2011 May Day ride, Shanghai edition

May Day! May Day!

Sadly, this year's May Day holiday in China is no longer the seven-day national shutdown that it was for so many years, but rather is only three days in duration. This has good aspects and bad. Bad that it's too short, especially for those of us who need at least a day to get to anyplace with nice riding. Good in that it's perhaps too short for every newbie motorist in China to hit the streets (in search of motorcyclists to run over).

Anyway, for MCM Shanghai denizens, I've heard that a local club is organizing a three-day ride out to Yixing, a somewhat scenic pottery-making town on the other side of Taihu (太湖 -- Lake Tai) from Suzhou. I'm still nursing an injury, so this could be an ok first ride of spring for me. Yixing is starting to get into the mountains, but it's semi-urban and only semi-mountainous, and I think the ride will be more about group fun and sightseeing than excellent rural motorcycling.

Anyone else have anything up their sleeves? Milton? MotoKai? Wrangler? Dewsnap? Bikeless Felix? (Oh, wait, you've still got your CJ, right?) Nuhaus? Yangtzepete? Nostalgie? Others?

cheers

I may or may not be in Taiwan this holiday, will know by midweek. If I'm still in Shanghai, a short ride around the local area would be awesome. A few ideas on some good rides worth checking out

1. Chongming island and northern Jiangsu province loop. Never done this one yet, and it sounds awfully enticing. There are ferries that would shuttle between Baoshan district and Chongming island. From there, it's a much shorter ferry ride into northern Jiangsu province through what looks like nice rural scenery on the map, quite likely good wide and fast roads. To get back, maybe go through Nantong on the bridge or another ferry across the Yangzte River if bikes aren't allowed on the bridge.

2. Zhejiang mountain foothills around Hangzhou. Moganshan comes to mind, but I think it's worth avoiding during the holiday as it would over-run with Chinese tourists. Other areas have mountains around Hangzhou, would be worth exploring.

3. Zhejiang Islands. Ferries also run to the other islands in the archipelogo such as Putuoshan, Zhoushan, and so forth. The more famous ones would be overbooked with tourists, but there may be some alternatives. For example, a friend gave some rave reviews of a less-touristed island within Shanghai province jurisdiction. It wasn't Chongming but another island that is visible from flights going into Pudong airport on certain flight paths. Can't remember the name of that island off the top of my head.

I might not be available during those day unfortunately. But believe me, i'd hold you guys up on the CJ unless i actually detach the sidecar, which is awesome fun. Ill let you guys know, it might be a last minute decision.

I rode out to yixing a couple of years ago. Nice enough area but some way better stuff just a little further south. Would be fun in the right crowd, which the suzhou bikers are! (be warned though, they have expensive taste)

Steve, are you talking about Sheng Si island? Ride report here:

http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...for-a-weekend!

Count me in for a short ride out of Shanghai. Wrangler and i were recently scheming about a short May holiday trip somewhere but we haven't made plans yet.
I don't think the missus will allow a full 3day ride but i could possibly do an overnight run.

Felix's ride reports through Zhejiang look the dogs. That has my vote but i'm easy whatever.

Turns out I've never heard of Sheng Si Island until now. Looks awesome, that there'd be such kind of beach this close to Shanghai. The one I just remembered now was Changxing Island, basically it's connected to Chongming by the long bridge.

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Originally Posted by euphonius

May Day! May Day!
......
Anyone else have anything up their sleeves? Milton? MotoKai? Wrangler? Dewsnap? Bikeless Felix? (Oh, wait, you've still got your CJ, right?) Nuhaus? Yangtzepete? Nostalgie? Others?

cheers

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Is this the local club event you are referring to? http://bbs.750.com.cn/showtopic-4375.aspx
If it is, you may want to connect with the organizer and get youself a room if it's not too late. The camping arrangement is also available. Nostalgie is the best person to contact I believe.
You get this in YiXing:
http://bbs.750.com.cn/attachment.asp...chmentid=16993

