6th Annual Sheperd's field Langfang Charity Run aug22-28

This past week the 6th annual Sheperd's field Charity Ride was made. 8 riders from Shanghai raised funds for a Ophanage in ShangDong's city of TianJing.
We rode to the Oprpahnge to enjoy lunch and time with the childeren.... We did some good for the community and got some pretty decent riding in... call it a win/win.
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6 Days

5 cities

Lin Yi (ShanDong), Tian Jing (Shan Dong), Bei Jing, Qing Dao and Yen Cheng(Jiang SU)
8 Riders

5 Brands of bikes
3 Ducati MTS, 2 BMW 1200GS, 1 Benelli Trek, HD Fatbob, CFmoto 650TR

4 Nations
China, HK, Taiwan, and US

and only one flat tire (me)

Day 1: Shanghai- LinYi ShanDong. 602 kms

We started off this 6 day ride near the 312 country highway within the city limits of Shanghai. The route would be basically north to Nantong and the ferry via the 204. We left Shanghai at 8:30am and headed out north bound to the the Ferry Attachment 8527that crosses the Yang Tze River to the city of Nantong. From the ferry we snaked thru the western part of Nantong and joined the G204, which would basically be our main road of choice while we burned up the KMs. We need to average around 600 km's a day to stick to our loose scheduel and day on was no exception. The G 204 is a nice road, pretty damn straight but nice and traffic was light and the road surface smooth and clean. Except for on stretch of the 204 which seems to be neglected, but it lasted 1/2 KM. We stop in Dong Tai for lunch at an "international hotel" along the G 204 and while completely out of place in this small town the food was good and it was a good chance to talk to some of the "newer" riders. While most have been driving for motorcycles for awhile, for some this was the first real BIG trip and nerves/exitment was about. Some guys couldn't even sleep the night before they were so exited....
We everyone well rested and bikes and gear adjusted and ready we headed out toward Lin Yun Gang and finally Lin Yi.
The first hotel, Lin Yi Guangtanf Hot Spring hotel.
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Service 3 stars
Food 5 stars
Cleanliness 4 Stars
rooms 3 stars

They offered a wide variety of Hot Sping baths (TIC the authenticity of the "natural" hit spring)

The food knocked my socks off, but after a full day of riding, anything short of :bs: would probably taste great.
After dinner it was for for a dip in the springs and a massage before bed....

Day 2: Lin Yi- Tian Jin. 487KMs

Early the next morning....
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We eat our breakfast at the hotel resturant ( the usual, tea eggs, Congee, noodles, bread and butter, and COFFEE).

We again set off early around 8:30, although today is relatively short with only 487 kms to complete before reaching the Radisson, Tian Jin. The route was simple again heading north. We wound through the cites of Yi Shui, Yi Bo, and Bin Zhou. The only real excitment was the expressway adventure which lay ahead and we wanted to leave sometime for any possible delays assoicated with attempting Expressway entrance and usage.

BTW Tian Jin does not allow motorcycles downtown in the city center, so it is advisiable to pick a hotel outside of town. The Radisson is SMACK dab in the middle of Tian Jin and directly across the street for the Tian Jin goverment offices. Do to our connections with the Marriot hotel group they were able to secure us special permission to enter the city to reach and depart the hotel ONLY.

