Li Lianyina jumps over a gap during a motocross race. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
The day Li Lianyina navigated her 250cc dirt bike and focused on jumping, cornering and passing competitors she was racing with about 30 adult male riders on an off-road circuit.
The engine was roaring and the wheels were kicking up dirt. The 16-year-old rode over jumps, leaving taller and stronger male riders behind, and after a few laps she crossed the line in second place.
After you put on that helmet, forget that you’re a girl. It’s a competition between proficient riders
Li Lianyina, motocross rider
Lianyina looks decidedly skinny in a group of male motocross racers, but it is only when she takes off her full-face helmet and her long black braided hair falls out that it is readily apparent that this racer is a teenage girl.
She has got used to riding with man, she says.
"I've been racing with male motorcycle riders for several years, and I am usually the only female racer."
Female riders are few and far between in motocross racing, which only serves to reinforce the idea that this sport is a masculine preserve because it is rough and dangerous.
"But that's nothing but a stereotype," Lianyina says.
"After you put on that helmet, forget that you're a girl. It's a competition between proficient riders."
Though she is just 16, Lianyina is already a veteran of the sport, having had her first ride when she was 8.
She took up the sport after quitting playing piano.
While she was stuck in front of a piano and spent whole days practicing, her father would take her 3-year-old brother out to ride a self-assembled motorcycle at a course nearby that included mounds that provided jumping practice.
As Lianyina saw it, her father took her brother out so she could play the piano in peace, but it left her a little unsettled, curious about what her father and brother were up to.
"It can be very dull doing piano practice, and I was so envious that my brother could have all that fun out there without me."
Her parents eventually acceded to her pleas to be allowed to join her brother and bought her a motorcycle as well as all the protective gear.
"At the start I was really excited and had no fears of falling, and felt I was supposed to be in the saddle of a motorcycle rather than perched on a piano stool."
Riding a motorcycle gives her a sense of freedom, she says, feeling in total control when she bursts out of the blocks and is flying through the dirt.
Racing motorcycles comes with extreme risks, of course, especially for novices. That danger is magnified when the body having to wrestle with a heavy piece of high-speed equipment is light and fragile.
The first time she tried to ride over a jump, she failed. The motorcycle pitched into the air and crashed back to the earth, very heavily, with Lianyina's head hitting the ground, causing intracranial hemorrhaging, and she went into shock.
Lianyina makes a turn in a competition. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Lianyina says she has little memory of what happened that day, but her mother, Wang Kun, says that as they were on their way to the hospital she implored her daughter and son to give up the dangerous sport.
However, Lianyina insisted that she wanted to continue riding.
"I was amazed by her bravery and determination," Wang says, and from that moment her parents decided to put their whole heart into supporting both children in motocross racing.
While minors in China are barred from driving motor vehicles on public roads, they are permitted to take part in motorsports events such as motocross on enclosed circuits so long as they have a competition license.
Lianyina took part in her first race when she was 9. Now she races about 30 times a year, and the sport has taken her to many parts of the country.
"As long as the competition allows me to take part, I'll be there, whether I'm racing adults or younger riders."
The performance she is proudest of came in Dushan county, Guizhou province, in 2017.
All-day rain had turned the track into a quagmire, making racing especially dangerous, with one of the risks being that bikes can easily be bogged down in mud.
She felt under tremendous pressure facing her female rivals, all older than her, she says, but she managed to pull out all the stops and cross the line first.
"After that race I was too tired even to hold my helmet, and just sat on the ground exhausted."
The realization of what she had achieved dawned on her only after her mother plied her with water and she eventually managed to relax.
Her goal is to be a top dirt bike rider, training and racing in other countries.
"My dad keeps encouraging me on, saying that the goal is not to be the champion in a group of women in China, but to go abroad and race at a higher level, so I have to continue to improve my skills."
Her daily routine now is tied to training and racing, as well as taking online academic classes.
To improve her physical condition she does a lot of intensive physical training.
"If my brother runs five kilometers, I run seven kilometers. And after he finishes riding, I ride for another half-hour," she says, adding that with any drill, she has to push herself to the limit.
"I often tell my classmates that I'm not having fun out there. They may be feeling tired physically and mentally because of their studies, but it's worse for me during training."
Wang says of her daughter: "I used to think she was just a delicate little girl, but since she's ridden motorcycles she's become tougher and stronger."
As for Lianyina, she sees motocross racing as her life and future.
"There's no way back. I think I'll keep racing, and nothing will stop me."
