Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride"

**CrazyCarl** · 09-03-2010, 03:12 PM

Ryan,

Nice to see you're making it out west! The route you have planned should be relatively smooth sailing minus the trucks!

Keep truckin' and post some photos when you can!

Paz,
CC

**ryanjpyle** · 09-04-2010, 02:06 PM

DAY 22 - The MKRIDE team arrived safely in the town of Hami, China. Although Hami is a lovely town, it wasn't our intended destination for today as the MKRIDE team was severely slowed by endless road construction along Highway 313 from Gansu to Xinjiang province, and once the road construction was completed we were hit by a freak sand storm and then a hail storm. A challenging day indeed. Upwards and onwards, spirits are high and the team is excited to be in Xinjiang province. We have over 10 days of riding here and we look forward to fully exploring the culture and lifestyle of the minority peoples here. The roads are starting to deteriorate a bit and we are preparing ourselves for longer days and harder riding. Thank you for all of those who write us, your kind words keep us motivated and moving forwards. We'll be sure to keep everyone up to date of our movements.

**ryanjpyle** · 09-04-2010, 02:40 PM

Originally Posted by CrazyCarl

Ryan,

Nice to see you're making it out west! The route you have planned should be relatively smooth sailing minus the trucks!

Keep truckin' and post some photos when you can!

Paz,
CC

Carl,

It's great to hear from you. I don't have the time and the bandwidth to upload imagery to all the places that we need it, so I've uploaded them to a central location. So you can find all our MKRIDE pictures at the links below:

1) Trip Preparation LINK
Actual Link: http://archive.ryanpyle.com/gallery/...0001B2NYqu1cOY

2) MKRIDE Week 1 LINK
Actual Link: http://archive.ryanpyle.com/gallery/...0002C88njQakPI

3) MKRIDE Week 2 LINK
Actual Link: http://archive.ryanpyle.com/gallery/...000k1BvL663GAI

**ryanjpyle** · 09-09-2010, 12:53 AM

DAY 23 - Today the MKRIDE team safely navigated through a sand storm, freezing rain and strong desert winds to arrive at the second deepest location in the world - The Turpan Depression, at a 154m below sea level. We are currently enjoying our first night camping under the stars, and we are excited to dive deeper into Xinjiang province tomorrow, as we begin our assent into the Tian Shan Mountain Range.

**ryanjpyle** · 09-09-2010, 01:02 AM

DAY 24 - The MKRIDE team arrived safely today in the middle of nowhere. After camping last night at the lowest point in China (-154m) we rode over 300km today in off-road conditions from Turpan to Hijing. The road was tough, a military detour led to an extra hour drive in the dark extending our day over the 14hr mark. Hopefully tomorrow is a smoother day. We could really use an easy 300km at some stage on this trip.

**ryanjpyle** · 09-09-2010, 01:03 AM

DAY 25 - The MKRIDE team arrived safely in the town of Kuqa, Xinjiang. We managed to navigate our way out of the Tian Shan range and made great time cruising through the desert to the oasis town of Kuqa. We enjoyed a quiet night in the market eating kabobs and drinking black tea. Spirits are high as we continue to head to the western most point in China. The last few days we haven't had any Internet access so hopefully our posts will get stronger in the near future. Also, new video and pictures will be ready by early next week.

**ryanjpyle** · 09-09-2010, 01:09 AM

DAY 26 - The MKRIDE team safely arrived in Kashgar, Xinjiang. This former "Great Game" listening post marks an amazing accomplishment for both Ryan & Colin, as it is the furthest West Colin & Ryan will travel during their Middle Kingdom Ride. The journey from Shanghai to Kashgar has been a difficult one, marked by extreme heat, flooding, bureaucratic/military interference and extreme wind, a dust storm and two freak summer hail storms. But through all of those trials the spirit of the journey remains high and the people of China have been both hospitable and accommodating. While Kashgar marks the halfway point in our journey, Colin & Ryan will rest, change tires, tune the bikes and enjoy Kashgar before beginning our long 30+ day journey East back to Shanghai. We thank all of those who write wishing us well, and thanks to all of you who follow our blog, Facebook and Twitter posts. The next few days will allow us to organize and post more video and pictures, so stay tuned.

**ryanjpyle** · 09-23-2010, 11:52 AM

DAY 27 - The MKRIDE team enjoyed a partial day off in Kashgar, China. We slept in for the first time in ten days of straight riding, it was heavenly! Then we visited a local mechanic to assist us with our bike tune-up, tire change (TKC 80's) and our oil changes. Then we visited a local car wash and had the bikes hosed down, now the are running like new; and they look great amazingly new. It is a very satisfying feeling riding clear accross China. Can't wait to start the long way home.

**ryanjpyle** · 09-23-2010, 11:54 AM

DAY 28 - The MKRIDE team arrived safely today in Tashgorkan, China - 3200m. Tashgorkan is the border town along the Karakoram Highway between China and Pakistan. Our journey today was reminicenst of Silk Road traders half a century ago, traveling along the stunning Karakoram valley which was once, and still is, the gateway between China and the Middle East. The riding was absolutely incredible: snow capped mountains, Tajik herdsmen, perfect tarmac! More updates coming soon!

**ryanjpyle** · 09-23-2010, 11:56 AM

DAY 29 - The MKRIDE team departed from Tashgorkan, Xinjiang (3200m) this morning to the border of China and Pakistan (5200m). Our journey was doomed from the beginning as light rain and 12C was quickly replaced by -2C and hail. Both of our BMW F800GS' stalled at -2C (5100m) just 4km shy of the border. We had to leave the bikes behind and join our support team for the last stretch. The border itself was engulfed by a blizzard and little could be seen. The journey back to Tashgorkan was even more tough as one of our bikes battery died and had to be put into the back of our support vehicle. We did make it back to Tashgorkan in one piece. The bikes are functional again and we've got more road to eat up tomorrow.