Motokai's Inner Mongolia Ride 2011

[MotoKai]

With the Summer temps cooling I used the opportunity of a Beijing business trip to arrange a last-minute ride to Inner Mongolia.

On Aug-8th I rode the JH600 to the Shanghai South Train Station where I emptied the tank and handed the bike over to CRE for about RMB 550 (which included RMB 5,000 insurance in case there were any damages during delivery).

I arrived Beijing a few days later, then on Saturday I taxied to Beijing Station to collect the bike. I pushed her to the nearest gas station for a fill-up and then rode back to the hotel to pack the new Tourfella boxes with supplies for the next 9 days and off I went.

Sticking with the philosophy of Steinbeck that the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, I didn't have a fixed route. The general plan was to first head to Chengde, then just ride up into Inner Mongolia following the S-Roads (省道) and take as many off-roads as possible, which would allow the opportunity to keep testing the JH600 on as much different terrain as possible. At one point Time's evil head would appear and remind me to start making my way back to Beijing thru Hebei, enjoying the mountain twisties along the way. But road reality is always the best of trip planners, and on Day-1 out of Beijing the JH600’s stator fried which landed me a 2.5 day stopover in Chengde. At times there were thoughts of trucking the bike back to Beijing, but alas new parts arrived from Hefei via China’s mystical kuaidi express system and back on the road to Inner Mongolia I was.

So, time has come to do the Ride Report. I’ll post some of the highlights soon enough, but in the meantime here is a compilation of photos and video clips from the ride.

WARNING: For those who do not like to watch trailers before seeing a movie that is just released, DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO!
I’ll get to the RR soon.

For others who dare watch, grab a coffee or a beer....it's a long one (20mins).



Route: Beijing Train Station – Chengde – Weichang – Xilin Hot – Sonid Youqi – Zhangjiakou – Dishuihu - Beijing Train Station
Duration: 9 days (6 days riding + .5 days pushing + 2.5 days waiting for parts & touristing in Chengde)
Distance: 2,300 km (2,290km riding + 10km pushing)
Mechanicals: 1 fried stator
Flats: 3 (2 patches, 1 tube replacement + 1 big surprise)