You guys remember good buddy Sergeant Zuo from the Dajiu and Arjiu ride across China (Dajiu and Arjiu are me and Joe Gresh, as christened by our Chinese riding buddies).
Zuo is a great guy and he and I correspond regularly. He wrote a guest blog, and here it is (first in Chinese, and then followed by an English translation).
夜雨秋 2021
残荷 飞雪雷音寺 荻花 瑟瑟恐龙湾
我想该去转转吧，牵马出槽，天气很阴，气温很低。很多时候，连一个说话的人都没有，孤独就成了很好的朋友，不是有人说“孤独，只有天才和疯子才配有，你充其量是寂寞罢了。”我不知道自己是寂寞还是孤独，总之，为了一个梦境我想该去趟恐龙湾地质公园，为了远方的牵念该去趟雷音寺。
好像，自从新小三（赛科龙RX3s）仰或说是大黑吧入手到现在1000多公里这是第一次跑这么远。离开市区天空好像在零零星星的飘雪，毕竟今天是大雪节气，哦，天慢慢的冷了，一个拐弯处，隔着头盔都感觉到了凛冽，最冷的时间到了，我真的很怕，今年好像格外的冷，降温了，马路上没有几辆车。
新小三良好的动力储备，游刃有余的操控性能感觉真好，感觉滕森轮胎的低温抓地性能比起正新轮胎好点，自动感应大灯在进入隧道的时候很是给力。磨合到了1000公里，是该跑跑高速了，时速到了120km/h还是没有再拉起来，毕竟才1000公里的里程，极速还是再忍忍吧，人就是这么的自私，自己的车总是谨小慎微，给厂家试骑的时候却是档档见红。
寒冷的天气，大雄宝殿也挂上了厚厚的门帘，是不是菩萨也怕冷，干净的雷音寺没有一个人，香火依然，庄严依然，再次叩头的时候前额还是有些隐隐作痛，实际上，菩萨也罢，神灵也罢，谁也救不了谁，磕个头、念声佛号也就是消除自己的贪心、 嗔心、痴心、嫉妒、慢心。明明知道，哪有什么菩萨，要有菩萨也是在老家炕上躺着的那尊佛，为了那尊佛的康健，还是去了寺庙，如果非要给皈依一个合理的解释，那就是给自己灵魂找个家，让孤独不再孤独，让流浪不再流浪，让牵念可以穿越时空，也许这就是菩萨吧，也许这就是佛吧，但是，我真的很喜欢寺庙的幽静，喜欢和那尊泥菩萨的对视，喜欢听那念佛声声。
恐龙湾池塘的残荷一如既往的展现着它的忧伤，恰有几片雪花的飘落，还有那瑟瑟的荻花，那随风摇曳的更多的是一种无法言表的曾经，朋友说过他喜欢瑟瑟的荻花，那是生命的底色，一如广袤荒凉的西部环境。
站立慢速骑行在小径，身边池塘、残荷、荻花……环境，静的可以听到自己的心跳，柔和的发动机声音还是惊起了不知名的大鸟，把新小三停在铁道旁，远远的看着那个隧道，多少年了，还是为曾经的年轻，曾经的莽撞心有余悸。
—— 2021.12.07 兰州 大雪节气
What, hey…you don’t speak Mandarin? Well okay, then…here you go!
Night Rain and Autumn Breeze 2021
Remnant Lotus Feixue Leiyin Temple Dihua Sese Dinosaur Bay
I think I should go around, lead the horse out of the trough, the weather is very cloudy and the temperature is very low. Very often, loneliness becomes a good friend without even a single speaker. It’s not like someone said, “Lonely, only geniuses and lunatics have it. You are lonely at best.” I don’t know if I am lonely or alone. In short, I think I should go to Hanauma Bay Geopark for a dream, and Leiyin Temple for the memory of distant places.
It seems that this is the first time since the new junior three (Seccoron RX3s) started to run this far, more than 1,000 kilometers. Leaving the city, the sky seems to be fluttering. After all, it’s a heavy snow festival today. Oh, the sky is slowly getting cold. I can feel the coldness through the helmet at a corner. The coldest time is here, I’m really I’m afraid, it seems to be extremely cold this year. The temperature has dropped. There are not many cars on the road.
The new small three has a good power reserve and easy handling performance. It feels that the low temperature grip performance of Tenson tires is better than that of Zhengxin tires. The auto-sensing headlights are very powerful when entering the tunnel. After running-in to 1000 kilometers, it is time to run at high speed. After the speed reaches 120km/h, it is still not pulled up. After all, the mileage is only 1000 kilometers. It is better to bear with the top speed. People are so selfish, and their cars are always cautious. When I gave the manufacturer a test ride, the stalls turned red.
In the cold weather, the Daxiong Hall also hung a thick curtain, whether the Bodhisattva is afraid of the cold, there is no one in the clean Leiyin Temple, the incense is still, the solemnity is still, there is still a slight pain in the forehead when I kowtow again, in fact, the Bodhisattva Forget it, gods, no one can save anyone, knocking one’s head and chanting Buddha’s name is to eliminate one’s greed, hatred, infatuation, jealousy, and slowness. Obviously knowing that there is no bodhisattva. If you want to have a bodhisattva, you will also go to the temple for the sake of the health of the Buddha. If you have to give a reasonable explanation for refuge, it is to give your own soul. Find a home, let loneliness no longer be lonely, let wandering no longer wander, let Qiannian can travel through time and space, maybe this is the Bodhisattva, maybe this is the Buddha, but I really like the quietness of the temple, and I like to be with that statue. The Bodhisattva looks at each other and likes to hear the sound of chanting Buddha.
The remnant lotus in the pond of Hanauma Bay shows its sadness as always. There are just a few snowflakes falling, and the rustling flowers. The swaying wind is more of an unspeakable past. My friend said He likes the rustling Dihua, which is the background of life, just like the vast and desolate western environment.
Standing and riding slowly on the trail, surrounded by ponds, remnants of lotus, Dihua… the environment, you can quietly hear your heartbeat, the soft engine sound still startled the unknown big bird, and stopped Xin Xiaosan by the railroad. Looking at the tunnel from a distance, for so many years, still for the youth and recklessness of the past.
—- 2021.12.07 Lanzhou Snow Festival
If you’d like to know more about our ride across China (and it was a great one) you can read the story in Riding China: Running with the Cult of the Zong. Don’t wait for the movie (although there have been a couple of YouTubes on our grand adventure riding through the Ancient Kingdom, which you can view below).