A few of us planned to head to the very southern reaches of Zhejiang, we've been to many times before. Even discussed perhaps going across the border into WuYiShan, which would be the second time this year for that trip. Those of us on that excursion had planned to take our big (1000+) cruisers, though I'd be just as happy and in some ways more comfortable on my maxi scoot. The rest of the group (another 4+ guys) that we'd normally ride with have bought some new (used) BMW's with the typical questionable histories, plates and such like and want to head into Anhui, so the usual group of riders is split into two camps so to speak. Not sure about the rest of you guys, but the last couple of afternoons have seen some gnarly winds and a sudden heavy downpour from the heavens above, only to clear up within thirty minutes or so, while the previous part of the days have been bathed in brilliant warm sunshine. Talk about changeable weather, though the maxi scoot is blessing to ride during such occurrences, remaining for all intense-&-purposes... dry! I'd be drenched through even with ATGATT on the Dragstar. Just sayin...
Today I've had to put in an appearance at the work place, which has worked out well since the forecast is for rain Sat & Sun, confirmed with showers between 8:00-9:30 this morning, though there are high clouds which are still enticing me to go for a ride in the mountains out my windows, with dry bitumen and concrete to boot.
If any of you lot find your way, or have plans to head south of Hangzhou, then drop me a note here... I'm happy as a wet toddy to share some of this areas best kept riding secrets.

BTW, one of you mentioned the islands just off the coast of Beilun, Ningbo (PuTuoShan, ZhouShan et al.) Some of our great riding islands include... ZhuJiaJian Dao & TaoHua Dao
:thumbsup:

Hey Doc, u seem to know your rides around our part of the world. I'll very much hope you can show me your favourite runs in the future.
I went on a simple 100km run yesterday, got lost and ended up covering 180km's trying to get home. I'm a liability riding on my own. Lol.

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Originally Posted by dewsnap

Hey Doc, u seem to know your rides around our part of the world. I'll very much hope you can show me your favourite runs in the future.
I went on a simple 100km run yesterday, got lost and ended up covering 180km's trying to get home. I'm a liability riding on my own. Lol.

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Absolutely, more than happy to. :)
Lots to choose from too which is both a blessing and a curse!
Ha! the getting lost part, I can relate to that... roll back 6 or so years when I moved down yonder from the big smoke aka Shangers, I got my first 125cc bike down here (jinjian startrek scooter - black with the fold in mirrors at about hip height) and attempted to ride/find my way from Beilun Ningbo - Shanghai - Ningbo, when there was a scarcity of decent maps and GPS was just 3 letters of the English alphabet. I'd ride out on a Saturday explore a route then return home that night, then repeat the exercise on the Sunday aiming to extend the destination a little. Essentially that's what I did multiple weekends to a multitude of destinations and places in-between. I've ridden many many places, and Ningbo-Shanghai-Ningbo a good couple of dozen times over the years. It took me an age to get to a point where I'd not get lost in Hangzhou on each transit through that hell hole for motorcyclists (motorcycle BAN), where invariably I'd end up in a multiple sections of Hangzhou in areas I shouldn't have been only to chase my tail for several hours trying to find my way out of the place!
:mwink: So, I can relate and sympathise with you. Great part is getting all lost and confused on the journey, often allows one to find some special and otherwise hidden gems.
Give me a shout any time you want to drop by these parts (and just to wet your appetite, think - many mountains, rivers, dams, tea plantations, beaches etc).

Addit: :scooter:
me and a mate have decided we're going to leave our Dragstars' at home and take our Jetmax's instead for an overnighter (Sun-Mon) down to south Zhejiang destination unsure at this point. We'll make it up as we go along. Will try to get photos and post a wee report, or at least something to make you city dwellers (Shangers & Beijingers) a little envious of my back yard!
:thumbsup:

The south Zhejiang ride sounds awesome, enjoy! I've done that area many times on a bicycle before, but obviously the distance is more limited compared to what you can do with an engine.

As for getting lost, that was partly how I've discovered multiple side routes that go between Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces. That is to say, each province has its own various benefits that the others provinces do not.

One major potential advantage to the Ningbo - Shanghai run would be bikes crossing the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, and thus bypassing Hangzhou completely -- but that is unfortuntely not allowed for bikes. And I've already tried to sneak on, it doesn't work. The best plan would have been to try and sneak into the petrol stations on the expressway using the backroads, and then ride the bridge. But to my knowledge there is no way to get into those stations apart from the highways. The side routes are all blocked with 'bao an' security guards.

Maybe it has to be really early in the morning. Anyways, will try for another ride.

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Originally Posted by Steve_R

The south Zhejiang ride sounds awesome, enjoy! I've done that area many times on a bicycle before, but obviously the distance is more limited compared to what you can do with an engine.
As for getting lost, that was partly how I've discovered multiple side routes that go between Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces. That is to say, each province has its own various benefits that the others provinces do not.
One major potential advantage to the Ningbo - Shanghai run would be bikes crossing the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, and thus bypassing Hangzhou completely -- but that is unfortuntely not allowed for bikes. And I've already tried to sneak on, it doesn't work. The best plan would have been to try and sneak into the petrol stations on the expressway using the backroads, and then ride the bridge. But to my knowledge there is no way to get into those stations apart from the highways. The side routes are all blocked with 'bao an' security guards.
Maybe it has to be really early in the morning. Anyways, will try for another ride.