After a lunch of Donkey meat soup:
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we headed toward the targeted Expressway, (actually we just took the first one that came up along the route.) The expressway was the new, very new and the GPS's did not have it on their maps.... All I know is that it headed straight to the port of Tian Jin (the Elis island of motorcycles, here in China). The night before the arguments were prepped and debates had about the legal use of Expressways by motorcycle, we were ready for the argument of our lives... as we approached the toll gate to begin the verbal joust..... The toll booth lady.... opened the gate and we rode striaght thru.... We didn't even need a card. There we were all 8 of us sitting on new, smooth and empty Expressway, with nothing but a ribbon of black top under and in front of us. We begin to pull away from the tollbooth and head towards the Port of Tian Jin. The road captin not completely sure on where to go (not on the GPS) ventured forward with caution... about 80kms of caution (slow for the expressway). I did my best to follow and stay in formation but our speed demon road captain just became Miss Daisy on the one road speed is allowed. Then I had had enough and the CF moto 650 TR under me screamed to be let loose, I wound up the throttle and pinned it. Now mind you the bike is fully ladden with the addition of a 50ltr topbox, but she still got up in a hurry and soon hit her max which was just shy of 210km/h. 210km/h is a 5 more Km/h then my previous top speed even with all the gear weighing her down.
As I was enjoying my full tuck moment one of the Ducati MTS's flew by me as if I was parked the rider effortlessly passes me with a big sh@t eating grin on his face. Later he would tell me that at 235 km/h he backed of as he felt it was plenty fast but that the throttle and the bike had more to go....
Soon the others were a faint memory and we slowed down to allow them to catch up, then we stopped and waited, and waited. While sitting on the road side we began to wonder what was keeping the group, we feared they had exited at one of the ramps we so happily zipped by. We decided at the that point to turn around and drive back to try and find them (first rule of group riding, stay as a group and don't pass the road captian). We did not get far, all of 5 meters before it was obvious that I had a flat rear tire. During the time it took to repair the flat the rest of the group caught up, with the highway patrol in tow. Its a good thing we stopped when we did, had that flat occured at 210 km/h I not sure if I would be writing this blog right now. No nail was found in the tire, just a clean hole, the expressway however was clean and clear of debris. We assumed that I had picked up a nail on the local roads and the speed while on the expressway dislodged the nail which then went flat quick. The highway patrol very firmly stated we were not allowed up on the expressway after all and the tollbooth operator made a mistake by letting us on.... Dang after on a few sweet Kms we were back down on the local roads. But since we didn't really know where the expressway would end up we exited at the next exit peacfully and without fuss.

As we neared the out skirts of Tian Jin, we came across a traffic jam on a limited entry road. The interesting thing about this was that 1. the road was to narrow to filter through traffic and 2. there were thousands of flies every where. As we apporached the epi center of the traffic delay and accident we all suddenly realized that the flies that were EVERYWHERE in the thousands, were in fact Bees. Now that made the odd dance to avoid what was thought to be only buzzy flies became a bit more dramatic as riders with 3/4 helmets and loose fitting clothing soon realized that a stray Bee or two might make it was into ones riding gear or helmet and cause and unpleasant sting!!!:eekers:
At the next gas stop the bees had diminished but still present, we asked the attendant at the station "why are there so many bees" she replied that trucks hauling bees use that road and bees do escape from time to time allowing them to build huge colonies. It didnt help that the truck invovled in the accident also was hauling bees.:eek2:
We arrived Tian Jin unstung and without any other incident, ready for that cold beer....
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Day 3, Tian Jin- Oprhange- Beijing. 350kms (all expressway)

We left the hotel around 10:00am, and its just a short 30 min ride through Tian Jin's suburbs ato the Oprhange to see the kids of the the Sheperd's Field facitlity.
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No Mc Donalds didn't sponsor us! I think they even rejected our offer!
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We dressed up as Ronald Mc Donald... I think because it was easy to source the costumes and would be instantly recognizable to the kids. Next year we will have Ultraman, spiderman and a Princess. I think a Batman riding suit from UDReplicas.com might just be the ticket:icon10:
After lunch and playtime with the kids it was time set off for Beijing our evenings destination.... The Ducatistas of the group wanted to attend the Ducati event in Beijing that evening. It was just a short run on the Expressway to Beijing anyway and it made for a nice middle of the ride point before turning back towards Shanghai.
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We arrived in Beijing just in time to hit Firday traffic... wooohoo. Who's Idea was this again! After a grueling hour and a half we reach the Beijing Marriot and settle in for a night of hotpot and drinking. Since the group was mixed nationality wise and all but one spoke english we decided to make a game of communicating. Chinese was the chosen langauge for the ride but for most of us Chinese is a second language. The rules are simple, use english and you have to down a pint of beer of a shot. Needless to say, with my Chinese being the worth of the group it quickly became a game to get me to screw up and us English:lol8: too make things interesting and fair Chinglish was also counted. Our Chinese only speaking friend soon realized just how much English he actually knew....

