Web3.0: A Five-Year-Delayed Ride in the Crypto World

Preface

This article mainly recounts my cycling trip to Guilin in May of this year. It describes my cycling experience and also shares the insights I gained during the journey, hoping to be helpful for everyone planning to undertake cycling trips in the future. I have shared some of my observations during those days, but they were quite scattered. Now, exactly half a month after finishing the ride, I have been busy with some affairs and delays. With some free time now, I am organizing and sharing my cycling experience this time.

Reasons for Cycling

In fact, this cycling trip was the second half of a journey I started six years ago. On January 7, 2017, while job hunting in Guangzhou for half a year, I found my work unsatisfactory and felt anxious and lost. After some reflection, I decided to return to Guizhou to seek new opportunities. The idea of cycling back to Guizhou came to mind at that time, both to relax and to travel thousands of miles, to exercise my muscles and bones, and to sharpen my mind. On the morning of January 7, 2017, I set out alone from Guangzhou. I was 22 years old. After seven days of cycling, I passed through Guangdong’s Sihui and Huaiji, entered Guangxi’s Hezhou, Fuchuan, and Gongcheng, with a detour through Hunan, then stayed in Yangshuo for a day and a half, and finally arrived in Guilin. It was the eve of the Chinese New Year, and Guilin’s Elephant Hill Park was preparing for the Spring Festival Gala, so I couldn’t see the full view of Elephant Hill. I only visited the Sun and Moon Twin Towers, the Seven Star Park, and the Ludi Cave. Because it was the cold winter, the weather in Guizhou was quite chilly. Considering my health, I decided to pause the ride and take the high-speed train back to Guizhou. I planned to complete the second half later when I had more time. Little did I expect that this second half would wait for over six years. Time flies so quickly! Fortunately, I was free this May, so I took leave to finish this long-awaited second half of the ride.

Travel

Day 1: On May 8, at 8:30 am, I set out from Zunyi city, heading directly southeast along Zunyi Avenue—Guizhou Provincial S205 Road—to Weng’an County Zhucang Town. I stayed overnight at a hotel, covering 85 kilometers. To take a shortcut, I went onto rural and village roads near Zhucang Town. In the village, I was chased by dogs—haha, it was quite interesting. However, riding on village roads significantly affected my schedule; otherwise, I could have reached Jiangjiehe Town in Weng’an County on the first day.

Day 2: Departed from Zhucang Town, cycling along S205 Road mostly downhill, crossing the Wu River, and experiencing the majestic scenery of the Wu River Gorge at Jiangjiehe Bridge. Then I headed toward Weng’an County seat, then turned onto G354 National Road. At 1:40 pm, I arrived at the Monkey Camp Meeting Site in Weng’an County. While visiting, I unexpectedly met a classmate from my graduate studies. After taking photos with him, I hurriedly continued along G354—then G243 National Road—toward Yuqing County.

On the way to Yuqing, it started to rain. I had to put on my raincoat and keep going. Due to limited time, I had to rush through the rain. Unexpectedly, near Yuqing, about 10 km from the county seat, I was eating noodles in Xiaosai Town when my bike fell. I didn’t notice at first. After finishing and getting back on, I felt the bike was very hard to ride. I looked down and saw that the rear tire was leaking air. Luckily, there was a bus nearby, so I took it to the county seat for accommodation. That day, I rode 105 km. Judging from this progress, I couldn’t reach Guilin within the limited time. That night, I wandered around Yuqing, bought a pair of sports pants, and went to bed silently.

Day 3: At 8:30 am, I arrived at a bicycle shop in Yuqing County, replaced the tire, bought a spare, and then headed toward Shibing County. As soon as I left Yuqing, I entered a 5 km uphill stretch along G243 and X818 County Road, passing through Niu Dachang Town after 70 minutes. Last night, I talked with a colleague who used to work in Yuqing. He recommended I try beef noodles in Niu Dachang. I had a bowl of noodles there—truly satisfying after climbing several kilometers of uphill. The broth was especially delicious. Niu Dachang belongs to Shibing County. I saw many wholesale shops selling Tai Zi Shen (ginseng), which is a major medicinal crop cultivated in Guizhou. After eating, I continued along X818 toward Shibing, and after a 5 km downhill, I reached Shibing County seat at 1:20 pm.

