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Chinese New Year Solo Ride from Shanghai into Zhejiang.
This CNY, on the first day of my holiday, I got up, packed my bike and rode out. I picked up a backpack for the laptop and a flourescent, Hi-vis jacket from Decathalon. Unfortunately, a new friend and rider couldn't come, so this would be a solo journey.
BikerDoc, another member on here had given me a long list of places to explore in Zhejiang. Thanks for this. This is what I used as the basis for the trip.
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The bike by an abandoned house on the endlless route out of Shanghai (it does end, only after about four or five hours). This shows I went quite light with the packing this timne with only one 40 litre dry sack from decathalon and a 20 litre backpack. No panniers.
The first hurdle was crossing the river to the South of Shanghai. Scratch that, the first hurdle was to leave Shanghai- it's massive.
I rode South and hoped there would be a ferry to Ningbo or Zhoushan in Zhejiang. After asking locals, I gave up on this and went along the river to find the fabled elevator bridge across the Qiangzhen River. Before this, I ran out of petrol and converted my camelbak into a syphon. Luckily a Chinese guy on a scooter arrived and offered to sell me some petrol. I now know what petrol tastes like.
Next day was the bridge crossing.
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The bridge- the Jiang Dong Da Qiao. The road across and approach road are a GaoSu- Expressway or GuoDao so no motorcycles allowed. However there is a road alongside that leads to two towers with steps and an elevator that is used to ride across the bridge. Many other posters on here before me have used it, but this info was instrumental in getting to Zhejiang.
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This guy was an absolute life saver. He came along on his scooter and assured me that he had enough petrol to help me out. We tried different ways to get the petrol from the scooter into my taller dirt bike, even putting his bike on a two foot high manhole cover. In the end, the expensive Camelbak had to be sacrificed, But I was grateful for his kindness and after paying him for the two litres, we wished each other a Happy New Year (the next Day was the EVE of Chinese New year and I headed off into the darkening evening to find a petrol station and a bed for the night. Next day, bridge crossing.
* as an adendum to this, I've gotta point out that I knew the tank was only 8 litres and that this event was totally my fault. The bike, during winter, had had some starting problems and only seemed to want to idle with the fuel petcock turned to reserve, so I must have started the journey with it set this way. A bad habit, which left the tank bone dry miles from a petrol station.
Re: Chinese New Year Solo Ride from Shanghai into Zhejiang.
keep it coming...love a good story and learnings out of it :thumbsup:
Re: Chinese New Year Solo Ride from Shanghai into Zhejiang.
That is all you found? Just one little building?
Hope you had a great time despite running out of gas. I find those small things are what makes it more of an adventure. I learned my lesson a few years back when I was stuck in the country side. Always have a fuel bottle and/or a siphon with you.
Re: Chinese New Year Solo Ride from Shanghai into Zhejiang.
... i advise to unscrew the petcock from tank and clean the filter inside.
Maybe even flush the tank to get the remaining dirt out.
That should fix you problem.
Re: Chinese New Year Solo Ride from Shanghai into Zhejiang.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Asymptomatic
That is all you found? Just one little building?
Hope you had a great time despite running out of gas. I find those small things are what makes it more of an adventure. I learned my lesson a few years back when I was stuck in the countryside. Always have a fuel bottle and/or a siphon with you.
Cheers, actually not much of note on the ride out of Shanghai. I did, however, see a huge mock ancient Chinese building. It was astounding in size, going to be a new hotel, it was near an ancient looming walled structure.. Think I have one or both on film.
I now have my own siphon in the form of a ¥600 Camelbak:)
Yeah, the good stuff is obviously to come..
Your brother bought his bike yet?
Re: Chinese New Year Solo Ride from Shanghai into Zhejiang.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ShuBen
... i advise to unscrew the petcock from tank and clean the filter inside.
Maybe even flush the tank to get the remaining dirt out.
That should fix you problem.
Okay, cheers. I wondered.
Man, motorcycling.. Really does require the learning of new skills.. Maintenance etc. I'll be casting around for a torque wrench soon too.
Re: Chinese New Year Solo Ride from Shanghai into Zhejiang.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Metalmonkey
Cheers, actually not much of note on the ride out of Shanghai. I did, however, see a huge mock ancient Chinese building. It was astounding in size, going to be a new hotel, it was near an ancient looming walled structure.. Think I have one or both on film.
I now have my own siphon in the form of a ¥600 Camelbak:)
Yeah, the good stuff is obviously to come..
Your brother bought his bike yet?
Are you going to start shooting video and editing and posting it up? I picked up a few go pros for the summer. i hope I find something interesting out here in Jilin!
It is still snowing here in the North. My brother will purchase when he can ride it home. It will be another month most likely. Then the real fun begins.
Your camelbak is a sad story... I hope your it is not dual purpose now!
Re: Chinese New Year Solo Ride from Shanghai into Zhejiang.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Asymptomatic
Are you going to start shooting video and editing and posting it up? I picked up a few go pros for the summer. i hope I find something interesting out here in Jilin!
It is still snowing here in the North. My brother will purchase when he can ride it home. It will be another month most likely. Then the real fun begins.
Your camelbak is a sad story... I hope your it is not dual purpose now!
Yeah, bought a go pro five last year, done a couple of videos , but they are too long. Should improve with practice.
ride it home? To Europe?
Re: Chinese New Year Solo Ride from Shanghai into Zhejiang.
lol no, Changchun only has 2 dealerships so most of the time you need to bus or train to a neighboring city and ride your new bike home and since everything is covered with snow and ice it is not an ideal time yet.
Yeah make some videos... I tried getting into the video thing but so far I would not even watch my videos :( good luck!