12 provinces in 8 days

Here's the RR from last month's ride, I finished off every province on the mainland apart from Tibet. I wasn't expecting much from the eastern part of China but it surprised me with just how awful it was. If I hadn't have zigged inland to visit the Guoliang tunnels as per Motokai's suggestion then the whole trip would've been a bust!

Anyway the whole thing was more about knocking off provinces and in that regard it was a success. Provinces/municipalities covered:

Heilongjiang
Jilin
Liaoning
Hebei
Beijing
Tianjing
Henan
Shandong
Jiangsu
Anhui
Zhejiang
Shanghai

Here's the route...


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This RR follows on from 'hohhot - harbin' from a couple of months back when I left the bike at the yingang office in Harbin.


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There she is...

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...safe and sound in the back of a bike warehouse in Harbin

6 August

Arrived at a very pikey hotel in Harbin at 1 am last night. My windowless undergound bunker stank of mould but only set me back 50 quai so no complaints really.

I arrived at the shop at 9.15 to find that the exhaust bracket hadn't been fixed and the chain runner hadn't been replaced. Neither of these annoyances would stop me getting underway but the guy who'd replaced the chain had taken too many links out and it was completely solid on the bike. Luckily I still had my chain repair kit from the numerous roadside repairs on the last trip so after half an hour of banging about I was ready to go. Unfortunately the bike then took a while to get going and just when it was beginning to splutter into life the battery ran out of juice and I had no choice but to push it to the nearest bike shop. After about one kilometre I got seriously bored of pushing the thing and ended up getting towed by a 3 wheeler. The first mechanic refused to even look at it because it was water cooled but I found another one who rigged up an ebike battery and she fired right up. I finally left at 12.30 which wasn't all that bad but a lot later than planned.

Because googlemaps only seems to let you adjust and save pedestrian routes it often tries to take me on very scenic detours which can sometimes be a nice surprise but more often a pain in the arse. This one, around Yushu, was the mother of all fuck ups and I became totally and inescapably stuck in some of the gloupiest mud i've ever encountered. I eventually collapsed in the dirt with my heart rate going at a million miles an hour and came to with a cold sensation in my outstretched right hand. A teenage farmer had taken pity on me and was pressing an ice lolley into the palm of my hand! A crowd soon gathered and between us we got the bike extracted and turned round after they'd explained there was absolutely no point into trying to push on. I rode back the way id came and lost control trying to gun it through another muddy patch about 300 metres down the track. I can't begin to explain how knackered I was but I managed to right the bike before collapsing again. This time the locals fetched one of those giant rotivator type tractor things and 4 of them put the bike on a trailer. To my shame I was too exhausted to help. The dropped me out of the danger zone and try as I might they wouldn't accept the redback I was waving around. Great folk.


After that I made good time to Jiaohe, a lot of the scenery was like the south of France. Arrived 6 pm and found one of the cleanest and most well organised bike shops i've ever seen where I bought new mirrors and rewelded the sidestand.*

315 kms
It all started so well! Then not so much...

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Shortly before getting very stuck

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My new pals

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lifting the bike onto the trailer

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Nice bike shop in Jiahe

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7

Left 7.40
My mate Tits Paul suggested a detour to Dandong to piss into North Korea off a half destroyed bridge so off I went! I flew through more frenchesque countryside in Jilin, then Liaoning with the roadside lined with (maybe) wild flowers. Lots of nice twisties with dull straights in between then the heavens opened in the mountains before Kuandian. The lightening was only 2 seconds away at the highest pass and I was bricking it!

Arrived Dandong at 6, went straight to the river separating China and the DPRK and it was full of swimmers! Definitely not what I was expecting! My first thought was they were gonna get picked off by snipers but there were so many it must've been an organised event. The bike hadn't been running very well so I set off to find a bike shop. A young dude on a mini crosser rode up next to me and gave me the thumbs up so I took the opportunity to ask for directions and like a true champion he offered to escort me to his local shop. Unfortunately they were just shutting and the hotels nearby had no parking but the boss offered to store the bike inside and said we could get cracking in the morning. They were a really nice bunch and we were chatting for a while about bikes and suitable hotels. Crosser dude said the one next door was safe because lots of Japanese and Koreans stayed there. I innocently asked whether they were North or South Koreans and he said of course only South because North Koreans were nuts and would shoot people – he then mimed a sub machine gun just in case the meaning wasn't clear. I'd kinda thought that relations would be better than that on the border town but obviously not!



