Student conquers roof of world
Cai Kaiyuan had long dreamed of taking of a bicycle tour to Tibet to mark the end of his three-year college education. But he never expected that the tour would be a death-defying trip that veritably changed his life.
Cai, 21, is an electrical engineering junior at Hunan Railway Professional Technology College in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province.
Enchanted by images of Tibet from TV and the media throughout his teenage years, in October, Cai decided that he would spend his winter holiday embarking on a bike tour to this legendary land.
“I figured that visiting Tibet on a bicycle would allow me to enjoy the scenery along the road and stop where I like,” Cai told the Global Times.
The Sichuan-Tibet motorway connects Chengdu, Sichuan Province and Lhasa and is about 2,150 kilometers’ long, snaking across 12 mountains and several major rivers and reaching an altitude of over 4,000 meters. It is known for its splendid views of snow-capped mountains, unspoiled forests, glaciers, valleys and gorges.
To prepare for the journey, Cai underwent an intensive training regimen from October to January. Almost every day, he went running in the morning and riding in the evening – about 50 kilometers per session, which still paled in comparison to his weekend jaunts, during which he would ride about 200 kilometers. Over National Holidays in October, Cai spent three days on his bike visiting Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a 500 kilometers’ ride away from his home in Zhuzhou – an excursion that gave him confidence to undertake his far more extensive Tibetan ride.