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One Chinese Youth Takes a 6,000 Mile Solo Ride Across the US

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One morning in early October 2021. Alex Lee woke up from the intensive care unit (ICU). He had lost one of his front teeth, a spleen, but ‘gained’ a few more scars. But that hasn’t changed his determination to ride to Boston, the birthplace of American freedom.

Starting from Los Angeles, California, the cyclist carried a “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong” banner all the way through the harsh winter and scorching deserts, endured moments of bitter embarrassment, and even narrowly escaped ‘the call of heaven’ in a car accident.

Enduring this solo ride of 6,000 miles, through ensuing autumn, winter, and spring, he finally arrived in Boston on May 13, 2022. There he proudly, and quite rightly so, declared, “I have accomplished ‘a mission,’” and, at the same time, unexpectedly inspired some friends and even random passers-by.

“I think the most important thing is that you have this belief to defend your most precious value, then you should convince yourself to do something,” said Alex.

The Battlefield Here I Come

It was this belief, “The rights to live freely,” that propelled him into all the actions and sacrifices, according to Alex.

It all started from the second half of 2019. While the “anti-Extradition” movement in Hong Kong was a mighty one, the contest between autocracy and freedom was also raging among the Chinese communities in the entire world. 

Alex was then an international student, studying sociology in Japan. He wants to do something in this “era of change” to help those who seek democracy, freedom, and the rule of law. But he is also very clear that as a mainland Chinese, participating in the Hong Kong protests is likely to mean danger. 

“I thought about it for three months at home, thinking about one question. Should I go to Hong Kong?” Alex said. ” At the end I made a decision: Let God guide me as [to] my way.”

So, he took a train to Hong Kong. However, what surprised him was that the expected danger would come so quickly. On the morning of his arrival in Hong Kong, he was attacked by the counter anti-extradition activists. In a “bloody battle,” one attacker wounded his right eye, and in retaliation he bit off a piece of the attacker’s ear. Both were arrested by police.

Being judged to be a victim who sought just to defend himself, Alex was quickly released and joined the rally in Victoria Park. Because of his eye injury, the First Aid persons at the scene thought he had been hit by tear gas and rushed to spray on his eyes with some saline solution. This caused him a bit of pain, because the stitches of his previous wound were not good for contacting with such saline solution.

Epoch Times Photo

Alex Lee (featured in photo) cycled across the US to express his ideas of freedom and support for Hong Kong. On May 14, he was interviewed by The Epoch Times in Cambridge, Mass. (Learner Liu/Epoch Times).

Wandering Around Hong Kong

“At that time in mainland China, the Communist Party told everyone that if you participate in the Hong Kong protests, the CIA, alleged to be sponsoring the activities, would give you money. I stayed in Hong Kong for 3 months, but I couldn’t find a CIA agent. If I knew where there is a CIA agent, I don’t mind. I would just go and get some cash,” Alex said.

It is of course just a joke, but it does reflect Alex’s urgent need at the time, after encountering a thief in his first month in Hong Kong. He was resting on a park bench one day and woke up to find some of his money missing. With not much money left to get by, he decided to move into a shelter at the Hong Kong Airport, together with his small amount of luggage. And he stayed there for more than a month.

During this period, Alex learned from the doctor that his right eye was at risk of suffering from retinal detachment, and the cost of treatment could reach HK$100,000 (USD12,740). But he had only 20,000 yuan (USD2,978) at the time.

“I thought I might lose my right eye.” But after a few seconds, I told myself, ”It’s fine, I still have my left eye,” Alex said.

He tried all the methods he could, and finally got the help of a local doctor, under the recommendation of a girl, and he performed a round of laser surgery for free to save his right eye from vision loss.

Defend Self-dignity

At the airport, Alex read Cheng Nien (鄭念)’s book “Life and Death in Shanghai (上海生死劫).” The book mentions that Cheng’s daughter was persecuted and died during the “Cultural Revolution” and the writer herself was imprisoned. But even at this time she still tried her best to comb her hair, wash her face, and keep herself clean and dignified.

Cheng Nien’s experience also inspired Alex. Before attending a rally, giving a speech on stage, or giving an interview to the media, he always keeps himself tidy and clean. He might scrub clean in an airport toilet for the handicap, or take a shower in a city-centre toilet, and then go to a public laundry to wash and dry his clothes.

“No matter what kind of difficult environment you are in, as long as you don’t admit defeat, you can always find a way to solve it,” said Alex.