715 today, 1030 total



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Tunnel

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Awww flowers

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My first thought was they were wild but later I saw some farmers tending them so maybe not...

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liaoning/French scenery

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Actually this part of the trip was OK compared to what was to come but still distinctly average compared to other parts of China. And you know that if i'm taking photos of flowers there's not a lot else going on!

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Keep digging sunshine!

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Pretty much the last place you'd expect to see swimmers

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The Chinese promenade

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The DPRK - this was maximum zoom on my puny compact but I don't think I missed much!

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by futianshenzhen

Keep digging sunshine!

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At least they're consistent..!



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Quote:

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Originally Posted by futianshenzhen

The DPRK - this was maximum zoom on my puny compact but I don't think I missed much!

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Probably fake anyways, besides that fog is likely fake too, a whole lot of little smoke machines running there little rings off delivering the expected smoke screen veil of secrecy... got to keep up appearances!

Haha Bikerdoc...very true I'm sure!

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My filthy filter

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Nasty looking carb, probably due to using dodgy petrol stations. Sorry ChinaV you did tell me so

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You can see the snapped exhuast bracket on the right. I made 2 the same then matey welded them together for hopefully double the strength

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The mechanic hard at work cleaning the carb in the pouring rain

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The footpeg mounting point which supports the exhaust had snapped, almost certainly due to the exhaust being held on with wire for 2000 kms and wagging about over the bumps. The mechanic's father took it off to get welded somewhere as it's ali...


8th



7 am at bike shop with muscles still aching from the mud madness. Unfortunately there was no new chain runner anywhere in Dandong but we repaired the broken exhaust bracket, cleaned the carb and air filter and I was away at 9.20 despite the boss protesting that the rain was too heavy to ride.

After 2 hours of rain it dried off then turned red hot by 1 pm so I was down to boots, football shorts and body armour. Quite the dashing fellow!

The first couple of hundred kms were nice - then shite, built up, beat up, busy bollocks through by far the worst smog i've ever encountered, a proper pea souper!

Bike ran great all day, no more missing and backfiring, the carb and filter were filthy. I stopped at a dozen shops and no-one sold chain runners. Make sure you order before you leave on long trips!

Arrived Suizhong 7pm. 560 today, 1590 total

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I turned off the road looking for a spot to have lunch...


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...and found this nice little bridge

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I was buying great tinned fish and russian sausages to keep me going through the day - one of the perks of the north

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My chain runner bodge - amazingly it held

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The old and the new....ish

9

Left 7.30, absolute murder til 2.30, beat up, filthy, dusty, and in places inexplicably swamped. Red hot all day, stopped cos was sick of the shit and phone was going haywire. Ice cream out phone straight in freezer which did the trick! Had all but given up of any respite but then entered the Pingu mountains east of Beijing, they were all but deserted, very pretty and had some nice twisties. Had to cool the phone again, this time in a sealy bag in a stream. Then through the outskirts of Beijing and Tianjin. It wasn't too bad but a bridge was out so had brief off road adventure.

Stopped to change oil, repair camera mount and tighten steering head bearings then on to TangErLi just West of Tianjin at 7 pm

Hotel receptionist wanted a photo, that's the second time this trip, reckon its the body armour!

540, 2130 total



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This was the only non taxi bike i saw on the whole trip

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I stumbled upon these jokers who wouldn't let a huge mound of dirt stand in the way of their tuk-tuk :thumbsup:

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Great success!

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Then it was my turn

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I only bottomed out a little bit

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I think the tuk-tuk lady was pleased to see me

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Apart from brief entertainment from tuk-tuk shenanigans most of the day was like this...

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...or this

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Finally the Pingu mountains offered some respite

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My phone overheated again and I was quite proud of this novel solution

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I had a break and a snack by the stream before cracking on. I just knew I had some much awfulness ahead of me and just wanted to get it over with.

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Here's a stitched panorama

10

Left 7.50

Nothing of any value at all today the highlight was a dual carriageway in good condition. Mostly potholed hell or under construction roads interspersed with dull straight single lane highway. Traffic was a nightmare with wankers coming out from everywhere without looking. I was shouting at everyone and kicked a couple of mianbaoche, didn't help that it was red hot all day. The air quality was shocking, made Shenzhen's worst day look like Devon. Saw a few groups of touring cyclists the mad bastards.

Made it into Linzhou at 5.30 then couldn't find a hotel, either no laowai or very pricey. Found one and scared a bird coming in the back door who then asked for my number!



