Adventure Motorcycle Magazine Subscribe Now

Page 9 of 11 FirstFirst ... 7891011 LastLast
Results 81 to 90 of 105
  1. #81 Re: Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride" 
    ryanpyle ryanjpyle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Shanghai, China
    Posts
    229
    MKRIDE Update: Back on the road again, almost.

    Hello,

    Well, it's been a topsy turvy two weeks for the MKRIDE team. We've actually spent more time off the bikes than on the bikes, which is never a good thing. After our blown clutch we had two new clutches arrive rapidly in Lhasa, with much help from our friends in the China riding community; a special thanks goes out to Tim at BMW Toronto, Andreas in HK, Andy in Beijing, Jeff in Shanghai and of course our couriers, Leo and Marissa. There were many other people involved as well, thank you to all involved.

    With our F800GS clutch self-repaired, by using a DIY ADVRIDER posting, Colin and Ryan headed out from Lhasa and backtracked west some 600km to visit Mount Everest Base Camp (EBC), and yes - it was well worth the backtrack. Our overnight in a Tingri Farmhouse followed by a 70km, 7 hour, off-road ride the next day to EBC may have been the highlight of the journey so far. For those of you who haven't had the chance to visit EBC I can tell you that it is well worth the hardship of traveling there. The mountain itself is stunning. The surrounding valley is breathtaking and I consider myself very luck to have visited twice. My first journey I trekked in from Shegar (about 90km) in 2001. This trip was, by comparison, much easier with the bikes. I know the trip to EBC left a lasting impression on Colin, who is enjoying his first trip to Tibet.

    Our journey from EBC back to Lhasa was full of frustration and indecision. We learned that our application by our travel partners in Tibet to ride out of Eastern Tibet was denied. There as been some civil unrest there in the last few weeks and the whole region has been closed to foreign travelers, meaning us. We had a few decisions to consider. One was to backtrack north to Qinghai province, then cut south back to Yunnan and continue our journey, but that was going to add about 4,000km to our journey. Another option was to try and sneak through the military, and police, checkpoints at night - but we feared for the safety of our guides and drivers - as well as our filming ambitions for this leg of the journey. In the end we decided to, yet again, put the bikes on a truck and ship them to Yunnan province; while the MKRIDE team flew that leg of the journey. This was a heart wrenching decision to make but we collectively felt it was the right thing to do as we didn't want to put our local guides in harms way and adding 4,000km to our trip so late in the game was not an option. Putting two perfectly working motorcycles on a truck is a horrible thing to do, but alas it was all we could do. Sadly we missed out on Eastern Tibet this trip, the stunning mountains and river valley's will have to wait until a future trip.

    We are currently in Yunnan province waiting for our bikes to arrive, should be in the next 24hrs. While Colin and I have had an amazing trip thus far, we are excited about the prospects of being on the final leg of our trip. We are currently just under 5,000km from Shanghai and should arrive somewhere around October 20th, just five days later than originally scheduled.

    We also would like to thank everyone for following our journey. Your emails, messages and support are wonderful and we hope that our journey not only provides you with an interest or better understanding of China, but also perhaps an ambition to get out and see the world. There is a lot of adventure and exploration out there to be had, and there is no better tool for exploration than a motorcycle. More updates coming soon. www.mkride.com.

    ps. We have a new video on YouTube. You can view it by following this link: <http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMKRID.../1/bD2RbTxbU_A>
    _________________________

    Cheers,

    Ryan Pyle & Colin Pyle

    Base: CHINA
    www.mkride.com / www.ryanpyle.com
    info@mkride.com / ryan@ryanpyle.com

    **Charitable Partner** - The Middle Kingdom Ride is riding to raise funds for SEVA, a charitable foundation that has, for more than 30 years, served people around the world who are struggling for health, cultural survival and sustainable communities. Learn more about SEVA at www.seva.org, and make a donation today at http://www.seva.org/mkride.

    **Corporate Sponsors** - The Middle Kingdom Ride could not have happened without our wonderful corporate sponsors: BMW China, Touratech, The Tomson Group, Airhawk, Pelican Products, Kodak, Oakley, Cardo Systems, Lowe Pro & Mandarin House.

