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Traffic jams are common. People jams are not uncommon either. But have you ever seen bicycle jams in the middle of the night?

This summer, at night, more than a hundred bicycles pass by every minute on Beijing's brightly lit Chang'an Avenue, with all kinds of shared bicycles, road bikes, and portable folding bikes passing through.

△Young people riding at night. (Photo/Visual China)

There are endless jokes on social media platforms, such as "Beijing's cycling atmosphere is unprecedented". It is no exaggeration to say that Chang'an Avenue in Beijing at night may be the place with the most cyclists in China.

In fact, it is not just Beijing. The trend of city riding, which is only feasible for those with strong buttocks, has already swept across the country.

01

Riding the wind,

Finally it reached Chang'an Street

When searching for "Beijing Night Cycling" on a certain book, there are more than 30,000 related notes shared, and "Beijing Cycling Route Recommendation Chaoyang" has more than 1.37 million notes, which shows how popular it is.

△ Judging from the number of notes posted, "Night Riding" is very popular. (Photo/Xiaohongshu screenshot)

The daytime is too busy, too hot, and too sunny. In the middle of the night, when the tourists disperse and the streets are empty, it is a limited time for migrant workers to enjoy the capital alone. Night riding has become the most suitable pastime for migrant workers in Beijing, and it is also a social way to relieve stress.

Chang'an Avenue is the preferred route for night cyclists. The bicycle lanes here are wide and the road conditions are good, so basically "anyone who can ride a bicycle can ride it." But because of this, this route is almost always congested with traffic and bicycles every night.

Xiaoxin and her boyfriend, who were spending Chinese Valentine's Day in Beijing, made a special trip to experience night riding. They came out of Wangfujing subway station, each scanned a shared bicycle, and planned to ride along Chang'an Avenue to Tiananmen West, then go north along South Changjie and North Changjie, go around the outer perimeter of the Forbidden City, return to Donghuamen, and finally end the trip at Tianan Building.

△Xiao Xin's planned night cycling route in Beijing. (Photo/provided by the interviewee)

In Xiaoxin's imagination, night riding in Beijing should be: moving slowly and leisurely, enjoying the night scenery alone in the breeze. However, the actual night riding is: the road is closed and only one side can pass. When they have to wait at least three times for a traffic light, they are just annoyed and call themselves the big idiots who have to endure the hardship.

It took them two hours to travel a short distance of six kilometers. In fact, they thought about quitting halfway, but along the way, there were not only traffic controls, but also more and more traffic. They could not easily turn back and could only ride farther and farther in the middle.

Whether they are Beijing citizens or tourists from far away, whether they are riding expensive bicycles of experienced cyclists or shared bicycles rented for fun, they can only be lined up crookedly for several hundred meters and move forward slowly.

△The "traffic jam" during night cycling in Beijing. (Photo/screenshot from Xiaohongshu)

After going through untold hardships, they finally arrived in front of Tiananmen Square. Xiaoxin had just taken out her mobile phone and had not yet had time to turn on the camera when the conscientious policeman urged her to move forward and not to stay there.

The patrol officers who appeared about every 50 meters held their horns tightly in their hands and kept saying, "Bicyclists, please do not stop to take pictures and keep the road clear."

△ Staff on duty to maintain order at night. (Photo/Xiaohongshu screenshot)

If you ride a little slower, you will get the contempt and disgust of your neighbors, and you can hear people quarreling over crowded places and scrambling for seats. Every time you pass a turning, it is as lively as the ticket checking scene for the Spring Festival.

"Many people know about night cycling, but I didn't expect there would be so many." Rather than cycling, it's often even slower than walking. To be more precise, cycling can only be forced to become gliding.

I couldn't ride, I really couldn't ride at all. The two people who originally planned to ride for a short while to enjoy the night view of Beijing at around 11 o'clock, returned to the hotel with stiff hands raised and collapsed, and the clock hands had already passed 2 o'clock in the morning.

△People riding bicycles on Chang'an Avenue in Beijing. (Photo/TuChong Creative)

"I finally made the trip, but in the end, I couldn't capture anything well except the crowds of people and some afterimages of buildings. There wasn't a single image worth taking." If you want to follow the trend and take photos, she said there is no need to go; if you want to relieve stress, there are more cycling routes to choose from in Beijing.

02

City Walk is popular.

Now to city ride

There are endless ways to explore the city. When the city walk, which allows you to go wherever you want, can no longer satisfy everyone's need to free their minds, the free city ride has become the next level of travel.

Meituan Bike data shows that during this summer, the total time users spend riding at night in Beijing between 18:00 and 22:00 increased by 15% compared to the same period last year, and the popularity has soared.

In addition to Beijing, the Huangpu River in Shanghai, the West Lake in Hangzhou, and the Gulangyu Island in Xiamen have all become popular "cycling destinations". It can be said that every city has its own classic cycling routes, which firmly grasp the young people.

△Beijing Shougang Bridge at sunset. (Photo/TuChong Creative)

If working people ride to and from get off work purely for commuting and convenience, then people who travel ride more for a novel experience and to relieve stress.

Suzy, an urban white-collar worker, likes to use her rare vacation time to travel around a city by bike. She used to like to measure the scenery with her feet, but now she is more accustomed to exploring the scenery with the wheels of a bicycle.

