Gu Binbin arrived at his final stop, Los Angeles, on the 18th during his cycling journey across the United States, staying in Chinatown.
According to the U.S. newspaper World Journal, after 43 days of solo cycling through 15 American states, 33-year-old Gu Binbin from Beijing, China, reached the last leg of his trans-American ride in Los Angeles on November 18. With just a mountain bike, three travel bags, and a DSLR camera, he set off from New York on October 5, cycling an average of 100 miles per day, covering a total distance of 3,380 miles. He accomplished what many fellow travelers considered an impossible cycling journey. In his own words, “The greatest joy of travel is the memories and sharing those experiences with others.”
A graduate of Beijing Sport University, Gu Binbin was once a national-level athlete in middle- and long-distance running and is also a professional traveler and outdoor photographer. He has driven around China, visiting all 33 provinces and municipalities. For this U.S. cycling trip, he resolutely quit his job at a travel planning and design institute in Beijing. After two months of meticulous planning — researching the terrain, topography, and culture of various U.S. states, and detailing daily cycling plans in dozens of computer files — he set off on October 5, crossing through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and finally arriving in California.
During his 43 days of cycling in the U.S., he spent only a little over 10,000 RMB (approximately $1,600), which surprised many people. Gu Binbin said that controlling costs didn’t mean mooching off others or relying on their pity. At each stop, he first sought out 99-cent stores or dollar stores. Bread, sausages, and bananas were his main foods, along with canned corn and peas. He also carried a small pot to cook instant noodles and eggs, which became his staple later in the trip. Local Chinese restaurants were where he treated himself to better meals. He said his biggest expense was accommodation, and through staying with locals, he encountered many touching and unforgettable people and stories.
Learning that land in the U.S. is private property and tents can’t be set up freely, he thought of churches. On his first night in New Jersey, he pitched a tent in the backyard of a church. The next day, church staff even brought him some food for the road, which deeply moved him. Some churches weren’t able to host him overnight but even offered to pay for a nearby motel stay.
Gu Binbin said that when dining at a Chinese restaurant in Kentucky, he asked the owner if he could stay overnight. Unexpectedly, the owner readily agreed and let him sleep in the staff dormitory. That evening, he met several Chinese immigrants from Fujian who shared true stories of their struggles in the U.S., giving him new insight into the Chinese community there.
When he reached Missouri, he visited a restaurant run by a Shanghai couple. Not only did they offer him food, but they also kindly helped contact a church to arrange his accommodation. They even checked in on him online every day afterward, asking if he had arrived safely or reached the next destination. Gu Binbin said, “The kindness of the church people and the warmth of the Chinese couple deeply touched me. Before coming to the U.S., my biggest concern was safety. Now I see that most Americans are very kind.”
Gu Binbin said that throughout his journey, many people struck up conversations with him. After hearing his story, they expressed surprise and disbelief at his actions, asking if he had ever thought about giving up halfway. He said that initially, he didn’t think what he was doing was particularly heroic; he just wanted to set an example for his daughter and share what he saw and heard with other travelers.
Even the beloved bike protests — three flat tires in one day in the wilderness
He also encountered many difficulties and dangers along the way. He recalled that in a small town in Oklahoma, a wolf stood just a few meters away, staring intently at him. His mind went blank, but fortunately, after a few minutes, the wolf turned and walked away. He immediately pedaled as hard as he could, riding non-stop for nine hours with no more than a minute’s break. He said that the roads in the U.S. are mostly mountainous, much harder to cycle than he had imagined. Sometimes he not only had to push through physical exhaustion, but also endure mental stress. Whenever that happened, he would yell at himself to vent, then continue on.
Carrying 100 pounds of gear every day, his mountain bike would occasionally “go on strike” or break down. He said that one day, he got three flat tires — that day, he truly felt hopeless. He passed through many sparsely populated states where he sometimes didn’t see anyone or any vehicles all day. He talked to himself or kept a diary. In his notebook, he meticulously recorded each day’s journey, experiences, and feelings, and used his camera to capture the scenery along the way. Over the 43 days, he took more than 10,000 photos, which he plans to organize and share with other Chinese travelers.
He said that his final stop would be Santa Monica Beach. Although he visited many places this time, he still had some regrets — due to weather conditions, places like Colorado couldn’t be reached by bike. He hopes that on his next cycling trip across the U.S., he can cover the entire country.