Reflections on the First Anniversary of Cycling China's 318

Table of Contents

Preface
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Taking advantage of the iPhone’s Live Photos feature to generate videos, I compiled the photos taken along my 318 cycling journey into a short video. During this process, many memories suddenly resurfaced, as if I was once again on that familiar and long road. A year has passed, many things have changed, but the feelings and thoughts from that journey remain vivid. So, I decided to write them down—for my present self, and for someday in the future when I look back.

Main Text
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Looking back on this experience, it can be as long or as short as you want.

If I write too much, I worry my future self will be too lazy to read; if I write too little, I’m afraid it will be lost in the river of time.
So I’ll just leave this part, which touched me the most and is most worth recording.

The biggest feeling from cycling 318 is: Once you choose a road, walk it firmly.

Why do I say this? Because this 2,160 km Sichuan-Tibet Route 318, starting from Chengdu, made me truly experience that the “road” is never fixed—it’s neither perfect nor simple.

I rode through country lanes and got lost at highway entrances;
Experienced days stranded by flat tires and delays, and moments of endless climbing that left me breathless;
Walked misty mountain roads in the rain and fog, greeted monkeys along the way;
Climbed wild hills at midnight for hot springs, and after fixing a tire, got caught in hail and rain so heavy I couldn’t see the road;
There were plateaus, muddy construction, roaring trucks in long tunnels, landslides…
Of course, there were also roads with breathtaking scenery that made me stop in awe.

The diversity and challenge of just the “road” alone is so rich, yet it’s only part of the journey.
The people along the way, the stories I encountered, the loneliness and excitement, the surging emotions inside…
There’s so much more, far beyond what a few words can express.

This is one road, but it let me experience countless possibilities of what a “road” can be.

But none of that matters anymore. What matters is: I didn’t get lost. I knew I was riding toward Tibet, toward Lhasa.

Isn’t life the same?
Sometimes we care too much about which road “looks better” right now—smoother, more profitable—and forget the most crucial thing: Are you moving toward your goal?

What 318 taught me is that once you’ve chosen your goal, even if the road you’re on isn’t perfect, isn’t comfortable, or doesn’t seem “worth it,” as long as it leads toward the destination, it’s worth sticking to.

Go a segment, then another, and piece together those fragments into the complete path to your dream.
On the other hand, those “good-looking” roads—if they only take you further off course—are the real detour.

So, after finishing 318, I have more courage to face life’s choices.
I no longer blindly pursue the “best road,” but have learned to ask myself: Is this the road that brings me closer to my destination?

As long as the answer is yes, then just like cycling 318, even if it’s wind and rain all the way, it’s worth it.