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Simeon Pang (left) and Gale Lok began their nine-month tandem biking adventure in July 2021, which saw them travel to 13 state capitals in the United States. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

Biking across the US on a tandem bike: Hong Kong couple’s 6,000km trip of a lifetime

  • Simeon Pang and Gale Lok spent nine months cycling to 13 state capitals, spending many nights in the backyards of strangers, several of whom became firm friends
  • ‘There are lots of people with guns around,’ Pang admits, but he adds that most people they met were kind and friendly
Tourism

Rather than spend last Valentine’s Day having a romantic candlelit dinner at a cosy restaurant, Hong Kong couple Simeon Pang Beh-sing and Gale Lok Yuk-tong spent it in a graveyard in the rural US state of Alabama.

The married couple were on a trip of a lifetime – a biking adventure that saw them travel to 13 state capitals across the United States.

The couple logged over 3,700 miles (6,000km) in nine months as they pedalled from California to South Carolina, seeking shelter for the night at everywhere from fire stations and churchyards to strangers’ homes.

Pang was a flight dispatcher with Cathay Pacific for 23 years before he quit his job during the coronavirus pandemic. That freed him to plan and embark on this biking odyssey, an undertaking conceived about 10 years ago.

Pang presents Lok with a bouquet of plastic flowers at a graveyard in Midway, Alabama. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

He had read a blog written by a man who had visited the capitals of all 48 contiguous states in the US by car, but as an avid cyclist, Pang wanted to carve his own path. Lok, an arts and crafts facilitator in Hong Kong, was happy to help him realise that dream.

Pang was drawn to a country neither had visited before by its geography and lack of border controls, which allowed for easy travel during the pandemic.

“Just the fact that it’s so large, you can have an opportunity to do a very long travel,” Pang says. “And it’s very culturally diverse. All the different states, they have their own characteristics. I was very intrigued.”

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The residents of Hong Kong’s Lantau Island began their adventure in July 2021, setting off from San Francisco, in California, on a bike they dubbed Johnny Blessing, a specially made tandem that can be separated into two for easy packing and loading – with Pang at the front and Lok at the back.

“As a couple we have different riding styles and skills,” Pang says. “It would be hard for us to ride together on single bikes, as we’d often be separated on the road and would end up waiting for each other, or worrying where the other one was.

“Being together on one bike means we can talk easily [and] we both need to pedal at the same time.”

Lok and Pang with their respective travelling buddies – a stuffed polar bear and a knitted pink-and-white toy – in front of a mural in Dallas, Texas. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

They carried necessities such as a portable cooking stove, dishware, camping gear and bicycle parts in panniers, along with their “travelling buddies” – Lok’s stuffed polar bear and Pang’s knitted pink-and-white toy.

The couple biked through California’s Redwood National and State Parks, to Arizona, Oregon and Washington, before making their way east to Idaho.

Pang and Lok pass through California’s Redwood National and State Parks in August 2021 while biking up north from San Francisco. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Park

The couple took things slowly, spending a few nights at each of the campsites they pitched their tent in.

“We’re out there to enjoy the journey, rather than ticking off all the boxes,” Pang says.

However, worried about getting stuck somewhere cold during the winter, the couple switched gears in November 2021 and rented an RV in Denver, Colorado, and drove through New Mexico and Texas before getting back on their bike.

Pang and Lok decided to travel from Colorado to Texas by RV instead of biking. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

They spent many evenings in the backyards of strangers, most of whom they met through the Warm Showers network, a group of cyclists who offer up their homes or backyards to fellow enthusiasts. Several hosts became firm friends.

On other nights, the couple set up camp in city parks, on baseball fields or in woods, cooking their own meals on their portable stove, often with vegetables they had spotted while cycling.

“Some of the most memorable meals that we had were meals that we found on the road,” Pang says. They foraged for onions, turnips and “absolutely delicious” oyster mushrooms found on the Natchez Trace trail in Mississippi.

The “absolutely delicious” oyster mushrooms. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

The couple were not unduly inconvenienced by the pandemic, other than when they visited restaurants with shortened hours or when hosts couldn’t accommodate them due to someone in the household having caught Covid-19. Neither of them fell sick.

