Zhou Ming (left) and Chen Feng (right) in front of the Potala Palace in Tibet. (Photo by Zhou Ming)

Two young men from Pingtan county, Fujian province, cycled 2,166 kilometers, crossing 14 mountains with a maximum height of 4,000 meters, on a 20-day cycling tour along the Sichuan-Tibet Road recently.

The pair – Chen Feng, a 32-year-old teacher, and Zhou Ming, a 27-year-old advertising company employee – sat down with the Pingtan Times on Friday, Sept 6, to share their reckless venture on the Tibetan Plateau.

The journey was inspired by the movie Kora that tells of a Taiwan youngster's bicycle ride from Southwest China's Yunnan province into Tibet, according to Chen.

He said he was infatuated with the variety of landscapes in the movie, including grassland, glacier, forest, lake and Tibetan dwellings.

"It was now or never for me at that time. Riding on the Sichuan-Tibetan Road has been my dream for many years," said Zhou, adding that it was the first time he traveled outside Fujian province, which is more than 2,000 kilometers away from Chengdu city, the starting point of the road.

During the six months of preparation, the two men had to work out a lot and recruit some more companions. They kicked off the journey in Chengdu on July 10 this year.

The first day was unlucky enough for the team as downpours kept battering them and a few even got muscle cramps. It gave them a glimpse of how much adversity they were going to face in the next three weeks.

"It was rough. We ate bad, lived poorly. Sometimes we had to crash at a construction site and eat hard bread since there were no restaurants available," Chen recalled.

It seemed there was not a single perfect day for them, as it was either sweltering or cold as hell on rainy days. "Sometimes we had to push the bikes forward instead of riding," said Zhou.

But there were inspiring things to help them hang in – doodles left by their predecessors.

"When you were on the edge of falling apart, you saw a striking doodle reading, 'Please keep it up. You've come so far after all'. That kind of feeling extinguished the exhaustion from your body," said Chen.

On another occasion, when the team was moving inside a tunnel without light, a military vehicle came close and switched its light on for them, which gave them an overwhelming warmth, he added.

The ascetic tour drew to an end after 20 days. When they looked back at the steep mountains behind, they were filled with the sense of achievement and got a better understanding of friendship.

"It is of great importance to get confidence and encouragement from your teammates during the over-2,000-kilometer journey. I will try to remember it whenever I encounter troubles in the future," said Chen.