Wang Yongli (right) and Huangfu Hua on their journey.
To many young people, cycling to Lhasa in Tibet is an unattainable dream. But for 54-year-old Wang Yongli and 55-year-old Huangfu Hua, cycling enthusiasts from Tianjin, this dream is gradually becoming a reality. Yesterday, news came from Chamdo Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region that they had traveled nearly 1,000 kilometers on a self-assembled tandem tricycle and officially entered the Tibet Autonomous Region. Today, they will climb over the 4,618-meter-high Yela Mountain. The low-carbon vision and technological innovation of the two travelers have become local legends.
Self-made tandem tricycle reaches speeds of nearly 50 km/h
In a phone interview, Huangfu Hua told reporters that she is retired, and her travel companion Wang Yongli is her cycling instructor and technical consultant. The tandem tricycle they are riding was assembled by Teacher Wang himself using steel pipes he purchased. “Some people fly to Tibet, others drive there, but we’ve chosen the low-carbon and eco-friendly route — cycling to Tibet. We work together as a team — I handle the brakes up front, and he manages the gear shifting at the back. Our coordination is seamless. When facing long stretches of uphill or downhill, Teacher Wang uses a microcomputer to calculate various parameters and adjusts the gear engagement to make the ride both labor-saving and safe. On good road conditions, we can reach speeds of nearly 50 km/h. These past few days, we've been cycling for over 10 hours every day,” Huangfu Hua said.
Adapting to the environment: riding to Qinghai Lake first
Wang Yongli and Huangfu Hua set off from Tianjin on June 9, first heading to Chengdu, then cycling into the Sichuan-Tibet route from there. “After all, we’re in our fifties. We were afraid our physical strength wouldn’t hold up if we cycled directly to Tibet from Tianjin,” Wang Yongli told reporters. “But we’ve trained for nearly a year for this long journey. To adapt to the harsh high-altitude environment of the Sichuan-Tibet route, we even specifically cycled to Qinghai Lake. Most of the fellow travelers we met on the way were young people. When they saw how old we were, they all gave us thumbs-up in admiration. Some even offered to trade their motorcycles for our tandem tricycle, but we didn’t want to swap. We want to cycle all the way to Lhasa on our own bike.”
Road blocked, detour of 600 km
“We encountered a problem — a section of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway was blocked due to landslides and mudflows, and reportedly even formed a barrier lake. Although repair crews are working at full capacity, it will still be some time before the road reopens,” Huangfu Hua said in the interview. Many fellow travelers staying at the same hostel chose to book chartered vehicles to return. But the duo didn’t want to leave with any regrets. After carefully studying the map, they decided to first backtrack to Shangri-La, then take a detour to Lhasa. “Even though this detour means an extra 600 kilometers, we’re determined to reach our destination.”