Motokai's Inner Mongolia Ride 2011

**MeowZeDong** · 09-14-2011, 02:21 AM

Originally Posted by euphonius

Dear MZD,

Awesome plan! But surely you are planning to wait till the spring/summer, right? It's gotta be too late for this year! You'd freeze your meeow off.

cheers!

Yes, Euphonius. I always research weather and know I'm a tad bit up north. :)

And in regards to photos on trips MotoKai - I like your technique. The funny thing is during my ride, I did the opposite and didn't want to drink too much thinking it would delay me on getting to a good place before dark (also, I couldn't stand getting off my bike - it was incredibly high and awkward, not to mention dangerous to dismount). But actually, maybe your idea is better and you get a two-for-one drinking more water....P&P break. Pee and photo. Look forward to seeing more of your photos/videos.....very inspiring.

**ChinaV** · 09-14-2011, 02:58 AM

What is this "stopping" thing you people speak of? Wear diapers and shoot photos with your left hand.

Motokai, your pics are outstanding.

Cheers!
ChinaV

**euphonius** · 09-14-2011, 02:59 AM

Then there's the hose down the leg trick....

**MeowZeDong** · 09-14-2011, 03:06 AM

Originally Posted by ChinaV

What is this "stopping" thing you people speak of? Wear diapers and shoot photos with your left hand.

Motokai, your pics are outstanding.

Cheers!
ChinaV

HAHAHHAA :D .....yeah, well....if I had a hose it would be a lot easier. I really wonder now if any of you have taken a piss without stepping off the bike. That's a wonderful advantage to have.

**MotoKai** · 09-14-2011, 03:21 AM

Thanks V, credit goes to the landscape (not me).
And for a complete non-stop action setup, you'll need diapers and a camelbak!

Originally Posted by MeowZeDong

What I "dream" about doing is from Urumqi, driving up to the northeast border and entering Mongolia from there and ultimately taking the northern road up to Ulaangom and continually traverse east to Ulaanbaatar...

I keep trying to talk euphonius into the "Can a Jialing make it to Magadan" ride (haha), so if you turn north after Ulaanbaatar, let us know!

Originally Posted by euphonius

Then there's the hose down the leg trick....

Be careful if you're using a camelbak!!

**slabo** · 09-14-2011, 06:54 AM

Originally Posted by MeowZeDong

HAHAHHAA :D .....yeah, well....if I had a hose it would be a lot easier. I really wonder now if any of you have taken a piss without stepping off the bike. That's a wonderful advantage to have.

I totally forgot about that.. I was at ~4700m, desolate area, shitty kickstand, loaded bike, too much stuff strapped to the back of the saddle .. serious acrobatic moves were needed to get off the bike .. but a few times I just didn't bother.

take a leak, snap a photo, drink and ride again.. you're right, it's handy to have a hose

**nostalgie** · 09-15-2011, 04:06 AM

great film ! super photo records ! real adventure ! JiaLing legend trip !

**MotoKai** · 09-15-2011, 02:15 PM

Day 7

Day 7 was when "Time" reminded me I had to get the Jialing back to the train station in the next 2 days which meant I needed to start heading back to Hebei and ultimately Beijing. So after gassing up I got myself 4 full bars on the fuel indicator with 2 buckets! (You have to use a bucket to fill up in Inner Mongolia, so if you don't do the math each time you gas-up, which I didn't, you never know how much is needed to top-off....sometimes you get close as I did this time!)

Then it was back onto the road. I'd soon lose behind me the spiritual landscape of Inner Mongolia (scenes like this):

...and also lose the dependence I had developed on my cruise control which had proven very useful on the long Inner Mongolian stretches.

And later in the day I'd find myself on the G110, which was another one of those "awry moments".
The G110 was already discussed with Felix earlier in this thread here - and see video for graphic detail of this account.

**MotoKai** · 09-15-2011, 03:05 PM

Day 8

After spending the night in Zhangjiakou, Hebei I had a fantastic day of riding thru Chongli and Chicheng eventually arriving at the Baihebao Reservoir which sits on the border of Hebei-Beijing.

Even had cleanly swept roads for the morning ride.

Village elders outside of Chongli

Time away from tarmac, cutting thru the mountains

Back on tarmac and the 省道 (S Roads)

My lunch companions

Stunning Landscape of Hebei

I hooked up with some Beijing guys (and girls) after crossing the border into Beijing. They invited me to lunch and to ride back to Beijing with them.

The Bikes

The Lunch Spot

We took some amazing twisties out of 递水壶 but started having problems keeping my line with the Duc & BMW. I noticed my rear start to "swim" so I pulled over and saw there was air lost from my rear. It was getting dark so I told the guys to go on ahead, I'll ride it back to find someone to fix the flat. It was completely flat when I reached this guy.

By the time he got the nail out and patched the tire it was already dark so I stayed there for the night.

**MotoKai** · 09-15-2011, 03:37 PM

Day 9

The next morning the tire was flat again. We surmised that the nail had compromised the tube in another spot. After opening the tire up again, we found the hole and he gave me another patch. He was reluctant to pull the whole wheel off an replace the tube (had a spare with me), suggesting when I get back to Beijing, find a proper bike shop to do the replacement. And off I went....

After about 20km of riding, I had the 3rd flat. What is going on?

I was lucky to find motorcycle shop where I could do a proper change of the tube.
And look what he found!?!?

Remember that tool box from the night before when the nail was pulled out? (Look at pic above)
Yeah, he forgot to take the 17cm pipe out that was used to separate the tire when pulling the nail!

So after 9 days of riding I had some amazing experiences and a few "awry moments" (fried stator, the G110, 3 flats and 17cm pipe left inside my tire for 20kms!). Fulfilled and back safe in Beijing it was time to send the Jialing back to Shanghai.