Lao Shuai | Blooming Flowers, Waiting for a Breeze - About Blossom Bikes

My name is Shi Jingyi, and my friends call me "Lao Shuai." I now run a shop called "Blossom Bikes" in Dali, Yunnan, mainly offering bicycle rentals and cycling services.

I fell in love with cycling during college. In 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, I cycled from Shanghai to Beijing with a friend; in 2011, before teaching with Teach For China (a volunteer teaching organization), I found companions online and rode from Chengdu to Lhasa.

In 2013, after finishing my teaching work, I set off alone from Lincang, Yunnan, entering Tibet via the Bing Cha Cha route, then taking the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway to Xinjiang, then riding the Hotan-Alar Highway across the Taklamakan Desert, and then the Duku Highway over the Tianshan Mountains, all the way back to my home in Shihezi, Xinjiang. That was the farthest long-distance ride in my life to date; the cyclometer showed a total of 6,732 kilometers over 90 days.

Encountering snow and wind at Sirengou

During that heavy-load cycling trip in 2013, on the road from Yamdrok Lake to Gyangze in Tibet, I was easily overtaken by about a dozen riders on road bikes. When I met the team again in the evening, they were already enjoying the sunset at their lakeside camp. Wilderness, light loads, a group, enjoyment... Those cyclists made me curious and even envious, planting the seed for what would become "Blossom Bikes."

After completing that long route, I worked at Teach For China and Meili Primary School for a while, spending five years in Dali, where I eventually settled down. In 2020, an ecological corridor was built along the shores of Erhai Lake, winding 46 kilometers along the western bank. The lake, greenery, flowers, and greenways created an excellent cycling environment. That summer, I had just left Meili Primary School and wanted to do something that suited me and was a good fit for Dali. Between continuing in education and opening a bicycle shop, I chose the latter. It has been two and a half years since then.

Erhai Lake Ecological Corridor

When the shop first opened, we had only ten bikes. Because of the pandemic, there were very few tourists on the streets. I waited in the shop for a full ten days before the first customer of Blossom Bikes arrived, bringing in the first income of 40 yuan. When I got home that day and shared the news with my wife, we were happy about it for a long time. Not long after, an innovative local school in Dali wanted to take children on a big outdoor activity and sought me out. At that time, the shop didn't have enough bikes, so my wife and I borrowed two bikes from a friend around 10 p.m. That was the first group order Blossom Bikes received. That night, I lay in bed for a long time before falling asleep, feeling a mix of unease and excitement, envisioning a better future.

A "better future" is indeed happening, but so slowly that it's hard to notice. I focused on my work, carefully maintaining every bicycle and warmly receiving every customer. I gradually built up the repair and cleaning areas, carefully selected high-quality and good-looking cycling gear. I applied anti-scratch film to every bike frame and replaced the tires with more puncture-resistant ones, hoping to give customers more peace of mind. Together with my wife, I also put together a Dali food map and created a certificate for cycling around Erhai Lake, hoping to give customers a little extra surprise.

Gear and tools wall

Certificate for cycling around Erhai Lake

Our efforts showed up in our Dianping ratings, from an initial 4.2, to 4.5, 4.7, and finally 4.9. Last July, Blossom Bikes ranked first on the Dali Prefecture bicycle rental praise list, and it has stayed there ever since. When not busy, I often browse through the positive reviews customers have left, reliving the small joys of sincerity exchanged with sincerity.

As a former educator, "child-friendly" is an important direction for my business. During the Chinese New Year this year, "Niangao Mama" (a well-known parenting blogger) proactively recommended Blossom Bikes, especially mentioning the child trailer. Many families came to us through that recommendation and enjoyed family cycling.

Recently, more and more travel agencies and study tour organizations have started cooperating with us, including some well-known ones like Guangzhou 32, Scarecrow Travel, Dapeng Tribe, and WeCycle. By doing our best, good things will slowly come.

I often think about the relationship between the shop and its customers. Customers are not gods; they are ordinary, lively individuals. Some don't know what good food is nearby, some are unsure which route is convenient to reach the lake, some worry that wide pants might get stained by the chain, and some need a rack and pannier to solve the problem of carrying weight on a ride... In these areas, Blossom Bikes can easily help. We create value for customers and receive reasonable compensation in return. If customers find it good, they may come back or even recommend us to friends. That's a healthy host-guest relationship.

This shop is located in the Dali Ancient City scenic area, with most customers being tourists, and many of them may not come back. In such transactions, building word-of-mouth and reputation can be much slower than in community or mall stores. Those small, right things may not show results after one, ten, or a hundred times, but I'm not in a hurry. I believe in the power of accumulation and that time will give the answer. This is very much like long-distance cycling, and also like education.

Thank you for reading up to here and taking the time to learn about me and Blossom Bikes. In the future, I want to continue improving service quality and expanding the scope of services. Therefore, I hope to unite more professional strength to do this together. You are welcome to contact me via email at shijingyi_126@126.com or WeChat (QR code at the end of the article), or share this article with suitable people:

1. We need a full-time shop assistant. We hope you are based in Dali, identify with the business philosophy and approach of Blossom Bikes, are willing to learn and grow in the service industry, and have long-distance cycling experience is a plus.

2. We need several cycling tour leaders. We hope you have extensive cycling and tour-leading experience, or you are passionate about sports and have rich experience in organizing children's activities; those willing to cooperate long-term are preferred.

3. We look forward to cooperating with more merchants. If your business is located in Caicun, Xizhou, or Shuanglang, and you are committed to continuously improving product and service quality and treating customers sincerely, we look forward to working with you.

We will continue to work steadily, making progress and improving our business capabilities and professionalism, while looking forward to a better future. "You bloom, and the breeze comes." We are striving to grow a sea of flowers, waiting for the breeze to arrive.

Photos