08 Aug Before the Via Francigena

Preface

Since my first cycling experience began five years ago, I have been fascinated by this extraordinary sport, which allows one to travel from a most intimate perspective while also challenging the limits of oneself.

In fact, I did not have any long-distance cycling experience before my first trip in 2014. It was when I was 19 years old, adhering to the spirit of the saying that “newborn calves are not afraid of tigers.”

Our three-person team, together with my university classmates Pang Cong and Wu Rui, dressed in casual clothes, departed from the Faculty of Engineering of Wuhan University on the morning of August 10, 2014. The maximum temperature that day was 37 degrees Celsius.

After most of our exposed bodies were tanned, and after our skin had been sunburned and begun to peel, we arrived at the first stop of this long-distance ride, which would eventually reach a total mileage of about 1,300 kilometers: the house of our college classmate Song Ziyuan, located in Xinzhou District of Wuhan, about 75 kilometers away from the place of departure.

On the first day of riding, it was not as tiring as I had presumed. However, there is no doubt that it could not be regarded as easy as pie.

In fact, when I think back to the scene of that first day of departure — crossing the busy city, then the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, and afterward the asphalt provincial road that seemed to have no end — I realized that the experience of long-distance cycling is unique, both materially and spiritually.

These trips, as well as their very existence, have become an appropriate proof of the legitimacy of my study career: majoring in philosophy, history, and religion, while also including the minor paths of computer science and photography.

It is they that allow me to stick to my own path in the tortuous choices of life. I have no doubt that without them, there would not exist my current ego.

Since I used GPS devices to record the beginning and end of my cycling trips, I have listed several records of them below. Therefore, even the occasions when I had to turn back because I had gone the wrong way were recorded as well.

Such a journey has been experienced once in China: from Wuhan to Qingdao, a journey of about 1,300 kilometers, which took 14 days.

Meanwhile, I have experienced two such journeys during my study abroad career in Italy: one long-distance journey and another relatively shorter one.

The first was a journey from Rome to Pescara, passing through the 160-kilometer Apennines mountain ridge. It started at five o’clock in the morning and took 18 hours without interruption.

The second journey was from Rome, following the Via Francigena pilgrimage route and finally arriving at Bergamo, with a total mileage of about 1,000 kilometers, which took 16 days in total.

This article has been written in the hope of mutual encouragement with you.

Best wishes,

YIN Renlong

August 8, 2019
San Felice del Molise, CB