585 today, 2715 total


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We don't have these down south! Quality!

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Just endless shit...depressing really

Nothing to report really, the day was spent shifting postions to try and stop the pain in my arse, but at the same time I didn't want to stop because I wanted out of the never ending filth and destruction.
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Would've been nice if it wasn't for all the trucks :icon10:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by futianshenzhen

Would've been nice if it wasn't for all the trucks :icon10:

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This sums China up pretty good ;)

11
Left 7.10

Happily drove around the mountains on tiny paths through hamlets until I found entrance to the Guoliang tunnels. Lots of tourists but still v good.

Map took me on awful backroad and I the dropped bike in that talcum powder like pink dust when the truck in front suddenly suddenly braked. I went down in a huge cloud of dust and luckily only bent the shifter and slider, after a quick hammer job I was back on the road. Love those sliders, and found a new use for them in the way of a new riding technique, sat on back seat one foot on peg, other forward on slider or vice versa...made a world of difference to my arse.


Finally got on some better roads and zigzagged a bit up to Mudan then on good road to Weishan (7pm) in Shandong. New province #6 this trip.

Apart from GuoLiang tunnels whole day was shite. Red hot, bashed roads, fucktarded drivers and suicidal peasants. Roll on shanghai and beers with the guys!

585 today, 3300 total

After unloading the saddlebags I found the rear footpeg (which holds the exhaust) had lost both bolts. I was looking for a hardware store for a while, then a nice man in a pikey shop went off to find some for me...great. Gave me the bolts for free after searching around for ages.

Invited to join some locals at a small restaurant, the room absolutely stunk of baijiu! 4 of the guys were sound but there's always one twat. This one clearly thought the sun shone out of his arse but the truth was far from it! Probably spoilt silly by his wanker local bigwig father. His mates were clearly embarrassed and even paid for my dinner!


All these were taken while I was happily searching for the tunnels
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Video stills from the Guoliang tunnels

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Some panoramas from the tunnels

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by modron

This sums China up pretty good ;)

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Ahhh nope...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by futianshenzhen

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Just endless shit...depressing really

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this sums up Ch!na pretty darn good IMO.

Anyone know why some stitched photos upload while some don't? The last one was 8.2 MB and was fine and now much smaller files won't play ball. I've even reduced them to less than one MB and still no joy! They are JPG files

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The evening after my crash

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The baijiu boys

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Rack bodge

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12
In the light of day I could see that the rack was completely fucked from yesterday's crash, I bodged it with cable ties and it seemed kind of OK.

Left 7.45, copper stopped me in town so I opened my visor spoke English, he waved me on and I made great time on some good if boring roads mixed with dangerous villages and dodgy junctions. My GPS packed up in Shuyang and went round in circles for a hour, after getting back on track I flew through Huaiha and continued making good ground. Fucking sweltering heat, went through a 10 minute shower that cooled me down and just kept pushing on, whenever I stopped for ice cream or drinks the sweat was just running off me so got back on the bike pretty quick. There really wasn't anything to see or enjoy, the whole area seemed like the armpit of China to me – apologies if you happen to live there but then i'd have to ask WHY??

Went past Hung-tse lake but couldn't see much cos of the smog so pushed on to Dingyuan and then Feidong near Hefei.

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Oooops!

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A bridge was under repair so an off road adventure was required

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yep you guessed it....more dreadful shite

13

Left at 9, after rebodging the rack with shit loads of cable ties. Mostly ok straight roads with some beat up sections until Wuhu where I had to take a ferry. The toll dude invited me into his air conditioned hut and asked me what min zhu we have in England, then his burly mate said our skin looks the same so why are we called yellow and you white. Didn't really know how go answer either of those questions so he continued with whether I thought China was a bad place, and whether anyone had ever tried to mug me. No I said, but you pikeys would try given half the chance! I retreated back to the bike, better to endure the heat than getting slapped in a tiny toll booth!

Good dual carriageway for a lot of the way to Shaghai, the G318 was excellent. It was very hot in the city, like riding into a hair dryer. My phone died again due to the heat but came back to life after sunset. Arrived at Tom's lockup at 7.20 and went on a well earned 48 hour piss up!

Thanks to Craig and all the Shanghai crowd for the amazing welcome and Tom for putting me up.

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Little pontoon bridge

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Hung-tse lake


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Rain and sun at the same time


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Locals on the ferry to Wuhu

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Ready to go on Wuhu ferry

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