Cyclists ride on their way to Qinghai Lake in Xihai Town, Haibei Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
At 7: 30 on weekdays, Johnny put on his helmet, tight cycling clothes and riding gloves, and came downstairs from the fifth floor with his newly bought road bike. The "speed and passion" between him and his riders will begin to be staged again.
Since last year’s Cityride in into the pit, he has ridden more than 5,000 kilometers, two or three times a week, with a distance ranging from 30 to 40 kilometers to 70 to 80 kilometers. Johnny felt that after living in Shanghai for half a century, he found that there were so many places suitable for cycling in Shanghai. Feel the pulse of a city by green riding.
He is 1.8 meters tall. Before riding, like many middle-aged people, he was weak, puffy, insomnia and dreamy, and his body often hurt inexplicably. In order to ride, he began to change his schedule. In the past, he basically went to bed at one or two, but now he must go to bed at ten o’clock. Regular life, coupled with moderate cycling exercise, made him lose 20 pounds in a year, and those inexplicable pains disappeared, making him look young and full of vitality.
Young people in the cycling group have said that this 50-year-old uncle is really amazing, and climbing is faster than young people. After all, there are many people who ride on a whim, but not many who can persevere. Mike in the cycling group said that cycling is becoming a new social way for young people. A large part of the reason why he loves cycling is that he can make like-minded friends. Johnny, the uncle, was "picked up" into the group when he was brushing circles on the road. I didn’t expect the two men who were 20 years old to become each other’s senior riding companions.
"There are more and more people riding bicycles, the bicycles are getting more and more advanced, and the riding equipment is getting more and more cool. Many people don’t really love this sport, but just want to show off. As soon as some cycling groups enter, they have to hang up their equipment, bask in their riding distance and break the wind, and inexplicably form various chains of contempt. Our group of hundreds of people is very pure, from 15-year-old high school students to 50-year-old uncles, they don’t compete for equipment, they don’t just emphasize riding speed, but stick to cycling as a healthy lifestyle. The same three views make us healthier, happier and more durable. "
According to the data of China Cycling Association, there are about 6 million cycling enthusiasts in China, and over 100 million people ride regularly. In 2023, the total annual cycling mileage of the country exceeded 110 billion kilometers, which is equivalent to everyone completing eight 10-kilometer rides. Cityride has surpassed citywalk and become a popular outdoor sport TOP1.
Who are riding?
As the most familiar means of transportation in Chinese, bicycles have never been so popular as they are today. After the explosion of "Citywalk", "Cityride" took its place and became a more popular fashion movement and lifestyle leisure way.
There are about 2.8 million+notes when you enter "cycling" in an App that emphasizes lifestyle, and the number of related entries and notes such as "cycling route", "cycling equipment", "cycling wear" and "cycling to lose weight" is also 100,000+.The high-frequency keywords associated with bicycles are "healing", "decompression", "making friends" health "and" losing weight ".
More and more people began to give up driving in a panic, giving up the subway crowded like sardines, and returning to riding bicycles to meet their commuting needs, and then began to use cycling as a sport and a social way to meet their various needs.
Mike, born in 1992, works in a hospital in the center of Shanghai. The traffic jam made him regard cycling as his daily commute. Every day after work, he will go home along Suzhou River by bicycle. At a distance of 10 kilometers, it takes 40 minutes to ride a bike. After 20 traffic lights, this 40 minutes is his exclusive "empty time". "It was really not easy at first. I have to overcome my inner burnout and say’ Don’t give up’ to myself every day." With the adaptation of road conditions and physical fitness, he began to gradually enjoy the state of being empty when riding a bike. "During this time, I didn’t think about anything and focused on riding a bike, and those negative energies were’ kicked off’ bit by bit with the mechanized trampling action."
Until one day, a cyclist on a road bike whizzed past him, and the feeling of being "exploded" aroused Mike’s desire to win or lose. He went to Decathlon and bought the first road bike in his life. Since then, riding Mike is full of expectations for getting off work. He unlocks the new route to go home and enjoys riding with friends after work and at night. "I can experience different scenery on the way from home and the company. The key is that cycling really makes me thin into a flash of lightning. "
Echo is a white cyclist. As a journalist, she has the opportunity to travel to different corners of the city every day. Recently, she began to ride a second-hand Trek Mountain bike through every interview site that can be reached by bike. In her view, cycling is a sport suitable for both social cattle and social fear. "First of all, the participation threshold for cycling is very low. Most sports need someone to cooperate with you. There are more than 20 people in a football match, and at least 6 people are needed for half-time basketball. Even table tennis requires 2 people to play. The profession of journalists is used to fighting alone. It seems that nature and riding are perfectly matched, and one person and one car can ride freely. "
Of course, on weekends, friends go together, ride beautiful bicycles, punch cards and take photos in online celebrity stores, not only can you enjoy the pleasure of riding, but you can also meet with your riders for afternoon tea or supper after riding. Even people who didn’t know each other before may become close friends because of a ride. Ike said that in this scene, cycling is a social way. Whether you are a social cow or a social fear, you can find pleasure in this sport.
