Cycling to China

RUG alumni Martijn de Jong Posthumus and his girlfriend Mariëlle van der Sluis are ready to go: they’ve mounted their fancy bikes and are on their way to the Far East. They want to cycle across Central Europe, Turkey, the Causasus, and Central Asia, reaching their final destination, Tianjin in East China, in less than a year.

They want to seal their love with a beautiful journey by bicycle, but mainly they want to attract attention to the Groningen campaign Fietsen voor Kinderfietsen (Cycling for Kids’ Bicycles), which collect bicycles for poor children. The couple is the face of the campaign; people can follow them through fietsenvoorkinderfietsen.nl, Facebook, and Instagram.

Than I saw Mariëlle in a tight cycling outfit, carrying a racing bike on her shoulder

The couple will have to travel approximately 20,000 kilometres to get from Groningen to Tianjin. That’s half the world. They left on Tuesday, 24 April, without a clear plan. Weather will decide how far they get. ‘Like a friend said: “Just turn left at Zwolle and you’ll automatically get there”’, Martijn jokes.

Tight cycling outfit

The idea for the trip came about when they met five years ago in a rather special way. Martijn: ‘I lived at the H.W. Mesdagstraat in a student room, and Mariëlle lived across from me. I would look out my window and see Mariëlle in a tight cycling outfit, carrying a racing bike on her shoulder. I didn’t know her but I thought she was cute.’

An attempt at making contact in the supermarket failed miserably: Martijn’s simple ‘hi’ went unanswered. Until that fateful day. ‘I was biking on the Kraneweg, on my way to the library, and I thought I saw her cycling ahead of me, so I passed her to see if I was right. Except I’d forgotten about the terrible state my bike was in, and before I knew it, the chain came off. Suddenly I found myself on the ground. So I literally fell for her.’

It’s been approximately five years since we met, so we thought: let’s celebrate by cycling to China!

Mariëlle helped him up and to thank her, Martijn put a note through her letterbox: ‘Thanks for helping me up, I’m okay. I noticed you leaving your house with a racing bicycle: do you think you could teach me to ride a bike again?’ Mariëlle: ‘I thought that was really sweet, so I sent him a card back. One thing led to another. It’s been approximately five years, so we thought: let’s celebrate by cycling to China!’

Their final destination is the city of Tianjin, a harbour town in East China, and one of Groningen’s twin towns. Initially, they wanted to serve as ambassadors to Groningen, famous for being so bicycle-friendly, on this trip. But when someone tipped them off to the campaign Fietsen voor Kinderfietsen, which collected second-hand bicycles for children from poor families, they decided to make their trip about that.

Poverty line

Martijn had done a traineeship with the municipality of Groningen, so he knew that poverty was one of city’s largest concerns. ‘There is this increasing dichotomy; the city has two faces. There are those who have no financial problems, but we also have families that live below the poverty line. These families don’t have a lot of money to feed or clothe their children, and they certainly can’t afford any bikes. This campaign gives second-hand children’s bikes a second chance at life.’

I’m always hungry. I don’t want to come back looking like a skeleton

Groningen inhabitants can donate old bicycles to the campaign. They can tell the organisation that they have a bike to donate on their website, after which the organisation will collect the bike and fix it up. People can also hand in the bicycle at the bike storage under the public library or at cycling café Spaak.

Apprehensive

In the meantime, Martijn and Mariëlle are slowly making their way towards Tianjin. They’re looking forward to it, but are apprehensive all the same. Martijn: ‘Having the wind against you all day sucks, as does having it rain all day. So I’m not looking forward to that. I also hope I’ll be able to eat enough; I’m always hungry. I don’t want to come back looking like a skeleton.’

Fortunately, they make a god team, and they’ll be able to pull each other through when the times get tough. Mariëlle: ‘I take the lead in the morning, Martijn in the afternoon. There will always be one of us not suffering from the wind. I’m always alert and energetic in the morning, but Martijn takes a while to wake up.’ Martijn: ‘I’m like a diesel engine: I only start to cycle properly after a few hours, and then Mariëlle can get behind me.’ Should they ever get sick of it, they’ll just take a day off.

While Mariëlle and Martijn are working on reaching their final destination, there will be several campaigns throughout the year in Groningen where people can help out by donating more bicycles. During Christmas, for example, bicycles can be donated by being left under the Christmas tree in the centre of the city. So far, Fietsen voor Kinderfietsen has collected sixty bicycles.

Dutch