At the spot where I stopped to check the time, I recognized the hotel I had stayed at during a previous business trip. It felt so coincidental. I didn’t stay long in Shibing—just took a couple of photos—and then headed along G551 toward Zhenyuan (Zhenyuan Ancient Town). On the way, I met a brother from Maoming, Guangdong, who was cycling alone to Tibet. I met him on his tenth day of travel. His trip was more relaxed than mine—he was traveling from Guangdong through Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan (Chengdu), then into the Sichuan-Tibet route, aiming to reach Lhasa by late June. I admired him, and after wishing each other well, we parted ways. The route from Shibing to Zhenyuan was mostly along the river, quite flat. I arrived at Zhenyuan at 4 pm. On the way, I bought some oranges (they tasted great) and water, then continued along G242 toward Jincheng County. The road from Zhenyuan to Jincheng was the second most difficult part of this trip, with three uphill and downhill sections, crossing three mountains. I started at 4:30 pm and took 4 hours to cover 40 km. The first two mountains were smaller, so I could descend quickly after climbing. The third mountain involved a nearly 7 km uphill stretch. I finally reached the top around 7:40 pm, then descended for 11 km, which took nearly 40 minutes. The downhill was all steep, with no flat sections. Jincheng is a valley city, and I finally saw its night view.

Overall, Jincheng’s night scenery was very beautiful—more so than many other counties. During dinner, I asked the owner about Jincheng’s economy. I learned that it has little economic activity—mainly agriculture and commerce, with underdeveloped tourism and industry, and weak economic vitality. That day, I cycled 140 km—the longest single-day ride of this trip.

Day 5: Waking up in Jincheng, I followed G242 eastward toward Liping. The terrain from Jincheng to Liping was relatively gentle, making the ride easier. To relax, I didn’t rush. At noon, I arrived at Longli Ancient Town, one of Guizhou’s four major ancient towns (along with Zhenyuan, Qingyan, and Bing’an).

Longli, like Zhenyuan, is a Hui-style ancient town with many old buildings and alleys. However, Longli Ancient Town is poorly preserved. Due to limited living conditions and restrictions on new construction on farmland, many residents have demolished old houses and rebuilt on the original sites with reinforced concrete, losing the traditional architectural style. Many old buildings have been torn down, so preservation is lacking. I will upload a video of Longli Ancient Town on Bilibili for interested viewers.

There is a saying that Longli was the site of Wang Changling’s exile, where he developed agriculture and education, promoting local development and producing top scholars and officials. It is a historically significant place.

After spending an hour and a half in Longli, I continued along G242 toward Liping. Notably, Liping has an Airport Avenue, which is usually a broad, flat road—yet in Liping, it is full of mountain roads (feels like a routine). The slope is long and narrow, making it difficult to ride. I arrived at the Liping Meeting Site at 4:30 pm.

I visited the site, Mao Zedong’s former residence, and the Soviet Bank, all of which have historical significance. The Liping Meeting Site is in Qiaojie Ancient Town, also Hui-style architecture, quite large and well-preserved. It compares favorably with Zhenyuan, except for lacking a spiritual river.

After a quick snack and a brief walk, I left at 5:15 pm, heading toward Jizhou County’s Outuan Township. Thanks to the flat terrain, I rode along Provincial Road 356 at about 15 km/h—still quite fast despite G365 being under construction. Near Jiepai Village in Pingcha Town, I saw a “Guizhou—Hunan” provincial boundary sign and took photos. This marked my first step out of Guizhou into a new province, evoking a sense of “hometown behind me.”

Entering Hunan from Guizhou, the terrain was mostly gentle downhill. With my legs feeling good, I maintained over 30 km/h for 40 minutes, greatly shortening my travel time. I covered 42 km from Liping Meeting Site to Outuan Township in 2.5 hours. I thought the intersection of the national and provincial roads would have accommodations, but surprisingly, there were none—only one inn, which was closed. After a quick meal, I went to the local police station to set up my tent in the yard. The township government and police station shared the same yard. Due to safety concerns, the deputy mayor advised me to find a hotel in the next town (Xinchang Town, Jizhou County). I understood, but felt something was off. Under his “kind” advice, I left Outuan Township at 9 pm, heading toward Xinchang Town along Hunan Provincial Road X087. After riding 7 km in the dark, I arrived at Xinchang Town and checked into a hotel. The day’s ride was 127 km. After packing up, I went to sleep around midnight. The hotel was really poor—very basic—but at least it was safe.

Day 6: Due to a late night, I woke at 9 am, packed up, and left at 9:30 am, heading toward the Tongdao Meeting Site. I first followed X087, then turned onto a rural and village road, which was about 10 km shorter than the main route but with more and steeper slopes and fewer people. I experienced three more uphill and downhill sections on this rural road, making it the third difficult segment of the trip. After crossing the last hill, I faced a 7 km downhill stretch, which was faster and shorter. However, the uphill was very exhausting—preferably, I’d rather have 10 km of flat road than 5 km of mountain road!