Johnny thinks cycling is for exercise. "I ride three or four days a week, a total of two or three hundred kilometers." He feels that cycling is a short-term and efficient exercise. "Riding for an hour is about 30 kilometers, which can consume more than 1,000 calories. If you are running or in the gym, you may consume half the calories." After riding for more than a year, he obviously felt that his leg strength and cardiopulmonary function were slowly improving. "Cycling will not cause sports injuries to the knee and ankle joints. If I usually play basketball or walk a long way every day, it will make my knees uncomfortable, but I ride a bicycle for dozens of kilometers and my knees are completely uncomfortable. " What makes him even more addicted is that when riding for a long distance, "riding can enter a state of meditation, relaxed, free and carefree."
Johnny said that one day in September last year, he had a sudden impulse to go to his son’s school by bike. This flat road bike was originally prepared for my son to go to high school. As a result, my son was admitted to a boarding high school, and he usually had no chance to ride a bike. "This bicycle is specially customized by the owner of a cycling club according to his son’s height of 1.88 meters. It has a light weight and a 10-speed transmission, so it is very easy to ride. This bike ride to my son’s school is the first time I’ve ridden it for a long trip. From home to my son’s middle school, there will be several high bridges in the middle, and the road is not smooth. I push and push hard, feeling the same speed as flying. In this way, I completed the 16.8 km cycling, which took 1 hour. This speed is already very fast for me. When I came back, I slowed down, not because I didn’t want to ride at high speed, but because I couldn’t. My legs were too sour. But it was this experience that made me like cycling. Of course, at first, it was all leisure riding, but this year it began to break through itself slowly, riding more and more kilometers and getting faster and faster. The feeling of sweating is very cool, which makes people feel that the wind is full of freedom. "
On the open Riverside Greenway in Pudong, a bicycle lane with a length of nearly 24 kilometers is surrounded by green trees, and Jiang Jingyi has become a "riding holy land" for cyclists.
The road to upgrading
When Johnny and Mike met, Mike had just bought a Xidesheng A350 from the idle fish, and they would go out for a ride two or three times a week. At the beginning, leisure riding was the main thing, and what really changed them was an experience during Labor Day this May.
On May 2nd this year, Johnny and Mike decided to take a long-distance ride, and the destination was Dianshan Lake in Qingpu. On the way back. They rode slowly along the Huqingping Highway. After crossing Zhujiajiao on Huqingping Highway, a female rider quickly passed by them. The female rider, almost prone on the bike, pedaled her thick thighs quickly with high frequency.
Johnny and Mike’s winning and losing hearts were activated at that moment, and they were determined to chase the female rider. Although they had ridden sixty or seventy kilometers at that time, their legs were not as light as when they came, but when they talked about chasing beautiful women, they immediately felt that their legs were full of strength. The two began to catch up with each other at an accelerated speed. The female rider in front might know that someone was chasing after her, and her legs swung faster, showing no sign of slowing down at all.
Several times, they were left behind by female riders, and they couldn’t see her back at all. When they arrived at the next traffic light, they found that "the man was still in the dim light." Just when they thought they could catch up with her, the green light came on and she rode away quickly.
In this way, they chased Bailian Outlets from Zhujiajiao until they could never find her back. "According to the watch on our bicycle, our average speed reached 25 kilometers per hour when chasing, so the speed of this female rider must have exceeded 25, maybe 28. In the process of catching up with this female rider, we are already studying how to ride faster. "
After improving their riding posture and pedaling rate, they began to pursue the advanced road of speed. Of course, the first step on the road to advancement is to change to a more advanced car. Johnny bought a new car worth 8,000 yuan, while Mike upgraded directly to a carbon fiber bicycle worth tens of thousands of yuan. Before, Mike rode casually, until he bought a professional cycling suit, only to find that the wind resistance was really reduced a lot.
However, both of them have repeatedly stressed that "everyone wants to buy a good bicycle, which is the same as buying a car. Chery QQ can drive, Tesla can drive, and Ferrari can drive. Although any car can be ridden, it is definitely a point price. The more expensive the bicycle, the better its performance and the stronger its psychological satisfaction. " For young Mike, a good car is a kind of "social currency" on some occasions, which can reflect his own strength.