    You can follow The MKRIDE at:

    FACEBOOK
    Actual Link: <http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115422335152074>

    YOUTUBE
    Actual Link: <http://www.youtube.com/user/TheMKRIDE>

    TWITTER
    Actual Link: <http://twitter.com/MK_Ride>
    Ryan Pyle
    Photographer / Film Maker / Adventurer / Motorcycle Rider
    www.ryanpyle.com
    NEW PROJECT: www.mkride.com
    ryan@ryanpyle.com
    Reply With Quote  
     

  2. #82 Re: Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride" 
    ryanpyle ryanjpyle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Shanghai, China
    Posts
    229
    Hello all. We've just issued a global press release indicating that we are almost completed our epic 20,000km journey around China. You can click the link below to view the HTML version of the press release. www.mkride.com.

    LINK: http://www.prweb.com/releases/MKRIDE...web4600534.htm
    Ryan Pyle
    Photographer / Film Maker / Adventurer / Motorcycle Rider
    www.ryanpyle.com
    NEW PROJECT: www.mkride.com
    ryan@ryanpyle.com
    Reply With Quote  
     

  3. #83 Re: Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride" 
    Life Is Good! ChinaV's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Guangdong, China
    Posts
    1,508
    Nice looking video guys . Sad that you were unable to ride your bikes out of TB, things like that can be really frustrating, as another member here just went through that area and the only difference was his nationality.

    I guess you will be heading off the plateau when your bikes arrive, it will be a great ride, but becomes a bit of a letdown as the scenery will pale in comparison to the places you've just been. You might want to take the route that Felix, Daniel and I did, which is a "back door" to Luguhu in Yunnan. Your van won't make it, but it would be exciting on the BMW's.

    Be safe and hit me up for a few beers if you have time while passing Guangdong.

    Cheers!
    ChinaV
    Reply With Quote  
     

  4. #84 Re: Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride" 
    ryanpyle ryanjpyle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Shanghai, China
    Posts
    229
    Quote Originally Posted by ChinaV View Post
    Nice looking video guys . Sad that you were unable to ride your bikes out of TB, things like that can be really frustrating, as another member here just went through that area and the only difference was his nationality.

    I guess you will be heading off the plateau when your bikes arrive, it will be a great ride, but becomes a bit of a letdown as the scenery will pale in comparison to the places you've just been. You might want to take the route that Felix, Daniel and I did, which is a "back door" to Luguhu in Yunnan. Your van won't make it, but it would be exciting on the BMW's.

    Be safe and hit me up for a few beers if you have time while passing Guangdong.

    Cheers!
    ChinaV
    ChinaV,
    Where in Guangdong are you based? We are just planning our route from Yunnan to the coast. Wanted to avoid heavy traffic. Any suggestions on how to get from Guilin to Xiamen without getting caught in a weeks worth of traffic in Guangdong?

    Ryan
    Ryan Pyle
    Photographer / Film Maker / Adventurer / Motorcycle Rider
    www.ryanpyle.com
    NEW PROJECT: www.mkride.com
    ryan@ryanpyle.com
    Reply With Quote  
     

  5. #85 Re: Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride" 
    ryanpyle ryanjpyle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Shanghai, China
    Posts
    229
    RE: Touratech

    Ryan and Colin Pyle are very proud to have Touratech as one of our main sponsors for the MKRIDE. Today Touratech have updated their website with our global press release. To view it please follow the link below.

    LINK: http://www.touratech.de/new/main.php?sprache=2

    Ryan
    Ryan Pyle
    Photographer / Film Maker / Adventurer / Motorcycle Rider
    www.ryanpyle.com
    NEW PROJECT: www.mkride.com
    ryan@ryanpyle.com
    Reply With Quote  
     

  6. #86 Re: Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride" 
    Life Is Good! ChinaV's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Guangdong, China
    Posts
    1,508
    Hi Ryan,

    I was looking at your website and noticed your route is for Yangshuo-Dongguan-Yongding. I've done the Yangshuo-Dongguan thing many times and my home is in Dongguan. It's possible to make that in a long day, but there's a more scenic two day route that's a bit more fun. I just went from Dongguan through Yongding a couple days ago, so I can definitely tell you which way not to go, as Fujian has a lot of construction going on. If your not coming down to Dongguan, I can give you a scenic, northern Guangdong, route to get to Xiamen.