Nor did they feel threatened by the US’ reputation for violence.

Before Pang and Lok left for the US, family members had expressed concerns regarding anti-Asian hate crimes and the ubiquity of weapons.

“There are lots of people with guns around,” Pang admits, but he adds that most people they met were kind and friendly.

Pang poses with a rock at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

The trip was not all smooth sailing, though. Two of their bags got damaged by “smart and naughty” raccoons and they were chased by dogs.

“We’ve met some quite big dogs [who can be] aggressive, and if there’s a pack of them, it can be a little bit scary,” Pang says. “But we are also in a pack, a pack of two people, so I feel better than being on my own.”

While they were still in California, alarming noises began coming from their bike’s gear hub. Lok waved to everyone they came across in the hope someone would give them some advice on where they could get their bike fixed.

On their cycling journey, Pang and Lok saw everything from wild possums and elk to foxes and turkeys. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

It was then that Pang and Lok met their “roadside angel”. Elaine Astrur, a resident of Trinidad, California, had biked past the couple, but turned back to make sure they were OK. Her partner was a mechanic, so she invited the couple to her house for rest and repairs.

Within hours, Pang and Lok felt at home.

“We were eating together, and I said to them, ‘I remind myself that I don’t know you, [that] you are strangers to us. I have to remind myself because I feel like I’m at home with family now,’” Pang says.

Pang and Lok stayed with Elaine Astrur (second left) and her partner Danny Sokolsky (second right) at their home in Trinidad, California for three weeks. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

The Hongkongers spent their first night camping out in the backyard but were invited to move indoors a day later when their hosts explained that they were going away on business for three nights.

Having known Pang and Lok for just two days, they handed over their house keys – and car keys as well, in case of emergencies.

“We were so blessed,” Lok says.

Sokolsky helps Pang carry his tandem bike. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

The couple ended up staying at Astrur’s house for three weeks while waiting for the special component in their bicycle’s gears to be repaired.

In Donaldsonville, Louisiana, they came across Alice and Rawland Acosta, working in their garden.

“We asked them if they knew anywhere that we could set up our tent for the night, and they said, ‘Yes, you can set it up here [in the yard],’” Pang says. Afterwards, Alice invited her guests to a home-cooked steak dinner.

“They were very welcoming, and very, very loving,” Lok says. “They treated us like their children.”

Pang and Lok met Alice and Rawland Acosta while biking through Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang
Pang and Lok enjoy a steak dinner with the Acostas. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

Donaldsonville was memorable for Pang and Lok for other reasons.

“It is actually a sad city, I would say. When we cycled through along the Mississippi River, we saw all these huge factories, chemical factories,” Lok says, adding that the acid in the air was palpable.

“They have a saying [there] – the fog is so thick you can cut it in half with a knife.”

In January 2022, Pang and Lok camped out at a fire station’s training centre in Tuskegee, Alabama. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

They also visited the River Road African American Museum, where the pair learned more about the history of African-Americans in south Louisiana.

“It’s really, really heavy. Before we went to this state, I knew almost nothing about American history,” Lok says, who describes the US’ slave-owning past as “heartbreaking”.

More joyous moments for the couple included spotting alligators at both a nature centre in Georgia and a river lake in Florida, during the early months of 2022. Pang had been keeping his eye out for the animals for months after reaching Louisiana.

“Every day we would go out early in the morning to see if we could see them,” Pang says. “I’m always excited to see animals.”

Pang and Lok at the James Irvine Trail in California. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

The pair also spotted everything from possums and elk to foxes and turkeys, and Pang is hopeful that they will eventually see a bear.

Their trip was cut short in April 2022, when Lok had to return to Hong Kong from South Carolina to care for her ailing mother, who died months later. But the couple hope to resume their trip in the spring, and make their way to the remaining 35 state capitals.

“We just feel there’s nothing in the world that we can’t do together,” Lok says.

Pang and Lok reached Austin, Texas in November 2021. Photo: Gale Lok and Simeon Pang

“It’s been a huge adventure,” Pang adds. “Definitely, we do not regret one moment of it.

“Everybody should try to do things that are a little bit scary sometimes. Step out of your comfort zone. Be brave.”

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