Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride"

[ryanjpyle]

DAY FOUR
The MKRIDE team arrived safely in Dalian, Liaoning. We traveled 180km by ferry from Yantai to Dalian accross the Bohai Bay and had a wonderful time watching the day go by. It was a key rest day after a tough three days through the traffic heavy Eastern China.

[ryanjpyle]

DAY FIVE
Today the MKRIDE team suffered their first set back, a flat tire on our support vehicle. The MKRIDE team is all heathly and our spirts are high. Colin and Ryan covered 380km today traveling from Dalian to Dandong along a new stunning coastal highway that doesn't appear on any maps (even google maps). Our support team stayed on in Dalian to repair the tire. The team will reunite tomorrow in Dandong. Thanks for all your support.

[ryanjpyle]

Delayed Postings,

Folks, there will be some days were we are not able to post because we don't have a clean web connection. I know everyone understands that because we all live, or have lived, in China. I'll do my best to keep everyone up to date. The reason why our ride updates are so short is because there is so much happening it would be impossible to get it all into this space, hence the book and the documentary film. We'll do our best to keep everyone posted.

Currently Location: Dandong, China.

[ryanjpyle]

Day SIX
Today proved a fascinating day for Colin and Ryan as they took time to explore Dandong and visit the the Scenic Bridge that stretches halfway across the Yalu River, ending just 200m from North Korea. Colin and Ryan have enjoyed their day of "North Korea watching" and are feeling itchy to get back on thei BMW F800 bikes and get some kilometers under their belts. The brothers will reconnect with the support team later tonight, as they were stuck overnight in Dalian sourcing a spare tire, and everyone will hit the road again tomorrow and begin their exploration of DongBei, China's northeastern frontier.

[euphonius]

That must have been some flat! Destroyed the tire??

I guess they didn't let you ride the bimmers out to the end of China's bridge to nowhere....

stay safe!

[MotoKai]

Understand you guys are focusing on the ride and not the report (for right now at least), but some eye-candy would be appreciated.

Possible for your support team to post some photos either here, on MKRide Site, or both places?

Thanks.........Enjoy the ride!

[ryanjpyle]

DAY SEVEN
The MKRIDE team had their toughest day of travel so far. After leaving Dandong in decent time the team was quickly hampered by intense rains, flooded rivers and landslides. The team had to hold up for the night in Huanren, Liaoning; we were only able to travel 232km today. The MKRIDE is already one week into their adventure ride around China. Thank you all for emails and support.

[ryanjpyle]

DAY SEVEN - Youtube Clip
Folks, while we are still working on getting our imagery together. if you click this LINK you'll be able to see a Youtube clip from today's journey. If you like the clip you can also follow us on Youtube and Facebook. They also get regular updates.

[ryanjpyle]

DAY EIGHT
The MKRIDE team arrived safely today in the ChangBai Shan National Park, home of the famous volcanic lake overlooking North Korea, in Northeastern Jilin province. We were able to travel 334km today in 7 hours of riding through torrential rains and several detours, barely escaping the Dandong floods. As the global media is reporting, there are intense rains in Northeastern China at the moment and several key rivers are flooding - namely the Yalu River that makes up much of the border between China and North Korea. According to many reports as many as 50,000 people have been evacuated from the region we spent most of yesterday and today riding through. Needless to say, travel by motorcycle through a region in the midst of a natural disaster is not easy. Our hopes are that the rains will ease as we begin to move west starting from tomorrow.

On another note, the MKRIDE team had our first fall today, Colin bailed - at very low speed - in heavy mud on a highway under road construction. Colin, and the bike, are in very good condition and we are excited to continue our journey through the Middle Kingdom. To view the video of our exploration of the flooded rivers you can visit this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5fnhD_lAXA

[ryanjpyle]

DAY NINE
The MKRIDE Team spent the morning visiting the very fogging, and clouded in, Heavenly Lake on the border of China and North Korea. The view wasn't much as the weather did not cooperate, but Colin and Ryan did get a chance to step in to North Korea, even if just for a moment. From the Heavenly Lake the team rode Northwest aiming for Changchun, Jilin but didn't even make it half way before their day was ended by further intense rains. That makes four days in a row that severe rains have affected the MKRIDE team, and the flooding in Northeastern China is evidence of exactly how much rain has been falling. Locals are continuing to be evacuated from low-laying areas as we make our way west. Our next destination, which should be reached in the next 2 days is Inner Mongolia.