Tomorrow Qing Dao and the 22nd annual Beer Festivel!!!!

Day 4, Beijing- Qingdao. 700kms.

This morning was clear and a little crisp, as the "Summer Tiger" fades and fall approaches, actually the temperature durning the whole trip, except for in Shanghai was great. It was warm but with a cool breeze flowing through our mesh gear. The further north the better the conditions. We left Beijing and immediately lost 2 riders in the Beijing traffic headed south east towards Qingdao. After a quick couple of calls and an Iphone to Iphone location swap a plan was laid to meet at the next tollbooth 50kms ahead. 10kms later we meet up with them:eek2: some kinda of wormhole in the Beijing expressway system I guess....
Once again whole we approach the G3 expressway and begin to head to Qingdao. Expresway after expressway we weave our way along the Shandong expressway system, racking up the Kms and the toll fees. Its novel to us the expressway, dare I say effecient but hey wait a minute is also expensive. It cost more to ride on the expressways then to put gas in the TR, which under highway conditions gets about 300kms per tank (just a shy better then the Benelli Trek:naughty:

After discovering a endless number of seating positions while we burn up the kilometeres at 140-160km/h for hours on end we finally reach the G25 expressway just south of Tianjin, and immediately there is a problem. The toll booth attendants and guards don't know what to make of this pack of snarling big bikes (no one has stock pipes in this group) We had just left the G18 expressway to take a local short cut to the G25 and they now are not allowing us on:confused1:. They site the same old :bs: and it falls on our team "Lawyer" to step in with the China expressway rule book, and so begins the dance. It sometimes defies logic, the logic that the toll personel will utilize inorder to make their arguments make sense in their eyes. Our "lawyer" or so he calls himself, "though he was in truck parts" one riders says, I do my best not to laugh.... was getting no where and it was looking pretty bleak as we still had more Kms then hours of daylight to take local roads, Qingdao may not be in the books on this one. A lull in the arguing comes and then our instant "lawyer" starts with I want you head manager's information I am going to SUE, this tollbooth.... "Did he really just say that!" but instead of laughter from the toll attendants we were given the number and allowed to speak with the toll head. After again the same exchange of interpitations of the law, a conference call with the police is held and the verdic is that the police will allow the bike to enter the expressway as we are at least in that part of China in the right and have the right to use the expressways. After the phone is hung up and we get our gear on we and start to go, but there is another problem. Now the guards are not sure whether to give us toll cards, and if they give us cards what to charge us at the other end... We nearly run him over as we rush to tell him "charge as a car and get the hell out of the way" "what do you care what the other end charges"
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Mid argument with the Toll officals

After about 45 mins we are again off and running now desperate to make Qingdao before night fall.... We decide to eat a late lunch, almost 3pm on the expressway, at a rest stop much like you would in the US.Attachment 8541
sorry for the rotation, the computer wont allow me to change it....
All you can eat for 32rmb. Foods not half bad, but again I f*@king hungery.

We gas up again and we are off down the expressway for the remainder on the ride. More hours pass as we roll in a virtual striaght line down the expressway, I begin to play with my throttle, with the aid of my snap on cruise control that I bought from Twistedtrottle.com. I find that my TR does better on fuel consumtion @ 110-120km/h, and then again at 140km/h dead. Actually I think I get better mileage at 140km/h then at another speed. FYR my RPM is 6000 @ 140km/h.


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At the end of our mindless, at time endless expressway run of 650 kms in total on the expressway. We arrive the hotel after dark in Qingdao.

