Post by RDMC-Butch on Aug 10, 2008 21:22:27 GMT -5
Retirees getting a rush from speed
Shanghai Daily 2008-8-11
THE wind in their faces, the surging bike motors, the racing, heart-stopping scenery - these are not thrills reserved for the young. Four retired "Wild Ones" take to the road, writes Zhang Qian.
Speed is often associated with the young and the restless, and the reckless, of course. But youth hasn't cornered the market on getting a rush out of speed or a kick out of a motorcycle.
Four retirees - three ex-army officers and a former high school physics teacher - have revved up their retirement years by touring China on motorcycles.
Over two years, the four neighbors in Beijing have ridden to the Tibet Autonomous Region, Hainan Island and Yunnan Province.
Next on the agenda is a trip next spring to the Taklamakan Desert in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Wherever they go, they visit historic sites and battlefields.
"Getting on a roaring motorcycle is just like mounting a horse. I'm ready to ride, free and rakish," says 62-year-old Shi Xiajiang, a former People's Liberation Army officer.
His Haojie 125 is his favorite means of transport these days; he even considers his motorbike a "good friend" and goes almost everywhere on two wheels.
As an officer, he used to drive to work, and he first got on a bike when he was about to retire in his 50s. He was hooked.
His three road buddies are ex-officers Wang Junfu and Du Jianxin, both 55 years old, and 64-year-old Liang Hanyuan, who has been fighting cancer for six years.
"As long as I can walk by myself, I consider myself a healthy man. I can ride," says Liang who started biking in his 50s. Before all four met up, he already had ridden to Tibet and last year he traveled to Heilongjiang Province in the far northwest.
In this road gang, Wang was the magnet, the most experienced. He's the guide. Wang fell in love with bikes in the early 1980s. Because of work, he only rode to places relatively close to the capital. When he retired, however, he undertook longer journeys and has visited every province on the Chinese mainland.
"I traveled widely on work trips by plane or rail before I retired," says Wang. "But it was all a blur. Now I revisit every place in my leisure time on my motorcycle, taking in all the beautiful scenes."
Wang's amazing trips stirred the interest of his three neighbors, all guys who love challenges. Du, Liang and Shi joined Wang in 2006. They all ride Haojie 125s.
They agreed on an ambitious plan - riding to Lhasa, capital of Tibet. Yet as this would be Shi's first big trip and the first time the four rode together, they decided Tibet was too distant and dangerous. They put it off. Instead they drilled on shorter trips in the region, then decided tropical Hainan would be a "dress rehearsal."
They journeyed through Hebei and Hubei provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and tripped in Hainan. As they passed mountains, rivers and fields, they sometimes stopped to enjoy the scenes. Once they leapt off their bikes, running like mad in a beautiful meadow.
"I've never felt so warmly embraced by Mother Nature," says Shi. "It was like communicating, touching and battling with nature for the very first time in my life."
After the four bikers completed the 7,500-kilometer Hainan trip in 28 days, they had cemented their partnership, developed their road skills, on-the-road repair skills, and they knew they could make it to Tibet.
"Who says a 60-year-old man should just stay at home and take care of his grand-children," asks Shi. "The age of 60 is a man's freest time. It's the golden age to take on any challenge."
They made it to Tibet and back in 48 days. They traveled through Hebei and Shanxi provinces, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Gansu and Qinghai provinces on the way. They didn't stick to the beaten path and the tarmac but chose small roads, dirt roads - and places where there was almost no road - to get closer to the people and nature.
All four had spills, especially on the way from Yumen to Dunhuang in Gansu.
"We traveled at less than 20 kilometers an hour on the rough dirt road," says Shi whose bike was damaged after several spills. They stopped to repair it.
The toughest part of the trip was in the Hoh Xil nature preserve for the Tibetan antelope. Riding from dawn to dusk at more than 5,000 meters above sea level was a feat of endurance and all suffered altitude sickness.
"Everyone suffered. Two of us couldn't fall asleep at night when we entered the Tang-ku-la Mountains. We were vomiting, moaning and had terrible headaches," recalls Shi.
Wind, snow and hail greeted them the next day, battering them, soaking them, turning them numb and reducing visibility. They rode slowly, shivering in their down gear under their raincoats.
"We joked that if someone died on the trip, he should be buried at the site. The great journey would continue - family would be informed afterwards," says Shi.
When the sun finally broke through and the Tibetan antelope and Mongolian wild asses capered into sight, the men shouted for happiness that they had survived to witness a scene from paradise.
Shi wrote in his diary: "I am riding a motorbike on mountains 4,000 meters above sea level. Are there any roads that I cannot reach in this world?"
These days Shi and Wang are in Heilongjiang Province - but they're going by car because Shi injured his leg in a spill in Yunnan last year. His family begged him to stay off the bike for a while and let his leg recover.
This may be a "dress rehearsal" for another bike odyssey.
Meanwhile, Shi and his friends are planning on the Taklamakan Desert. Liang, the cancer patient, is looking forward to it. Of the four, he suffered least from altitude sickness. "I didn't hinder the others a bit," he says. "I'm ready to go again."
And Shi is revving up.
"Many people insist that riding a motorcycle is a young people's game," he says. "But to me, the excitement of riding a motorcycle can restore my youth."
