The Cyclist Who Came in From the Cold
By Alan Wechsler As a long-distance cyclist, I frequently host other bicycle tourists who ride through town. Albany, New York in the USA is the crossroads of two well-known routes, one from Buffalo to Boston and the other from New York City to Montreal, and cyclists with saddlebags and camping gear often pass by. Over the past decade, I’ve met cyclists from all over the world, and it’s always fun to hear about their adventures. But I’ve never gotten a request in January. Until earlier this year. That’s when I got the following message from a 29-year-old man named Chen from Warmshowers: “Hi. I’m a cyclist from China and my trip started in Xi’an City. I’m cycling around the world since 2015, this time come from Miami … may I have a rest for 1 or 2 nights?” Anybody who had been on a bike for six years was a person I just had to talk to. After looking at his profile, I found that dozens of people had already hosted him and spoke highly of his company. So, I invited him to stay. Chen showed up at about 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 7. It had been snowing that day, and his bike was covered in road salt and sand. Despite having spent a day in full-on winter conditions, he was cheerful and energetic as he pulled dry clothes from his saddlebags and followed me up from my garage. However, he did spend the rest of the night chugging glasses of hot tea to warm up.
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