Some spring rides

[richardktm]

I was beeping my horn at the mountain biker, and my bike is bigger than his, so i had right of way.. right?

[td_ref]

Hey td_ref, I liked the ride report, some of it looks familiar. I think we should get together and ride some time, I'm sure you know some good places...maybe we can go visit Grandma?

Sure ChinaV, I ride sololy here, and love to ride somewhere with a exotic buddy, if you weren't mind underwhelming (I'm not sure MZ is impressive, but hilly). PM me if you are visiting MZ.
TD

[richardktm]

IMAG0082 (Custom).jpgIMAG0068 (Custom).jpgIMAG0081 (Custom).jpgIMAG0094 (Custom).jpgIMAG0087 (Custom).jpgHi all fellow MCM riders. Here are some details about a ride i did over the May holidays.

I managed to score 8 days holiday in total and decided that a trip back to my old stomping ground of Yangshuo was in order. It turned out that I was able to leave SZ on thursday the 28th april. Do a quick run up there with Mr and Mrs chinaV and meet some old friends and hang out, then ride east across to northern Guangdong and hook up with some more friends out on a week long ride up to Shuoguan and then back down to shenzhen and be back for work on saturday the 7th of May, all relaxed and ready for business... hmmmm

Thursday I woke up early, i start work at 1pm, and got my shit together, supermotard wheels, tools, bike gear and some spare clothes. chinaV was picking me up about 10pm after work and we drove to his house to prep my bike, change the wheels, wire in a usb charger, we called it a night, late after a few beers and mosquito bites.

Friday and we were off, not quite early but hey we'd allowed two days riding which was plenty of time, ten minutes in to the ride and it was raining, an hour later and it was pissing it down as we say in yorkshire.. note to self Rich, when someone offers you a high quality full rain suit when the forcast says rain all week, accept it!!
Is it just me or does it rain on you guys when you take off you rain gear and the sun comes out as soon as you put it back on?
Man that vstrom can boogie, but thrashing my little galaxy 250 i could just about keep him in sight if he rode at a very steady pace..."i've never had such good fuel economy on this bike!" was Lorne's comment late in the day.
Meanwhile my bike was vibrating it self to bits, the front pipe came loose twice and the end can was ejecting rivets at an alarming rate, i found out in Yangshuo that my top engine mount had snapped and the exhaust was resting on the frame!!

Saturday was bright and dry and we had a great ride to Yangshuo along some twisties following the new railtrack to Gullin for some of the way, i changed my oil and tightened my exhaust in the morning and was getting to grips with sat nav for the first time on a bike, i can't believe it taken me so long but I am totally sold on it now, so easy so now i will probably crash looking at google maps instead of at the hot girl with long legs haha

I found a hotel for the night and hit the bars for a few beers and to catch up with old friends.
A friend offered me his old apartment for 3 days while he was out of town so i decided to stay in yangshuo for 3 days and relax a bit and fix my bike.

More to come later

cheers rich

[ChinaV]

Rich has already got the story rolling, so I'll just add a few pics and comments. There's also a bit more from the Shenzhen boys here. And my very first ride report about Yangshuo here.

This is the route we took during our five day holiday. The first two days (pink & blue) were with Rich, the green line we did alone and Rich also did alone a couple days later. The red track was our final day going home. Download the KML here.



We have no pictures from the first day, as Rich already pointed out, it never stopped raining. Fortunately, day two was a bit better. We kept our rain-suits on so as not to tempt fate.





Our first stop very close to the border of Guanxi and Gaungdong.







The usual mix of quiet country roads.



And busy city streets.



Stop for lunch.



The menu.



The cook.



Another short break as we ditched the main road and headed into the countryside.



Great picture taken by my wife.



High speed train construction on the right.



Water buffalo hanging out on the left.



And a foreigner wandering the countryside. Interesting times we live in here.



Wonder what they think of it all?



This place would be so much better with a high speed train and a WallMart.



Bad roads go to good places.



Plenty of rice farming and Karst peaks in the distance.



After one last rain shower we finally reached the town of Yangshuo and this beautiful rainbow appeared.



