Cycling around mainland China four times, crossing the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau seven times, traversing the Taklamakan Desert four times, covering a total distance of over 210,000 km (equivalent to more than five times around the Earth), and even selling his home to fund the journey... Around 2 pm on October 4, Huang Renyi, known as the "Ironman of Cycling Across China," arrived in Nanjing, Jiangsu from Jinan, Shandong.
A book made him fall in love with cycling
At Liu Bocheng Square in Xiaguan, Nanjing, this sun-tanned, sturdy elderly man in his sixties looked full of vigor. It is understood that Huang Renyi is from Ziyang, Sichuan. He said he had served in the military for 17 years, but due to a back injury from being an artilleryman, he often suffered from lower back pain after retiring. Later, his brother-in-law, seeing he had difficulty moving around, gave him a bicycle for transportation. Unexpectedly, this casual act led to his love for cycling. After riding for about a year, he found that his back pain had disappeared, and he turned out to have a natural talent for cycling, with much better endurance than others. Since then, no matter how far the destination, Huang Renyi mostly cycled there.
To train his cycling ability, Huang Renyi later rode all the way back to his hometown in Sichuan while working in Beijing, and to his own surprise, it only took him 13 days one way.
He spoke in detail about his cycling experiences. In 2002, while working at a factory in Beijing, Huang Renyi accidentally came across a book by the Frenchman Stéphane, titled “Naked Run.” The book detailed the author’s journey cycling from Xinjiang through the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Yunnan, Guangxi, and other places, eventually arriving in Beijing. He secretly resolved to try cycling around the entire country himself.
Exhausting savings in pursuit of a dream
On August 15, 2002, carrying just a few hundred yuan, he set off on his bicycle from Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Within five months, he crossed the Taklamakan Desert, traversed the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and returned to Beijing on January 15, 2003. He visited all provinces except those in the northeast, covering a total distance of 35,000 km, fulfilling his goal of surpassing Stéphane by the time he turned 50.
After traveling across China, he had also exhausted his savings. Although he had achieved his dream, Huang Renyi’s cycling journey was far from over. In July 2003, after watching the Tour de France broadcast on CCTV, he got a new idea — if there's a Tour de France, why can't China have a "Tour de China"?
In February 2004, Huang Renyi initiated the "First Bicycle Tour de China Competition" in his own name. Together with two friends, he set off on another cross-country cycling trip, taking 215 days to travel from Sichuan through 17 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions.
Later, in 2008, he successfully organized the second Tour de China competition, earning himself the title "Ironman of Cycling Across China." At the end of September this year, Huang Renyi once again embarked on a journey across the country, passing through places like Jinan in Shandong, Nanjing in Jiangsu, and Shanghai. When talking about future plans, Huang Renyi said that as long as his health and finances allowed, he would not stop cycling across China in his lifetime. “Actually, my main goal now is to promote cycling as a sport. People don’t necessarily have to cycle across the country with me. They can start exercising, even just cycling one kilometer — it’ll do wonders for their health,” he said.