The steep slope of nearly 70 degrees slopes out a khaki-colored wall in front.
The motor roared, and with a weight of nearly 50 pounds on his back, Long Jie pressed down the front of the motorcycle to prevent the front wheel of the motorcycle from tilting up on the way.
In Beibei District, Chongqing, mountain fires are still spreading, and a confrontation between people and wildfires is ongoing.
The tongues of flame devoured the branches and trees, sickles, chainsaws, and excavators opened isolation zones in the forest.
A few kilometers away, the excavator opened up a rugged mountain passage, and Chongqing Wa'er, who was driving an off-road motorcycle, pulled out a mobile material supply line between the steep mountains, continuously supplying water, food, fire hose, Chainsaws, gasoline and diesel are transported to the front line of fire fighting.
The off-road motorcycles are one after another, raising a trail of dust and smoke in the gallop.
Long Jie, who is affectionately called "Long Mazi" by his friends, is one of them.
On the afternoon of August 22, he was helping to transport supplies down the mountain. He learned that "there are still hundreds of people who have not eaten."
More and more drivers are also joining the delivery bandwagon.
Carrying the basket on their backs, they scrambled up one steep slope after another.
The blurry video taken in the delivery gap also made many people see these "hard-core" "mountain city knights", and remember the "Long Mazi" who was wearing a green shirt, his face was flushed, and he was so tired that he vomited on the seat. ".
After 36 hours of coupling consumption, Long Jie's "Car No. 26" was almost scrapped.
He was very distressed about this second-hand motorcycle, but he felt that it had fulfilled his mission. "We must do something to put out the mountain fire. Chongqing is our home, and we can't just ignore it."
"Put it on and I'll deliver it"
Long Jie, 22, lives in Bishan and is a food delivery rider.
After playing off-road motorcycles for many years, he is also a member of the local "Mr. Wang No. 26" off-road team with driver number 81.
Because he liked "Zhang Mazi" in the movie "Let the Bullets Fly", Long Jie named his social account "Long Mazi". Gradually, his friends became accustomed to calling him "Long Mazi".
On the evening of August 21, a mountain fire broke out in Hutou Village, Xiema Street, Beibei District, Jinyun Mountains.
When Long Jie saw the news on his mobile phone, he thought about going to the scene to volunteer.
After the morning shift the next day, he took leave with the team leader, went home, replaced the battery car with an off-road motorcycle, and rushed to the fire with a large-capacity mountaineering bag on his back.
At 1 pm that day, Long Jie arrived at Xiema Street.
At that time, many motorcycles had arrived at the scene, and the villagers and volunteers helped to carry the supplies. There was a narrow country road two or three kilometers long from the material gathering point and the reservoir. the main means of transport for goods.
Long Jie joined the delivery team, and the backpack was constantly being stuffed and then emptied. After going back and forth for several hours, the backpack was worn out.
At 5:00 p.m., at the material distribution point, Long Jie accidentally heard a volunteer say, "There are still hundreds of people who haven't eaten." Referring to what he saw in the afternoon, he immediately understood that the fire scene was deep in the mountains and forests, far from the material collection and distribution. There is still a considerable distance from the point, the mountain road is steep, ordinary vehicles cannot continue to go further, manual handling is time-consuming and laborious, and the materials sent to the front line are far from enough.
Long Jie thought, off-road motorcycles are highly maneuverable, and mountain roads are not a problem for him, so maybe he can continue to send things in.
He stepped forward and said to the volunteers, "You put it on for me, and I'll deliver it."
Volunteers worried about his safety and advised him not to go in.
Long Jie affirmed: "I can, I often play this kind of venue."
Long Jie's confidence convinced the volunteers.
With ice water and a few packets of food in the back basket, Long Jie started the motorcycle and rushed directly up the steep slope of nearly 70 degrees in front of him.
One of the keys to riding a motocross bike is control.
As he often goes into the mountains and off-road, Long Jie has the confidence to cope with the mountain road in front of him.
To control the direction of the front of the car.
The sound of the car was roaring, and there was a weight of nearly 50 pounds on his back. When the front and rear weights were uneven, Long Jie concentrated and used more strength to control the vehicle to prevent the front wheel of the motorcycle from tilting.
The simple dirt road opened by the excavator is full of gravel and soil. Under the high temperature for days, the soil layer is dry. Wherever the motorcycle travels, billowing dust and smoke are rolled up.