Along this route, I visited Dui Juan Cao Tang, a site used by the Red Army after the Tongdao Conference, and then followed Hunan X079 to the Tongdao Meeting Site (Gongcheng Academy). After lunch, I toured the site.

The Tongdao Meeting Site (Gongcheng Academy) has two side rooms with inscriptions on the columns: “Wealthy families should pursue education, poor families should find ways to pursue education,” and “Elementary graduates must go to middle school, middle school graduates must go to university.” These were probably the first lessons in education at that time—very meaningful and thought-provoking. It should be a compulsory lesson.

After visiting, I continued along G209 toward Congjiang and Longsheng. I didn’t stop in Congjiang, just took a photo of the county. I then arrived at Longsheng, famous for its terraced fields. Because I was very hungry, I bought half a jin of sunflower seeds and ate while riding. After passing Longsheng, there was an 8 km uphill section, which took me an hour and a half to climb. It was all uphill with no flat sections. Then, a 5 km downhill followed, covering 15 km in 1 hour and 40 minutes. Uphill is tough, downhill is fun—though only for a few seconds! After finishing the downhill, I reached a gentle area only about 50 km from Guilin, with some downhill sections remaining. I maintained about 15 km/h and arrived in Lingui District, Guilin, at 7 pm. From there, I cycled 10 km to a hotel near Elephant Hill Park in Xiangshan District. This was the longest riding day—160 km—and the shortest rest day. I was exhausted.

In Longsheng and Guilin, I noticed that most women ride electric bikes, whereas in Guizhou, most women do not. This might reflect economic differences or environmental factors.

Days 8 and 9: On the eighth day, I didn’t cycle but shipped my bike by train back home. I spent the day visiting the Elephant Trunk Hill, which I had long dreamed of seeing, and also explored Wangcheng Duxiu Peak Scenic Area. In the evening, I strolled through Dongxi Alley, listened to street performers, and enjoyed the riverbank scenery with singers performing along the Li River—very relaxing. On the ninth morning, I tried a bowl of Guilin rice noodles costing 5 yuan—surprisingly, it tasted just like the 12-yuan chain store version. I recommend trying the cheaper one next time. Then, I took the bus back home.

Thus, the seven-day cycling trip and two days of sightseeing concluded. I covered 830 km in seven days. If not for the tight schedule, I wouldn’t have pushed so hard. The route was quite challenging with steep slopes, but I visited many scenic spots along the way, making it worthwhile. Interestingly, this route unexpectedly became a “Red Route” retracing the Long March, which surprised me!

Some Experiences

1. Route selection: If there are no special reasons, try to choose national or provincial roads along rivers, as they are relatively flat and easier to ride without exhausting yourself. If you must cross mountains, prefer national and provincial roads because they have gentler slopes and are safer. Avoid county, township, or village roads unless unavoidable or with significant benefits (such as shorter time, distance, less steep slopes, less muscle fatigue, safety, etc.).

2. Accommodation: If not in a hurry, plan to stay in county towns each day—shorter distances, more time, less fatigue—and because some towns lack hotels. If staying in a rural town, check local options before booking. If only one hotel exists, you have no choice; if multiple, you can choose. Rural accommodations are often poor—shared bathrooms and toilets, beds possibly not cleaned—so don’t be picky if options are limited. Safety comes first. Having a place to stay is better than camping outside, unless traveling with friends.

3. Equipment: Bring tools for fixing and replacing tires, spare tubes, and a repair kit. If camping, carry a tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad. Rain gear is essential—use it to persist through rain until reaching shelter.

4. Asking for directions: Never believe that there are no slopes ahead. For cars, roads may seem flat, but for bicycles, even a 2 km gentle slope (less than 10 degrees) can be challenging, especially in mountainous or hilly regions like Guizhou or Jiangnan.

Reflections

1. Thanks to the rule of law society, we now have a safe environment for solo cycling. In earlier times, such solo rides would have been unimaginable.

2. Having time and health to explore our country’s magnificent mountains and rivers broadens our horizons. It helps us understand what the world outside our long-term living environment looks like. There are many details I haven’t mentioned, such as regional industries and folk customs, to avoid making this too lengthy.

3. This ride was, in a meaningful way, completing the unfinished journey and fulfilling my wish to see Elephant Trunk Hill. Since “Guilin’s scenery is the best under heaven” entered textbooks, Elephant Trunk Hill has been etched in my mind since childhood. I must see it in my lifetime.