Shanghai Daily 2008-8-11
THE wind in their faces, the surging bike motors, the racing, heart-stopping scenery - these are not thrills reserved for the young. Four retired "Wild Ones" take to the road, writes Zhang Qian.
Speed is often associated with the young and the restless, and the reckless, of course. But youth hasn't cornered the market on getting a rush out of speed or a kick out of a motorcycle.
Four retirees - three ex-army officers and a former high school physics teacher - have revved up their retirement years by touring China on motorcycles.
Over two years, the four neighbors in Beijing have ridden to the Tibet Autonomous Region, Hainan Island and Yunnan Province.
Next on the agenda is a trip next spring to the Taklamakan Desert in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Wherever they go, they visit historic sites and battlefields.
"Getting on a roaring motorcycle is just like mounting a horse. I'm ready to ride, free and rakish," says 62-year-old Shi Xiajiang, a former People's Liberation Army officer.
His Haojie 125 is his favorite means of transport these days; he even considers his motorbike a "good friend" and goes almost everywhere on two wheels.
As an officer, he used to drive to work, and he first got on a bike when he was about to retire in his 50s. He was hooked.
His three road buddies are ex-officers Wang Junfu and Du Jianxin, both 55 years old, and 64-year-old Liang Hanyuan, who has been fighting cancer for six years.
"As long as I can walk by myself, I consider myself a healthy man. I can ride," says Liang who started biking in his 50s. Before all four met up, he already had ridden to Tibet and last year he traveled to Heilongjiang Province in the far northwest.
In this road gang, Wang was the magnet, the most experienced. He's the guide. Wang fell in love with bikes in the early 1980s. Because of work, he only rode to places relatively close to the capital. When he retired, however, he undertook longer journeys and has visited every province on the Chinese mainland.
"I traveled widely on work trips by plane or rail before I retired," says Wang. "But it was all a blur. Now I revisit every place in my leisure time on my motorcycle, taking in all the beautiful scenes."
Wang's amazing trips stirred the interest of his three neighbors, all guys who love challenges. Du, Liang and Shi joined Wang in 2006. They all ride Haojie 125s.
They agreed on an ambitious plan - riding to Lhasa, capital of Tibet. Yet as this would be Shi's first big trip and the first time the four rode together, they decided Tibet was too distant and dangerous. They put it off. Instead they drilled on shorter trips in the region, then decided tropical Hainan would be a "dress rehearsal."
They journeyed through Hebei and Hubei provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and tripped in Hainan. As they passed mountains, rivers and fields, they sometimes stopped to enjoy the scenes. Once they leapt off their bikes, running like mad in a beautiful meadow.
"I've never felt so warmly embraced by Mother Nature," says Shi. "It was like communicating, touching and battling with nature for the very first time in my life."
After the four bikers completed the 7,500-kilometer Hainan trip in 28 days, they had cemented their partnership, developed their road skills, on-the-road repair skills, and they knew they could make it to Tibet.
"Who says a 60-year-old man should just stay at home and take care of his grand-children," asks Shi. "The age of 60 is a man's freest time. It's the golden age to take on any challenge."
They made it to Tibet and back in 48 days. They traveled through Hebei and Shanxi provinces, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Gansu and Qinghai provinces on the way. They didn't stick to the beaten path and the tarmac but chose small roads, dirt roads - and places where there was almost no road - to get closer to the people and nature.
All four had spills, especially on the way from Yumen to Dunhuang in Gansu.
"We traveled at less than 20 kilometers an hour on the rough dirt road," says Shi whose bike was damaged after several spills. They stopped to repair it.
The toughest part of the trip was in the Hoh Xil nature preserve for the Tibetan antelope. Riding from dawn to dusk at more than 5,000 meters above sea level was a feat of endurance and all suffered altitude sickness.
"Everyone suffered. Two of us couldn't fall asleep at night when we entered the Tang-ku-la Mountains. We were vomiting, moaning and had terrible headaches," recalls Shi.
Wind, snow and hail greeted them the next day, battering them, soaking them, turning them numb and reducing visibility. They rode slowly, shivering in their down gear under their raincoats.
"We joked that if someone died on the trip, he should be buried at the site. The great journey would continue - family would be informed afterwards," says Shi.
When the sun finally broke through and the Tibetan antelope and Mongolian wild asses capered into sight, the men shouted for happiness that they had survived to witness a scene from paradise.
Shi wrote in his diary: "I am riding a motorbike on mountains 4,000 meters above sea level. Are there any roads that I cannot reach in this world?"
These days Shi and Wang are in Heilongjiang Province - but they're going by car because Shi injured his leg in a spill in Yunnan last year. His family begged him to stay off the bike for a while and let his leg recover.
This may be a "dress rehearsal" for another bike odyssey.
Meanwhile, Shi and his friends are planning on the Taklamakan Desert. Liang, the cancer patient, is looking forward to it. Of the four, he suffered least from altitude sickness. "I didn't hinder the others a bit," he says. "I'm ready to go again."
And Shi is revving up.
"Many people insist that riding a motorcycle is a young people's game," he says. "But to me, the excitement of riding a motorcycle can restore my youth."