Long Jie finally rushed up the hill, made a sharp turn, and the off-road motorcycle turned around sensitively and drove to a higher place.
to the line of fire
Along the way, Long Jie kept encountering fire officers and soldiers and armed police soldiers who were resting on shifts. The orange fire uniforms and green camouflage were connected by the roadside.
They were so tired that they didn't even have the strength to speak.
"It's the kind of tired and paralyzed." Long Jie felt sad and distressed.
He asked the rescuers if they needed ice water and food, while asking where they were going.
An armed police soldier took a few bottles of water and told Long Jie that the firefighters in the fire had not eaten for a day.
Long Jie continued to head towards the line of fire.
Along the way, he received countless "thank you" and "be careful", and more people answered him, "We don't need it, send it inside."
After traveling for two or three kilometers, Long Jie was unable to ride any further when he encountered an excavator driving ahead.
He turned around and went back, ready to call in more motocross riders to help.
After going down the mountain, Long Jie borrowed a traffic policeman's mobile phone and called Wang Long, the captain of the off-road team transporting supplies at the foot of the mountain.
"Brother Long, we can't win (in dialect, it means we're too busy), we need reinforcements here, and there are still hundreds of people in the mountain who haven't eaten." Wang Long replied, "Wait, I'll come up."
"Long Jie was the first to ride an off-road motorcycle into the mountain, and there was no off-road vehicle before." Wang Long said that when he learned that off-road motorcycles could help, he immediately sent a message in several WeChat groups of motorcycle friends, "We need yours. support."
More and more off-road motorcycles are gathering at the material point, and motorcycle friends in other regions have also responded.
Long Jie instructed Wang Long that the road conditions in the mountains are not ideal, and people with good driving skills are needed. "If the skills are not that good, don't come here."
He worries that if the driver is not skilled and falls, it will take up the time and energy of the rescuers, "They are already very tired, we are here to protect their logistics, not to distract them to rescue us. "
Entering and exiting the mountain, Long Jie ran back and forth hundreds of times.
Water, rice, chainsaws, water pumps, fire hoses... Each trip is 50 to 60 pounds, and the materials in the back basket are different, but each item is closely related to putting out the mountain fire.
Heat, Dust and Hazards
After nearly 11 hours of continuous transportation, Long Jie finally couldn't hold on late at night on the 22nd.
He felt dizzy and showed signs of heat stroke.
Long Jie stopped the motorcycle, lay on the seat and vomited uncontrollably.
Because in the rush to eat, the only thing I spit out is the water I drank.
During a short wait, the companions took pictures of this scene.
In the video, his partner teased him, "Long Mazi, you will be laughed at when you send it out (in dialect, meaning you will be laughed at)." Long Jie leaned on the motorcycle, took a sip of water, and replied with a smile, "From 1 o'clock in the afternoon to now, I don't know how much it is now (dialect, meaning I don't know what time it is)."
High temperature is one of the main culprits of eroding physical strength.
When approaching the fire, Long Jie clearly felt the feeling of steaming and roasting, "the skin is like being burned by fire".
He had passed by the front line of the fire several times and watched the rescue workers who were blackened by smoke and dust put out the fire with concentration, as if ignorant of the high temperature, and he couldn't tell how sad he was.
He felt that the only thing he could do was to fight more.
He told volunteers, "Give me more."
The ground was dry, and it rushed up the slope, and the dust that was stirred up came back, causing trouble for the motorcyclist's vision.
At night, they need to wear headlights.
The dust came together and the road was almost invisible, and the riders had to be careful and careful.
Lack of physical strength is a taboo in driving off-road motorcycles. Once the strength is not enough, problems will occur in the control of the car, and the driver will easily fall.
And when people are tired from running, they can't get up when the car falls.
Long Jie claims to have good endurance, but after one day of running, his physical strength is basically overdrawn.
Long Jie is not afraid of going uphill, but when going downhill, facing some near-vertical steep slopes, he is still afraid of the risk of rushing down the mountain, so he has to be alert and control the vehicle carefully.
But Long Jie still fell.
On the first night, he relied on what little physical strength he had left to support himself, and when he went down the mountain, he went faster. The road was full of dirt, the tires were not stable on the ground, and the car had a "death swing". .
