness of traveling together as father and son. During the ride, they maintained a formation of "father in front, son behind." After cycling a stretch, the more experienced father would stop by the roadside and wait for his son to catch up.
Li Shuangsheng recalled that they had to climb a big mountain almost every day, and there were 14 mountains over 4,000 meters above sea level.
"Every time I stopped and looked back, seeing my son still pedaling hard, I was genuinely moved," Li Shuangsheng recalled. Often, when they reached the mountaintop, they would encounter rainstorms or even hail, and riding downhill became even more challenging.
On June 30, the father and son planned to conquer the 4,718-meter-high Kazi La Mountain in Garzê Prefecture. As usual, Li Shuangsheng led the way in the rain, and after descending, he stopped by the roadside and waited for more than ten minutes, but his son didn’t appear. Feeling anxious, he suddenly saw his son pushing his bicycle out of the rain. It turned out that during the descent, his son’s hands had gone numb from the cold, causing the bicycle to go out of control, and both of them tumbled into a muddy ditch. Fortunately, aside from a minor scrape on his arm, there were no serious injuries.
Son: "Even if I have to crawl, I’ll get to Lhasa"
Climbing mountain roads, facing blazing sun, and being soaked by rainstorms left the father and son utterly exhausted. Staying with Tibetan hosts, sleeping in road workers’ sheds, and camping in tents in the wild kept them mutually warmed.
"Every day brings different challenges, and every day brings different kinds of touching moments," Li Shuangsheng said.
Mount Erlang was the first major mountain they climbed. That evening, seeing his exhausted son barely able to keep his eyes open, Li Shuangsheng teased him: "How about we take a bus to Lhasa tomorrow or turn back?" "We’ve come this far — there’s no way we’re turning back!" the son replied firmly. Once, after cycling through a muddy section in the rain, they spent the night in Shed 158. Li Shuangsheng asked again: "Son, how about we give up? The road is just too tough." "Even if I have to crawl, I’ll get to Lhasa," the son answered without hesitation.
"The perseverance and deep bond of the Li father and son really moved me," said Zhang Qiuliang, a cyclist from Nanning, Jiangxi, who called the reporter. He met the Li family on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway.
On July 24, after 36 days of cycling and wearing down six sets of brake pads, the father and son finally arrived at their destination, Lhasa. After resting for a few days, they took a train back to Chongqing.
The future
Retracing the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, hiking to Lhasa
Yesterday, Li Shuangsheng revealed to reporters that he is planning to write a book based on their Lhasa cycling trip, while his son plans to retrace the Sichuan-Tibet Highway and hike to Lhasa after graduating from high school.
Li Shuangsheng’s wife, Chen Bo, an employee of Chongqing Energy Songzao Coal and Electricity Company, said she worried about them every day during their cycling trip to Lhasa. She was thrilled to see them return safely: "I saw the resilience and toughness of children from mining areas in my son."
"After the cycling trip, my son seemed to grow up overnight. A teenager developed the air of a man," Chen Bo said. She added that her son returned more mature and sensible.