Hard Work Ensued

Because of the tussle in public with other people when he first came to Hong Kong, Alex had to stay in Hong Kong to wait for the summons. He was only released three months later after being found innocent from the charges. With the help of some friends, he first went to South Korea and then Indonesia. Sometime later he received financial support from some public funding to come and  settle in Texas for a year.

As the funding expired, Alex went to Los Angeles, hoping to find a job in the local Chinese community to earn a living. At that time, due to the pandemic, the immigration office was terribly slow in processing political asylum applications, so that Alex did not have a work permit for a long time. In the worst case, he had barely 1,000 dollars on hand.

“You know that in Los Angeles, there are three to four hundred tents, and in a single street it could be full of homeless people. I don’t want to be one of them, even though I have only $1,000 with me.” Alex laughed when recalling that hectic moment.

Eventually he found a manual labour job. That was to move goods inside warehouses. Since the workplace is a 40-minute drive from his residence, he had to take an online car-hailing ride to go to work in the first week, consuming more than half of his money. Fortunately, after receiving the first week’s salary he was able to move to a house closer to the warehouse.

The pay for this job was not too bad. It allowed Alex to earn $10,000 in 3 months. But this was a 15-hour workday, handling about 400 to 500 boxes, each ranging from 25 to 50 pounds.

To make a living, he has also worked in floor paving and roof tiling, which also entailed a lot of physical work with no safety measures at all. That means if he were not careful there could be a chance of falling off the roof and became crippled. Alex said that if this happened, the boss would never hold himself responsible for an illegal worker, so then he would only become really homeless.

“I did the best I could. With only $1,000, I didn’t make myself a bum. But then I asked myself, I was a sociology student and I’m an illegal worker now. This kind of life is really hopeless for me. Do I need to do this manual labour job all my life?” said Alex.

He knew very well that this was not the life he wanted. He quit his job and thought about it for three months at home: “Should I take a long trip? This would be to accomplish my mission to support those Hongkongers who love freedom and democracy, and to change the life for myself?”

Alone on a Thousand Miles

Alex describes himself as “a pretty idealist.” He can spend all his money to participate in the Hong Kong protests; or with no long-distance experience at all he can ride a cheap bicycle and embark on a cross-continental journey.

“Someone told me that your 100-dollar Walmart bike is of such inferior quality that you can’t even get to Las Vegas; you can’t even fix a bicycle, so what if you have a flat tyre on the road?” But I retorted, “With extraordinarily strong determination, I will definitely accomplish my goals,” said Alex.

 

Epoch Times Photo
In July 2021, on a cheap bike, Alex Lee embarked on a pro-freedom transcontinental journey, arriving in Colorado a few weeks later. (Courtesy of Alex Lee)

It was July 2021, and Alex left Los Angeles on his bike and headed north-eastward into the Mojave Desert, in California.

It was a “hell” summer. Riding in the 120-plus-degree Fahrenheit sun during the day, Alex felt a fire sitting under his butt, and vaguely saw waves of heat before his eyes.

It was still 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit here late at night. One night, Alex, who could not find any hotel, he fell asleep by the side of the road. Early in the morning, a Black man drove by, stopped the car, and asked, “Hey man, are you still alive?”

Soon after, Alex arrived in a small town near Las Vegas, but immediately encountered new difficulties: he had spent nearly half of his money in the previous trip and had just over $2,000 left in his pocket.

In a speech six months later, Alex put this question to some secondary school students in Minnesota, “If you were me, would you immediately go back to Los Angeles to find a manual labour job? Or would you risk becoming a homeless person later and move on?”

Most of the students felt that it was better to go back to Los Angeles. Alex is just the exact opposite. “I think I have this mission, to tell everyone that dictators are actually selfish, and they are afraid of the people expressing their opinions. What I must do is to tell everyone, express what they think. That is what the Hong Kong protesters are doing,” he told them.

But soon he encountered another “disaster.”  One morning, while feeling quite sleepy, he was trying to buy a drink at a vending machine. But accidentally he inserted his bank debit card into the cash slot, damaging the card. He called Bank of America, only to be told that the nearest branch was in Salt Lake City. At the time, he had only $3 with him.

“To get to Salt Lake City with just $3 sounds like a lot of fun,” Alex said with a smile. But by the time he got to Salt Lake City, not only did he still have $2 of the original $3 left, but he also had $200 more with him. This money was donated by a host family and a driver who happened to drive by.

