Warrior Bicycle Team Accomplished Goal with Strenuous Efforts

To celebrate Soochow University’s 117^th anniversary, a team of 17 students rode their bicycles to finish a tremendous 380-kilometer ride in one single day from Taipei to Kaohsiung, under the leadership of Professor Kun-Zhung Lee from Department of Accounting.  The activity was jointly hosted by the Moral and Civil Education Center and Community and the Interpersonal Relationship Development Center. On March 11, this team finished their long journey and in their last rush arrived at Soochow University’s Shuangxi campus to participate as a prelude in the anniversary ceremony.

Different from the former of round-island bicycle rides in the past, in this “Two Cities in One Day” event all participants were required to ride from Taipei to Kaohsiung in one single day. They had to pass three stages of certifications and finish within required time three routes: 1) “Shuangxi campus to Fonggueikou,” 2) “Shuangxi campus to Datun Mountain Peak,” and 3) “Tour around Taipei (200 km),” to ensure all students’ speed and physical strength were maintained at certain level.

The team departed from Taipei at three o’clock in the morning on March 10. The weather condition was terrible, with rain pouring and cold wind blowing. “This was a highly challenging condition for the team, both physically and mentally,” said the Leader Professor Kun-Zhang Lee, “but they conquered all obstacles with strenuous team spirit.” The most impressive part for him was that the students on this journey recognize themselves as a team, especially when this event was organized and executed by the students themselves. As Professor Lee recalled, this event had been questioned by many professionals, who said this long journey was impossible for college students to finish in one day. But the more they were questioned, the more they wanted to prove themselves and make history.

This team finished their ride from Taipei to Kaohsiung in just 18.5 hours, a lot faster than the original goal of 24 hours they set for themselves. Some of them confessed that they had thought about giving up in midway, but when they saw their teammates holding on to it, they felt ashamed not to finish the ride with them. One student named Wang, from Department of German Language and Culture, finished the ride and accomplished a remarkable goal before graduating, despite with the least biking experience on the team. Yet, another student named Chung, from Department of Psychology, fell off his bike when he tried to avoid crashing into a farmer riding motorcycle by the riverside and was injured. Although he was unable to finish the whole ride with his teammates, he still rode the last distance of the journey with his team to arrive at Soochow University campus for anniversary ceremony.

The participants of the “Two Cities in One Day” journey remarked, “This was never an easy task, no one could have finished the tour on his own!”  With strenuous efforts they finally accomplished what seemed impossible for many. They made their history and showed the persistent spirit of Soochow University students­­­­.