    I have PM'd you my contact info if you want to discuss possibilities.

    Ride Safe
    ChinaV
    Reply With Quote  
     

  7. #87 Re: Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride" 
    ryanpyle ryanjpyle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Shanghai, China
    Posts
    229
    RE: Random Update.

    The MKRIDE team has ridden 4 straight days (about 1500km) in torrential trains from Shanghri-la, Yunnan to Rongjiang, Guizhou. Wea are waterlogged and mentally shattered. More complete updates coming in next 24hrs. www.mkride.com
    Ryan Pyle
    Photographer / Film Maker / Adventurer / Motorcycle Rider
    www.ryanpyle.com
    NEW PROJECT: www.mkride.com
    ryan@ryanpyle.com
    Reply With Quote  
     

  8. #88 Re: Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride" 
    ryanpyle ryanjpyle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Shanghai, China
    Posts
    229
    RE: GREAT ROAD FIND

    I think I found one of China's greatest roads today. It's the S308 from Kaili, Guizhou to Rongjiang, Guizhou. It's about 170km of amazing twisty mountain roads, endless rice terraces and amazing little villages. It took us about 6 hours to get through on very wet roads. Sadly I saw little as I was caught in a torrential rain storm the whole days and it was pretty chilly. www.mkride.com
    Ryan Pyle
    Photographer / Film Maker / Adventurer / Motorcycle Rider
    www.ryanpyle.com
    NEW PROJECT: www.mkride.com
    ryan@ryanpyle.com
    Reply With Quote  
     

  9. #89 Re: Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride" 
    ryanpyle ryanjpyle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Shanghai, China
    Posts
    229
    DAY 53 - Today the MKRIDE had to hold tight in Zhongdian (Shangri-la), Yunnan province. Our bikes were supposed to arrive overland by truck today but they somehow never did. So we are sitting and waiting; not easy to do for two restless and impatient people like Colin and I.
    Ryan Pyle
    Photographer / Film Maker / Adventurer / Motorcycle Rider
    www.ryanpyle.com
    NEW PROJECT: www.mkride.com
    ryan@ryanpyle.com
    Reply With Quote  
     

  10. #90 Re: Ride Report: China, "The Middle Kingdom Ride" 
    ryanpyle ryanjpyle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Shanghai, China
    Posts
    229
    DAY 54 - Surprise, surprise. For the second time on this trip our motorcycles arrived by truck at 430am; but alas they arrived. With our bikes finally in Shangri-la, Yunnan we are able to depart and continue on our journey. The moment we actually sat on our bikes and began down the winding and twisting roads in Northern Yunnan it began raining and didn't stop all day. Intense rains marked the late afternoon and near freezing temperatures were the norm. Glad to be back on the road again, yes. But the rain is a little much. We managed to make it from Zhongdian down to Dali in one shot.
    Ryan Pyle
    Photographer / Film Maker / Adventurer / Motorcycle Rider
    www.ryanpyle.com
    NEW PROJECT: www.mkride.com
    ryan@ryanpyle.com
    Reply With Quote  
     

Page 9 of 11 FirstFirst ... 7891011 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. QingQi "Rock" X-Bike - Feedback wanted from factory!
    By CrazyCarl in forum Industry News and Moto Talk
    Replies: 78
    Last Post: 10-13-2011, 05:25 PM
  2. The Middle Kingdom Ride
    By ryanjpyle in forum Ride Prep and Making Tracks
    Replies: 57
    Last Post: 09-18-2010, 08:59 AM
  3. "Riding Solo to the Top of the World" Moto-Movie
    By CrazyCarl in forum Ride, Record, Create
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 06-03-2010, 01:24 AM
  4. "Southeast Asia on 2 Wheels" my masterpiece book is finished!
    By Kurisu in forum Ride, Record, Create
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 04-07-2009, 01:08 PM
  5. Replies: 19
    Last Post: 01-01-2009, 09:03 PM
Tags for this Thread

View Tag Cloud

Bookmarks
Bookmarks
Posting Permissions
  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •