Some winter rides

I already filled you in on the first CNY ride a few posts back, that was a little 338 kilometer solo trip on the QingQi. After that adventure, I decided to mount up a rear box and go meet the Shenzhen boys, Rich and Tom, somewhere near the Baipenzhu reservoir. Rich spotted me blasting through traffic along the way and we headed of for lunch in the town of Baipenzhu.

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After filling our bellies, we enjoyed a beautiful ride along S356. This is a great road that hugs the shoreline of the reservoir.

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With the usual traffic.

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Tom on his QingQiSuzukiZongshen. He is a master of the art of duct tape and zip ties. Just the kind of thing that makes an anal retentive perfectionist like myself cringe. No matter, he was just as fast as Rich and I in everything except the off-road dirt sections.

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Stopping for a bike photo op.

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Along comes Rich on his XTR.

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Tom with a big smile.

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And moi...thanks for the great photo Tom.

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We found a decent hotel in Zijin and did the usual...beers and boasting. The next morning we set off towards Heyuan and another big day of twisties along the Xinfeng Jiang reservoir.

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Group portrait.

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We stayed in the town of Xinfeng that night and continued north the next day. Lots of fires burning all over Guangdong. I think these are started on purpose to clear the dead growth.

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Stopped in some small town and really had a hard time finding food as all the restaurants were closed. Finally scored some great dumplings and spent some time getting artsy fartsy with the camera while Tom was making performance mods at one of the local moto shops.

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Back on the road again and burning more rubber.

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A quick stop for a prayer.

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Many great hairpins later, we arrived in Heping and decided to stay there. The next morning we headed south and again were not having much luck finding lunch. Plenty of fireworks, but no food. So we decided to have some fun making noise with the locals.

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After some rather suspect egg/meat sandwiches, we were off again.

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Not exactly sure what this picture is about.

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Finally reached Zijin, where we stayed the first night, and decided we would head home the next day. In the morning, the boys were off to Shenzhen, and I set out for Dongguan via some less travelled roads.

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Was a great 5 day trip and I'm looking forward to another ride with the Shenzhen faction of MCM. Thanks for the invite guys.

Still have three more days of riding to report, will try to get that done tomorrow.

Cheers!
ChinaV

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

31.2ºC at 10:20 in the morning ain't bad for February...how was the weather up in BJ and SH folks? Oh, that was cruel, but if it makes you feel better, I only managed a meager 3195 kilometers during 9 days of riding. :riding:

Did I mention the weather?

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3195 km could have gotten you to BJ or SH, too scared to come all the way up and check out the weather yourself?!

ChinaV,
Great photos and ride report but where are the young ladies. Only one in the whole thread? You are slipping.

wow guangdong actually looks like a lot of fun! hadn't realised there were so many mountain roads out there.

also you have motorbike jackets that grow on trees. very handy.

Barnone, sounds like you're living on the wrong side of the planet mate!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by barnone

ChinaV,
Great photos and ride report but where are the young ladies. Only one in the whole thread? You are slipping.

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ChinaV, good stuff and great photos as usual. What you shooting with now? I saw you had a Ricoh in one of your exifs.

CC

Thank you very much of the pics and story.

Well I seemed to have forgotten about this thread, sorry for missing the questions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrazyCarl

What you shooting with now? I saw you had a Ricoh in one of your exifs.

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I'm using the Ricoh CX4 as a pocket cam, and the Panasonic GH1 as my big gun. I want to go full frame, but it's been years since Nikon and Canon have addressed their full frame line ups, so buying now would be stupid.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by barnone

but where are the young ladies. Only one in the whole thread? You are slipping.

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I think most of them went back home for CNY, or Rich scared them away :icon10:

I'm putting the last part of my solo trip together and will try to get that up tonight.

Cheers!
ChinaV

After a day of recuperation from the ride with Rich and Tom, I got antsy and decided the weather was too nice for sitting around the house. So I loaded up the Wee Strom and headed towards northern Guangdong.

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Passed through the Nankunshan mountain area.

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Stopped for lunch, somewhere.

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Late in the day near the Guangdong Grand Canyon.

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WTF?

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See the temple?

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There it is.

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And a little story. I first discovered the Nanshui reservoir sometime in 2004. At that time, we didn't have fancy GPS units, and maps of the area weren't so great. I purchased a map showing a road going around the west side of the reservoir. I spent the better half of a day looking for that friggin road and never managed to find it. Years rolled on, more maps were purchased, and time after time I would go looking for "the road that doesn't exist". Finally, in 2008, someone said the road was being built and would probably be done in a year or so. Couple more years went by, and I was up there last fall, still no road, but I could see it was being made. I was sure that this time it would finally be open, but arrived to find one last bridge needed to be built before the link would be made.

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The final link.

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Determined to find a way, I set off looking for an alternative route.

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Ended up in the jungle.

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Finally conceded defeat and went looking for a hotel.

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The next morning I decided I would take the road in from the North, because I just had to see the west side of the reservoir. I mean after all, I'd been waiting for something like 7 years, and even though I would have to turn around and back track, I felt it necessary finally ride this road.

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I reached the bridge, this time from the opposite side.

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Had to walk the last half kilometer as the road was blocked.

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On the way back, I happened upon 3 Chinese guys going South. Being fellow bikers, we stopped to chat and I filled them in the bridge situation. They said that couldn't be right, they're maps and GPS show a road. I tried to explain my 7 year waiting period and finally just broke out the camera and showed them the picture of the bridge. They were a bit bummed out. Oh well, at least the scenery was nice.

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I liked this guys helmet cam and wind guard. Chinese motorcycle guys are really pretty hardcore…respect.

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More dirt.

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Long Wang… giggle giggle. :lol8:

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Beautiful northern Guangdong, near the border of Hunan.

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Stepping into Hunan for a bit.

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Had that feeling of being here before, when I saw this "Rich Boss" sign, I remembered coming through with Franki in 2009.

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Found a love(ly) hotel to stay in.

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Fancy dinner and MCM.

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Heading home the next day passing a lot more fires.

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Somewhere...

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Autopilot...

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Final stop before hitting the city.

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Cheers!
ChinaV

Is it just me or is your photography getting better and better?

That ghost is really funny. When it finally opens nobody will appreciate how long you waited for the fucker! There's a road like that in Suzhou as well which has been on all official maps since 2006 when i moved there, but to this day still has a village parked right in the middle of where it should be. I would be so worried if i lived there...

Love the autopilot, does it run on anroid?


PS: if you're as anal retentive as you say, why doesn't the last picture have a "ChinaV border"? Ruins the report if you ask me...

Love your pics. South China sure seems fun if you know the right people.