Before he had time to think too much, Long Jie picked up the bike and continued to ride forward.
He said that many times he can't think about the danger. "If you think about it, you won't send it all the time."
After the "education" of reality, the "hot blood" at the beginning was also tamed by reason.
This time, Long Jie said to the volunteers again, "I'll make less decorations, I'll run twice more, and try not to hurt myself, so as not to cause trouble to others."
Continuous work under high temperature also overdraws the service life of the motorcycle.
On the morning of the 23rd, after sending the supplies back and forth seven or eight times, the accelerator line of Longjie's motorcycle broke.
He could only rest in place after going down the mountain, waiting for the master who repaired the car.
After the repairs, he and his motocrosser were busy again until late at night.
be a real knight
From 0:00 on August 24, Building 9 of Jinyun New Residence Public Rental Housing, Xiema Street, Beibei District, was designated as a temporary control area.
Worrying about the epidemic control, Long Jie and captain Wang Long decided to withdraw from the mountain at 1:00 a.m. that day.
Returning to his home in Bishan District, Long Jie noticed that he was covered in ashes, took a shower in a hurry, and fell asleep with his head on the pillow.
When I woke up during the day, my exhaustion doubled back, and my shoulders, which I had never carried before, were burning hot.
When going down the mountain, the mountain fire in Xiema Street had not been extinguished, and Long Jie was full of regrets.
He thought that if there was a need, he would have to contribute to the firefighting.
He loves motocross.
When I was in elementary school, I once saw someone riding with the front of the car up and roaring past. At that time, Long Jie thought it was "a very cool thing".
After dropping out of junior high school to work, he started saving money to buy a car, and slowly got his first junior car.
My mother left home when Long Jie was very young. After my father died of illness in October last year, my aunt was worried about Long Jie's "playing with a car" and said to him, "Don't ride a bicycle any more, pay attention to your safety. If something happens, there will be no one at home."
But Long Jie couldn't let go of his love.
Before becoming a delivery driver, he worked in a factory, delivered goods on an electric bike, and delivered ice cream by car.
Now, he wears takeout clothes at work, walks through the streets and alleys of Bishan, and has to go to the closed venue to practice driving.
With the improvement of technology, he also changed several cars.
This time, the "Car No. 26" that drove to Beibei to deliver supplies was a second-hand car he just bought from the team owner, which cost him three months' wages.
Long Jie went to the "battlefield" with it before he had time to maintain "Car No. 26".
After tossing down the shaft this time, the car is basically scrapped.
Longjie felt bad for the car, but also felt that it "completed its mission".
Long Jie said that when he grew up, and when he really started to play off-road motorcycles, he realized that the kind of "heads up the street" that he had longed for when he was a child was just being cool, not really cool, but just like the car friends often say In the same way, "'Mojie' has no shortage of knights, and no shortage of chivalry."
As for what is a real "knight", it is difficult for Long Jie to organize a beautiful language now, "good technology, not bombing the street, and obeying the rules."
He talked about his friend Xiaotian.
It was a driver from another team, and usually everyone would ride motorcycles together.
This time, in order to put out the mountain fire, Xiaotian also rode his expensive professional off-road motorcycle to help deliver the supplies. "There are also many motorcycle friends who don't know each other.
Long Jie has met many people who are affectionate and righteous, and everyone talks about "morality and justice".
For example, when he was working earlier, he had a big brother to take care of him. He followed the big brother to deliver ice cream to support himself. He also regarded the big brother as a relative.
Now, he has also become a "moral" person.
He said that we must do something to put out the wildfires. Chongqing is our home and we cannot just ignore it.
The front-line firefighting, armed police, civil rescue teams, villagers, reinforcements from other places in Chongqing, and firefighting helicopters hovering in the sky, all defended their homes together.
On the afternoon of the 24th, Long Jie took another off-road motorcycle of his own to help the site of the mountain fire in Bishan District.
The mountaineering bag that he carried to Beibei before was completely broken, so he borrowed a backpack from the old grandmother in the village.
The old grandmother asked him, "Long Wazi, where are you going (in dialect, where are you going)?"
Long Jie replied, "Go up the mountain."
With the accelerator up, driver No. 81 "Long Mazi" returned to the "Knights" team of logistical support for fighting the wildfire.
Beijing News reporter Zhao Min