Night 4, Qingdao-Beer Fest!!!!
The whole reason for todays MAD dash through Shandong.... is this: Attachment 8542
This was the last night of the 22nd annual Beer Festivel in Qingdao. For those who don't know Qingdao is the Mecca of the Chinese Beer world. The famous/imfamous Tsingdao beer is brewed here. This festivel in famous in it of itself, its been on my China to do list for too long.
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This place is HHHHUUUGGGEEEE and there are 10's of thousands of drunks all having a good time. With Chinese BBQ on the grills and 3 types of festivel beer, Gold, red, and black.
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The beer served in these 2ltr plastic mugs... we all "sample" the three types of brew on tap.

Gold: High end Tsingdao, a bit heavier and fuller in body.

Red: Fruity Tsingdao but we all question the actual alcohol %, we all think it tastes like Cool Aid (at this point though all of our judgments are starting to be questionalble):clap::mwink:

Black: Now this is not beer is it.... it had a very strong coffee flavor and again not that much alcohol, we think...
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No we did not ride to the Beer fest.... but our bikes were to much to resist, we climbed on the in front of the hotel testing the various strengths and load barring capablities of the racks and boxes of each bike....

Tomorrow might be a rough one....

Day 5, Qingdao- Yancheng 480kms

After much a celebration last night the trip now begins to wind-down and our final stop before home lies only 480 kms from breakfast.
We depart after a hearty breakfast and a crap load of coffee... even I am not to chatty this morning!:eek2:. Today we are only using local roads as we know that expressway usage further south is problematic. So it back to breakneck speeds through traffic and dodgeball with every bicycle, dog, person and truck on the road. That being said Shandong is beautiful and we are presented with great vistas and jagged mountians. We ride past villages, valleys and vineyards.

Some shots from a GoPro mounted to the front of one of the bikes:
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oh you're killing me! Should've announce this *before* the ride. I'm like 30 mins from langfang. Somehow I didn't hear about this even though my wife volunteers at Shepherd's Field a lot... (I think maybe she doesn't want me gone for 5 days...)

Day 6, Yancheng- Shanghai 298kms

Final day of riding for the 8 riders. We head back along the 204 towards the ferry at Nantong, the report of a typhoon have us nervous about making the ferry before the weather forces its stopage. We ride hard for the ferry and arrive under blue sky (it did rain in the morning) by 11:30. We cross the river without incident and we begin the sprint for home. We ride tight as a group knowing we had completed a great ride with a great purpose. Charged with the energy of the those orphanse we all contemplate next years run and how we can improve our efforts with the kids and the orphange. While we are happy with our efforts of the last few days, fatiuge is setting in and its in many of our riders eyes. Everyone is ready for shower and good sleep in their own bed.
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We approach the city limits, and one by one riders ride up, wave and turn off to head home. Smaller and smaller the group gets and a certain sadness enters knowing the fun is over for now and that life will have to return to normal. All of a sudden one notices the solomness of the the final few Kms alone. After 6 days with your mates riding in front, next to and behind you, weaving through traffic alone seems like you are riding on the moon, the only sole in a vacume.

Now it time to wash and park the bike and prepare for the next big adventure.

Ride safe!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thedannywahl

oh you're killing me! Should've announce this *before* the ride. I'm like 30 mins from langfang. Somehow I didn't hear about this even though my wife volunteers at Shepherd's Field a lot... (I think maybe she doesn't want me gone for 5 days...)

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WOW! small world. PM and we will stay intouch for the next event!

Excellent RR, and great to see someone stand up for their rights to use the expressway without discrimination! Been there, done that on several occasions over the years, so the more that do it, the more chance that eventually the message might get through to those that make decisions and force a review or rethink of draconian local rules, since they are not National Laws.


It is indeed a small world, Nantong, been there several times (wifes from Jiangsu and one of my nurses is from Nantong), and have ridden around & stayed in Nantong though it was many years ago.


Did I miss the announcement of this upcoming event? I know I would have been a starter for this ride and likely one or two others, so keep up-to-date for the next one.


Lastly, if you didn't already then contact McDonalds for some sponsorship, gift certificates or something, hell what a missed PR opportunity.

Sorry guys the ride was not posted as space was limited do to a number of factors. We are hoping next year to open the ride up!