Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    THIS is the second year that Nicholas Smith, general manager of Jing An Shangri-La Hotel in western Shanghai, is participating in Ride For Hope, the charity cycling activity he initiated in 2013.

    Upon his arrival at Shangri-La Hotel Guilin late Friday evening after a busy day of work, he was greeted with hugs from other riders who became his good friends after a 2,200-kilometer trip from Shenzhen to Shanghai during the first ride in 2013.

    “As a team leader, I should be responsible for the safety of every rider and the success of the trip,” he said at an interview after discussing the ride’s route.

    “Ride for Hope is a charity project. It is also a bridge through which I have made a lot of friends with similar interests,” said Smith, a fan of traveling and cycling. Smith lived in Shenzhen for two years and worked as general manager of Futian Shangri-La Hotel, Shenzhen, before he was transferred to Shanghai in 2013.

    “While I was exercising after work two years ago in Shenzhen, I asked myself: why not do something to help others that uses what I’m interested in? Which gave me the idea of a charity ride,” said Smith. Although his friends and colleagues thought the idea was excellent, they doubted that it would be possible for a guy like him, weighing about 135 kg, to complete the journey. “Though the plan is crazy in many people’s eyes, we decided to raise funds to build water cellars in Baise to help people there when we learned of their situation,” said Smith.

    In the first year, the team, headed by Smith, raised 340,000 yuan (US$55,000).