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Hey, you share some of the same experiences and thoughts - scary! About HZ Bay Bridge, I've spent time exploring both ends of the aforementioned bridge at both service centres, and even was able to take my bike into the rear bike parking area through the rear barrier gate after chatting with the security guards (Bao An's) which are manned 24/7. I convinced them that I simply wanted to go and get something to eat which is indeed what I wanted but I was also checking out how feasible it'd be to do a Cannon-ball run <winks>
The service stations at the service areas, cannot be accessed without going through the security barrier.

I can confirm that there is actually a couple of new bridges that have or are under construction, the larger and taller of the two I'm thinking of forms part of the new expressway links quite a fair way East of HZ. That being said though, there is a new bridge far to the East of ShaoXing (HZ) which has banned access to bikes, but there is an large elevator on both ends & on both sides of the lanes, that once ascended provides access to a rather wide bike lane on both sides of the bridge span. To actually find the bridge I used a route that takes me close to the Hangzhou Wan and south inlets, and stayed as close as possible to the river system on the "seawall" allowing me eventually to "discover" the said bridge. I used the elevators around Dec/Jan when I rode from Ningbo - Northeast HZ - SH. On the return leg I opted to just ride across as the Northern side has toll booths which were not manned at that stage. I'll see if I can dig out the co-ordinates or a name of the said bridge.

Incidentally, I joined one of my riding buddies, and we did an overnighter from NB, through Ninghai - Sanmen - Taizhou - Linhai - Yandangshan (crazy busy there, with an easy 20 km traffic jam, bumper to bumper traffic queues in both directions with all manner of vehicles types stuck, with a healthy mix of pedestrians too! Thankfully we were on bikes, which was still really SSSSSSLLLLLLOOOWWWW going) - Nanxijiang then return.

Thanks for that info bikerdoc! I think i found your bridge:

http://ditu.google.cn/maps?q=30.3179...,0.052314&z=15

If you zoom in you can see the elevator towers on both ends. So you're saying you can take these elevators with your bike? That sounds like fun!

Yep thats the bridge. Just remember though I took it end of last year, early this year and it was not completely finished at that time, or more importantly hadn't officially been opened, though the road on both sides of the bridge were open, there was a BaoAn in attendance with a kind of single lane barrier to stop bike users (cyclists, scooters and the usual array of small motorcycles). I scouted all around the bridge, including the villages to the east of the southeastern tower and also took in the road that straddles the south side of the river - quite a nice ride there right on the rivers edge with little to no traffic. Since there was BaoAn on the southside of the bridge, I watched some locals take their ebikes up in the lifts (which are huge), and so did the same myself - I was on my maxi scooter after all, easier to blend in at first glance! When I rode back that night it was quiet, there were no BaoAns on the northern side, and the tolls were not up and running yet. Probably all changed now... but the lifts are there, and they give access to really wide cycle lanes on both sides. Oh and those towers also contain stairs too though I don't recall if the stairs combined ramps as is commonly seen here. I do remember the stairs as being rather wide, with big landings but can't say if I saw ramps or not. Me thinks not, since I was round the southern towers for an age since it was so quiet I was wondering how to access the bridge without going past that BaoAn. Eventually an ebike rider arrived and it was then I saw the lift in action.

Wow, that sounds like quite a trip --- bikes on elevators. Let's just say you've definitely piqued my curiosity.

When you say stairs, is it the common type that also has a small ramp beside the stairs where you could theoretically push, or ride a bike on?

If this bridge is rideable, I think we've stumbled on paydirt here.

Last week I was trying to get to the Hangzhou airport using buses, and it was a flop. The bus stations are way out in the suburbs, requiring multiple taxi rides. The train stations aren't any better. The whole point of using the Hangzhou airport instead of the Shanghai one is to save money on flights to the south, i.e. Shenzhen or Guangzhou.

But what's the point if it costs the difference in taxi fare? So I was thinking at the time, that a bike would solve all these problems.

If only it was possible to reach the Hangzhou airport on a bike. Now it might just be, as I rode that bridge in a taxi on the way to the airport -- it's indeed the closest bridge.