The years rolled by, and Zilong, like lots of young men in China, decided that he would try to further his education by coming to the U.S. He chose Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts…a non-traditional school without grades.

"Easy come, easy go — it's karma, so there's no way I can get the bike back," Zilong says.

"That's right," Zilong says with a laugh. "Later I learned the hard way. After about a few months of riding that bike...it got stolen by somebody else again, so I guess that's how karma actually works."

"I didn't know that karma was responsive to contracts," I say. "I thought it was something more mysterious than that."

"A classmate of mine said he could sell me one at about half or 1/3 of the price," Zilong recalls. "And I know for sure that he's selling me a stolen bike, but I wanted the bike so much. And I want to let him shoulder all the bad karma, so I wrote up a contract on a piece of paper saying, 'If there is anything wrong, any people come after me for the bike, he is responsible. I am not responsible.'"

"Zilong grew up in Shanghai," Brant says. "His first bike was a clunker, like most kids rode around in. But when he was 13 in middle school, he had the opportunity to buy this beautiful, shining, hybrid Giant bike."

I encountered this particular “cosmic tale” when I opened up the 2016 edition of "Best American Sports Writing." The story is about Zilong Wang. It was written for Bicycling magazine by John Brant.

"As soon as I saw the bike, I knew that the bike wanted a name."

A couple of Hampshire alumni had decided to learn about the U.S. by riding across the country by bicycle. They’d survived the adventure. Zilong liked the idea, and, after graduation, he found the bike he wanted to ride. It was a Surly Long Haul Trucker. It wasn’t fancy. But it was…right.

"And it's a silver-white color," he says. "And as soon as I saw that bike, I knew the exact name for it. It's the 'White Dragon Horse.'"

"I've been riding the same bicycle now for five years," I say, "and I have yet to name it. But what made you feel it had to have a name?"

(Courtesy of Zilong Wang)

"I didn't want to give it a name, but the journey called for a name. The White Dragon Horse is a mystical creature from the story 'Journey to the West' — it described a Chinese monk who walked all the way from China to India to bring back the Buddha's teaching. And the horse that the monk rode was the White Dragon Horse. As soon as I saw the bike, I knew that the bike wanted a name."

Part of what attracted John Brant to the story was the audacity of the journey. Another part of the attraction was Zilong’s daily plan.

"He decided, every night, he was going to knock on the door of a stranger, knock on the door and ask if he could pitch his tent in the backyard," Brant says.

"I had no confidence that it would work at all," Zilong says. "So the first night, I could not work up the courage. So I stayed in an empty Boy Scout camp, but there were so many mosquitoes. I got 30 bites. And when I tried to use a hose there to shower, a whole bunch of ants poured out because it wasn't used for so long. That first night out was just so miserable that I decided, 'OK, whatever. I'm gonna knock on doors tomorrow.' And from that day on, every single night that I knocked on a door, somebody said 'yes' and invited me in."

"So nobody ever said, 'No, try some other neighbor?'" I ask him.

"Oh, most people say 'no,'" Zilong says. "One in five say 'yes.'"

Sometimes Zilong thought about turning back. The doubts passed, and the better moments arrived.

"Those moments are when I connect with a stranger, when the next morning, when I depart, we both have tears in our eyes, when I feel this connection with nature, feel this trust in the universe — those are just worth any of the pain, the discomforts."

Warm Encounters, Coast To Coast

Between Massachusetts and California, Zilong connected with lots of strangers. He remembers with special fondness some of the ones who most surprised him.

"The Christian Fundamentalists, the Republicans — at that time it would be Romney and now the Trump supporters. Essentially, for the majority of the trip in the middle of the country, I was staying every night with corn farmers, with people who were volunteering at the church — those who I had thought are close-minded or xenophobic or all these labels. They were the most welcoming and warm and goodhearted people."

Wang's route, from Massachusetts to California. (Courtesy Zilong Wang)

Would those people have been as “welcoming, warm, and goodhearted” to anyone asking for tent space and perhaps a cup of tea? Zilong wonders about that in a blog he wrote along the way.

"Just imagine: If I were Black, I would be a good target for some paranoid neighborhood watch. If I were Hispanic, people might wonder if I am in the country legally. If I were Middle Eastern, I might look like a terrorist to some. If I were a white American, I wouldn’t be as interesting as someone from China."

And he was on a bicycle. Maybe people figured, “What harm could be in him?”

"For all the magic of his crossing, for all the cosmic connections that were forged, there was little conventional drama—no fights, no violence, no steamy love scenes. Just a young man pedaling a bicycle all day and talking quietly to people in the evening." — John Brant

"The people's home that I went into, they say, 'Aren't you afraid? Have you met any bad people?'" Zilong recalls. "For that entire 75 days, I have met exactly zero bad person — not even a harsh word or ill intention from anyone, only goodwill after goodwill. So it really gave me a lot of faith in not just the U.S. but also in humanity in general."

True Karma

"In general, his entire journey, I think, went almost like a dream: good luck with the weather, good luck with his bicycle," Brant explains. "Everything seemed to work really well. His health was good. He didn't get injured, didn't get ill. Everything went pretty well. Until he reached the end."

"When I was riding through the U.S., I didn't even bring a lock with me," Zilong says. "I never locked my bike once. I'd leave it outside Walmart, at museums, outside little towns and go away for half an hour, an hour. Come back, the bike is still there — nobody touched it. Three weeks after arriving in San Francisco, the bike was stolen while locked as I went into a fruit stand to get some oranges, just within five minutes."

Zilong called the police. He described the bike. One of the officers wrote down what he said. Zilong was not encouraged to think the White Dragon Horse would turn up.