Looks better with a bike in the picture.



And we end the day with everyone standing around picking their noses as those hard working government folks roll into town. Heaven forbid they ever experience traffic, that's harmony, bringing a whole town to a standstill so a few privileged people can get to their hotel 10 minutes faster.



We relaxed and feasted with friends the next day. A big thanks to fellow MCM'er Mfpthebronze. Joe and his wife Sally saved our bacon by finding great accommodations during the busy holiday weekend. Thanks for making Yangshuo so easy for us



We decided to leave the next day and head for Ruyuan to meet some of the other Shenzhen bikers. We got lucky with the weather, clouds and rain surrounded us, but the sunshine followed the road.



And oh what a beautiful road. Lots of waterfalls and other great scenery.







I must say that G323 in northwest Guangdong kicks ass. One of the few G roads worth riding.





Don't look down.



We finally met up with the Shenzhen faction of MCM and headed into the town of Ruyuan for beers and dinner.



Biker gang.



Group photo before our departure the next day.



We have no pictures from the last day, it started drizzling five minutes after we left the hotel and by the time we hit Dongguan I was wishing for a jet ski. Overall, 2 days of dry and 2 days of hard rain. Oh well, still better than a day at the office

Trip Data
Apr 29 - 302km Time 05:53 Average Speed 66.00 km/h
Apr 30 - 289km Time 06:58 Average Speed 61.49 km/h
May 02 - 448km Time 07:00 Average Speed 75.25 km/h
May 03 - 347km Time 04:42 Average Speed 83.09 km/h
Total = 1,386 kilometers

Cheers!
ChinaV

[chinabiker]

That's my favorite

Trip Data
Apr 29 - 302km Time 05:53 Average Speed 66.00 km/h
Apr 30 - 289km Time 06:58 Average Speed 61.49 km/h
May 02 - 448km Time 07:00 Average Speed 75.25 km/h
May 03 - 347km Time 04:42 Average Speed 83.09 km/h
Total = 1,386 kilometers

Impressive average on May 3rd

Seem to be quite some "Pearl River Delta" riders around

[Lao Jia Hou]

Fantastic ride report ChinaV, tx.

I was completely mesmorized by the above photo ... so incredible ... so amazing ... so interesting ...

NOT the girl ... no no no ...

LOOK ... there is DIRT on a ChinaV bike!!!!!!!!!

Hmmmmm - he is human after all!

[GJN]

Makes me want to move from Beijing to south China. Such better views down there. Nice report.

[Pfaelzer]

Great pictures as always. It captures nicely the experience in riding around in China. It really adds greatly if you can get the Misses to take some pix from the "back-seat". some really nice shots from that angle.

Ride on...
AW.

[ChinaV]

LOOK ... there is DIRT on a ChinaV bike!!!!!!!!!

Hardy Har Har… It does end up looking like this after most rides.





And she has seen a fair amount of abuse in the last 41,000 kms.

Makes me want to move from Beijing to south China. Such better views down there. Nice report.

After reading Chinabiker's last report, I almost thought about going to Beijing.





Which is in stark contrast to this thread where the guys in Shanghai still haven't come up with a decent ride less than 3 hours from the city after 27 posts.

It really adds greatly if you can get the Misses to take some pix from the "back-seat". some really nice shots from that angle.

Thanks AW, iPod and camera keeps the missus entertained on most rides and I really enjoy having her along. I'm blessed to have a wife that likes adventure.

Cheers!
ChinaV

[dewsnap]

Excellent ride report ChinaV. Thanx again. Your photo's are always top notch. I agree, it is a real blessing to have a missus who enjoys the bike. For my wife it's all about the destination rather than the the thrill of the ride. I'm hoping the bug'll bite eventually.

I still think that you're rubbing it in a bit tho, we all know that Shanghai sucks for motorcycles but at least us poor Shanghai riders are trying to work with what we've got. I think the fellas in Shanghai should use this comment as a call to arms and get out there and prove fun can be had on two wheels no matter where you are. Felix, Euphonius etc, you're not standing for that are you surely?