In fact, any sport may burn money in the end. In-depth professional cycling requires not only buying cycling equipment such as bicycles and meters, but also wearing products such as shoes, clothing, socks and helmets. With a little matching, it will cost thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan.
Wang Laoqi runs a cycling club in Chongming, which not only assembles and refits all kinds of bicycles, but also holds various cycling activities regularly. In his view, it is true that some riders’ fun comes from upgrading and transforming vehicles. "From the perspective of the overall domestic bicycle market, the price range of high, medium and low-end cycling equipment is relatively large. The price of a bicycle can range from 500-800 yuan in the middle and low end to more than 100,000 yuan in the high end. Cyclists and riders can choose cycling equipment according to their own economic situation and consume rationally."
“高端装备主要是为竞技目的打造的，未必适合每一个骑行爱好者。在车辆选择方面，初学者和骑行经验较少的参与者前期可以选择共享单车，或者购买初级款山地自行车、小轮车、城市综合自行车；已经充分掌握骑行技巧后，再选择专业公路自行车或专业山地自行车。”王老骑建议，骑行装备量力而行即可，骑什么车其实并没有那么重要，人们更应该关注骑行本身带来的快乐，而不应掉进不断提升装备的“陷阱”之中。“我的俱乐部中也有很多骑普通自行车的中老年成员，他们同样可以挑战长距离的公路骑行。”
“Cityride”热潮持续
北京天安门附近路口四面八方涌来的骑行者。
实际上，骑行热正在席卷大江南北。“夜骑长安街”从去年“爆火”到现在，这股骑行风尚的热潮仍未褪去。骑行，这一曾被视为寻常通勤方式或悠闲周末消遣的活动，正以势不可挡之势晋升为2024年户外运动的顶流。
According to the latest data of China Cycling Association, the cycling population in China has increased by nearly 30% compared with the same period of last year, and the total cycling mileage has doubled. With the continuous improvement of urban infrastructure and the continuous improvement of air quality, a large number of bike-sharing have provided convenience for cycling, making cycling the first choice for more outdoor sports enthusiasts.
Not only are there more and more people riding at night, but the number of cycling enthusiasts in the morning is also surging, and a variety of "Cityride" routes are frequently marked. Relevant data show that cycling has become the top three popular sports in the network exposure index, and cycling clubs and online cycling communities have sprung up. In a year, there are more than 5,000 bicycle races at all levels-30 km circle race, 100 km ring race, 300 km endurance race, as well as 1,200 km devil riding and triathlon. There is always one for you.
After upgrading their equipment, Mike and Johnny quickly attended the bicycle riding conference held in Chongming Island in May this year. The cycling team is divided into two lines: 200 km and 120 km and a half, passing through forests, villages, wetlands, lakes and other different landforms, which makes people fully feel comfortable and carefree riding on a world-class ecological island. Every weekend after that, they will participate in almost all kinds of cycling activities.
Mike admits that he is very keen to participate in cycling activities organized by various cycling clubs. He said that he likes to be lively. It is easy to release pressure by sharing bicycle modification skills, "breaking the wind" and sharing the beautiful food along the way with his riders during riding. "However, urban roads are not particularly suitable for cycling, and they will go to the suburbs or other places to ride. Generally, cars or buses take everyone and bicycles to the suburbs of Shanghai or relatively empty areas such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang, such as Qingpu District and Chongming District. There are cycling lanes and green roads specially guided by the local government. 200 kilometers, it can be ridden in almost 6 hours. " From Decathlon RC100 to carbon fiber bicycles worth tens of thousands of yuan, Mike completed the upgrading of riding equipment. Because of a collision with a battery car, he turned outdoor riding at night into riding platform practice. "Although the car didn’t suffer too much loss, I don’t think road riding can improve my level. The practice of riding platform is more professional and improves the level faster. I often connect with my friends to ride races now, refreshing my distance and speed again and again, and I don’t rule out participating in more races next. "
Mike’s transformation actually reflects a series of challenges behind the cycling craze to some extent. How should cities increase infrastructure construction and optimize the riding environment? How to improve riding safety, improve relevant laws and regulations, and protect the rights and interests of cyclists and other people on the road (pedestrians and runners)? How can enterprises and clubs use the power of science and technology to innovate riding products and services and enhance the riding experience? How can society guide more people to participate in cycling and promote the development of cities in a more humane and sustainable direction?
There is no doubt that cycling has not only changed our way of life, shaped a new urban landscape, but also outlined a beautiful picture of our future life with its green, healthy and social characteristics. Only by solving the above problems can the cycling craze lead us to a healthier, more environmentally friendly and more harmonious future. Reporter | Chen Bing
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