Epoch Times Photo
Alex Lee poses with people he meets on the road during his 2021-2022 cross-continental bike tour. (Courtesy of Alex Lee)

Alex often found homestays through the traveller support app “Warm Showers.” Along the way, he also told his story to many people he met by chance. In Denver, Jamie, a passer-by he met in a park, was inspired by his story, and gave him $20; in North Dakota, a host family asked him to help build a fence and paid him $750; in Minnesota, a retired college professor had a meal with him and then sponsored him $500…

Nirvana Rebirth

On September 20, Alex faced the toughest test of his journey. On a road in North Dakota, a drunk driver drove a pickup and hit Alex from behind. He was sent to the ICU. When he woke up, the doctor said to him, “It’s a miracle of God that you can wake up.”

He had his spleen removed, was in a coma for two weeks, and had recuperation for more than a month, during which time he was diagnosed with depression and traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After being discharged from hospital, he stayed with friends in Salt Lake City for more than three months, before flying back to Grand Forks, the city where the crash occurred, on February 10, 2022. He bought a new mountain bike and rode eastward through the frigid winds and snows of North Dakota.

Epoch Times Photo
Alex Lee biked across the United States in support of freedom, was seriously injured in a car accident and shattered his phone screen. (Learner Liu/Epoch Times)

While Salt Lake City had started to get warmer in February, much of North Dakota is still frigid “like  hell.” Alex had been in snowstorms, in freezing temperatures of minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Wearing anti-fog goggles, five layers of clothing and special antifreeze gloves, he pushed his bike through the snow. He could not take a deep breath and felt dizzy with back pain from time to time.

Along the way, he gave much of his personal belongings, such as tents, to the host family, because he could not carry too many things while advancing in the snow, otherwise he would easily lose his balance. He said that he had seen thousands of animal carcasses during the trip, and if he was not careful enough, he himself might fall to the ground, or be run over by a car, and became the next dead body there.

The severity of the winter is far greater than the scorching desert heat, Alex said. But he did not choose to switch to the warmer path of the South, because he fell in North Dakota, and he wanted to continue from there.

“When you can solve problems in the harsh natural environment, you can also solve problems in harsh life. The logic is the same, face your difficulties, not run away from them,” Alex said. “I believe, God will guide me.”

 

Epoch Times Photo
Alex Lee traverses the winter snow on his intercontinental freedom journey. (Courtesy of Alex Lee)

As spring blooms, Alex’s average speed slowly picked up. Before the crash, he averaged 60 to 70 miles per day; after crossing North Dakota, he gradually increased to 65 to 70 miles per day, and even went up to 113 miles on a good day.

“For me, a car accident is a rebirth,” he said.

On His Bike Again

At 9:30 p.m. on May 13, 2022, Alex arrived in Cambridge, Mass., and completed the entire journey. At the age of thirty-seven, he has a few strands of white hair on his forehead. He was wearing a black cycling suit and black sunglasses, riding a black wide-wheeled mountain bike with a few dusty bags in the back.

Alex said almost everyone, including his girlfriend, thought he could not make the journey, especially after the crash.

When he arrived in Washington not long ago, he sent a message to a Hong Kong friend who had thought he was not able to accomplish his trip. He told him, “You are my witness at both the beginning and also the end of this journey.” The friend asked about his Venmo account and transferred $500 to him.

“Some people told me they were moved and inspired by my journey.” “When I started this journey myself, I did not try to inspire anyone. I just felt like I was so desperate, and I felt like I myself needed all the motivation from other people. But through the whole journey, I was told by others that I inspired them, and that might be a windfall for me,” Alex said.

Epoch Times Photo
Alex Lee bikes across America in support of freedom, documenting his journey along the way. (Courtesy of Alex Lee)

He stopped for a little while in Cambridge and visited Harvard University. He then stayed for a week in Newton, Mass., with severe migraines every day. He did not know whether it was an aftermath of the car accident.

He said he hopes one day to study at Harvard Law School. Before that, he might attend a community college before transferring to a public university. However, hearing these plans, some friends began to say to him again, ”It is impossible.”

Indeed, Alex has other travel ideas too, such as sailing across the Mississippi River aboard a canoe named “Liberty Hong Kong” or sailing to Guam in a sailboat. He also wants to set up non-profit organizations to help cyclists in car accidents, mainland Chinese and Hongkongers fleeing authoritarian regimes… He added, “If you really love democracy and freedom, then you should do something, no matter how meagre it is.”

“You don’t need to care if someone say you can’t make it. I tell you here, you can. Why? Because you’re not one of them, you’re yourself,” Alex concluded.

 



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