Over the past six years, Sun Lin has cycled more than 20,000 kilometers around China.

Sun, 69, a retired carpenter from a state-owned enterprise in Harbin, capital city of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, began to cycle in 2014 to fulfill a childhood dream.

"When I was in primary school in early 1960s, I had heard that some people cycled around China and even cycled abroad," he said. "I really envied them and hoped to cycle freely, but for most families, a bicycle was one of the rare luxuries at that time."

With a bicycle that his father assembled using some waste materials, Sun learned to ride, but wasn't until 1975 when he began working that he saved up and bought his own bicycle.

In the following decades, cycling became his only commuting tool for work.

After retirement in 2010, Sun began to take some part-time jobs.

"The jobs could bring me extra money," he said. "More importantly, I am not a man who enjoys having nothing to do."

In 2014, he quit his jobs and began to think carefully about trying something different.

"I am getting older and I don't want to have regrets in the future," he said. "Therefore, the first thing I wanted to do was enjoying the delight of cycling."

He began cycling in suburban areas around the city, and a few months later embarked upon a 300-kilometer journey to Mudanjiang, a city in the province.

"It was no small feat, this long journey, because I was not sure whether my physical condition was suitable for cycling long distance alone," he recalled.

But fear didn't stop Sun, and he spent four days cycling to Mudanjiang and back.

His success greatly encouraged him to go further, and in the following three years, he cycled to several cities in Heilongjiang.

In April 2017, he started his first long-distance cycling journey, but his wife expressed great concerns about his safety.

"In fact, I didn't tell her my true destination," he said. "I just told her I wanted to cycle out of the province and would return soon."

After cycling more than 5,000 kilometers in nearly 100 days, he finally reached his destination, Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet autonomous region.

"Before I set off, my friends also said that it was too far for me to cycle to Tibet, especially because I would go alone, but I was not scared at all," he said. "I had made full preparations and I believed it would be a rewarding trip."

In 2018, he finished his cycling journey from Harbin to Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province.

This year, he finished his third long-distance journey to Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and returned on July 26.

"During the journeys, I enjoy the beautiful scenery and different landscapes, as well as different local cultures and traditions," he said. "However, I also encountered storms, terrible road conditions and flat tires."

"Fortunately, I persisted and finally reached my destinations," he told China Daily. "I felt quite proud when I received praise and encouragement from strangers when they discovered I came from a remote place."

"There were also lots of people who provided help to me during the trip, which made me feel the warmth of the whole society," he added.

Now Sun is planning his next journey.

"I hope to cycle to Europe in the near future," he said. "I don't want to grow older and older at home, so I want to go out and see more different people and the colorful world."

"I have begun to study simple everyday English, hoping it will be useful during the journey," he said.