"Work is tiring enough, and I don't want to torture myself by walking when I go out to play. When I relax, I just want to be comfortable." In her eyes, the size of the city seems to have been greatly reduced because of cycling. She can stop when she wants and walk when she wants.

In the past year, she has been to Yinchuan, Chengdu, Haikou and other cities, spending three or two days to leisurely travel in every place she wants to stay. She does not pursue speed in cycling, but not being restricted by time and space, and her main purpose is to be free and happy.

△People riding bicycles on the Tianfu Greenway in Chengdu. (Photo/TuChong Creative)

Away from the high-rise buildings, there are beautiful views everywhere. Cycling on the road in a strange city, Suzy felt that "every face I met on the road constitutes an indispensable and vivid portrait of a city." Cycling allowed her to come into contact with the unique life culture of each place and temporarily forget the boring PPT in the office.

Even when traveling with her partner and friends, Suzy is used to going at her own pace and no longer falls into the rhythm of being arranged or urged. "We will agree on a destination before riding, and then go our separate ways without interfering with each other."

The most comfortable way for people to get along with each other is to not deliberately accommodate each other. The same is true for cycling, which allows you to freely shuttle between nature and the city.

△Different cycling equipment does not prevent people from enjoying the scenery along the way. (Photo/TuChong Creative)

She said: "Just keep pedaling and look forward." If she came across beautiful scenery or interesting places on the road, she would stop to take photos and share them; or she could wait for her companions halfway, appreciate the scenery together, and then continue on her way.

As long as you feel free, there is no need to compete with equipment or routes, you can be "Invincible" wherever you ride.

03

For every ten Chinese people,

There is one person who loves cycling

There is no doubt that cycling has become the top outdoor sport this year and a fashionable way for the new generation of young people to pursue sports and health.

Xiao Zou, a native of Guangzhou, is a cycling enthusiast and practitioner. Recently, he has clearly felt the impact of the cycling craze, as more and more people around him have consulted him about related matters - "It seems that more and more people around me like cycling now, and I can see a few acquaintances casually."

Data from the China Cycling Association also confirms Xiao Zou's feeling: Currently, there are more than 100 million people in the country who ride bicycles regularly or use bicycles as a means of transportation, and nearly 10 million people participate in cycling.

△ A person stops to look at the scenery while riding a bicycle. (Photo/TuChong Creative)

Since joining this circle a few years ago, Xiao Zou has met with his fellow cyclists at least twice a week. They basically choose to ride together with their equipment in the early morning or at night, avoiding the busy city roads.

The cycling enthusiasts Xiao Zou knows have a wide age range, ranging from retirees in their 50s and 60s to college students who have just entered campus, and they come from all over the country.

The most recent time, they met in Guangzhou's University Town, rode from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., then had a simple breakfast together before returning to their respective work for the day.

△ Cyclists on Ersha Island in Guangzhou in the early morning. (Photo/TuChong Creative)

Xiao Zou liked cycling at first because he felt running was tiring and hurt his knees, but he was afraid his boss would run away if he went to the gym. Cycling became the best way to stay healthy.

Later, he gradually discovered the fun of this sport. Compared with other sports, cycling allows you to see more and go further. So Xiao Zou began to study equipment and learn professional knowledge on his own, and eventually he went from being an ordinary enthusiast to a practitioner in the cycling industry.

It turns out that there is also a phenomenon of "volume" in the cycling circle. According to a statistic from Sina's image and data room, 35% of cyclists have an average cycling distance of 30-50km, and 10% have an average cycling distance of more than 70km.

△The night riding equipment posted by a book blogger. (Photo/screenshot from Xiaohongshu)

However, this kind of "volume" is not simply based on the distance of riding, but to satisfy one's own emotional value. Xiao Zou has spent tens of thousands of yuan on cycling equipment so far, but according to him, this can only be regarded as an ordinary level of expenditure. Around him, there are many bigwigs who have invested six figures and own several high-end bicycles.

When first getting started, cyclists almost always start with equipment worth a few hundred yuan, and then constantly absorb new knowledge and adjust the configuration based on their own consumption level to enhance their sports experience, such as upgrading accessories or choosing to change bikes.

In addition to comparing equipment with each other, Xiao Zou and a few close friends would also "roll" sports data to see whose personal sports level is better: the winner would gain inner satisfaction, while the loser would be determined to save face next time.

△Xiao Zou’s cycling data records in the mobile app.

Cycling has now become a mass fitness activity with social attributes. Once many people fall in love with this sport, they will bring their friends to join in. If they don’t bring a few new friends with them every time they participate in an activity, it seems that they are not worthy of saying that they are part of this circle.

Even those with social phobia can find themselves in cycling. Many people even use night cycling as a way to clear their minds and talk to themselves.

Faced with an increasing number of newcomers, Xiao Zou always advises them to: "Pay attention to safety, improve awareness, and enjoy it." The potential investment and risks of this sport cannot be easily ignored because of blindly following the trend.

△ Riding in the wilderness. (Photo/Visual China)

Cycling has not only become a form of exercise for many people, but also a new way to understand and enjoy life.

Riding a bicycle makes life seem transparent. The unique visual experience during riding will allow people to deeply feel the mystery and romance of a city and different places. In this process, the most enjoyable thing is the wind blowing on your body. The wind is free, and people are free too.

“Life is dull, but riding can be windy.”