Chongqing to Urumqi

[futianshenzhen]

I just did this ride from April 30 to May 9. It was awesome! There will be a video coming soon.

If you remember I shipped my beloved yingang from Chengdu to Chongqing after the ride from Hohhot in September/October last year. The bike spent the winter there on its lonesome and the guys fitted a larger carb adding an extra hp.

Here's the route
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[futianshenzhen]

29th April

Arrived late in Chongqing at about 9 pm and went straight to the factory with Raymond. We went through the repairs and modifications and then off to the factory dorms. The bike looks great with new tyres and a few other bits and bobs. The bonus was that Raymond had fitted a new swing arm, (for free!) to replace the one broken and welded up in Inner Mongolia. I was so excited about the trip I could hardly sleep!

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Outside the yingang dorm getting ready for the off

[futianshenzhen]

30th

Set off at 7.30 having said goodbye to Raymond and the engineer the night before, who I think would've already been on holiday if it wasn't for me! Fairly ordinary roads most of the day, with a few twisties and dirt stretches thrown in to keep you on your toes.

Having ridden for miles on road under construction, which was often covered in plastic, some head construction honcho in LangZhong took umbrage and decided to attempt rugby tackle me off the bike! He managed to hold on to me and I was initially quite confused as to WTF was going on. I continued slowly then gently accelerated until his legs must’ve been a complete roadrunneresque blur. He eventually fell on his arse and I stopped a few hundred metres down the road and had a look back, his mate was picking him up and there were a load of his workers sat on the side of the road with a look of complete bemusement on their faces. Like me I don’t think they could really believe what had just happened. Anyway, I continued on and then realised that my tank bag with all my tools was missing, it must’ve fallen off mid-tackle but I decided discretion was the better part of valour and to buy new tools in the next town. The most annoying thing was that I didn’t have my video camera turned on at the time.

I continued on towards Cangxi in Sichuan province and noticed a line of about a dozen foreign looking bikes parked on the side of the road. I pulled over and saw it was a group of local bikers. I stopped and one of the guys walked over, took one look at me and said “I’m a policeman with the public security bureau and I deal with all foreigners here.” I wish I had replied, “Well you could do with brushing up on your smalltalk mate!” Instead I smiled nervously and said “oh, so where are you guys heading…” It turns out they were all police of some variety and were very nice, although the first dude, who was the only English speaker (my Chinese had completely disappeared!), kept telling me that he was a policeman and was in charge of foreign matters. Weird. They wanted me to ride on with them to GuangYuan but I politely declined and said I may see them later in town. Most agreed but some wouldn’t take no for an answer and were scrambling to put on their riding gear to leave with me! Fortunately I was ready to go and sped off quick smart and quickly arrived in Cangxi at 4.45, I decided not to press on to GuangYuan and field questions from a group of coppers so quickly found a hotel and got the bike parked out of the way!

388 kms today.

Cangxi was a nice little town and I managed to buy a whole new set of tools for next to nothing and get my panniers and raincoat repaired. I found a hairdressers and ended up with a skinhead after an epic mandarin fail.

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friendly coppers

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How uncomfortable do I look!

[futianshenzhen]

Left Cangxi at 9 after a very spicy breakfast in the hotel. Had a few hours of decent weather then it pissed down all afternoon. Amazing roads from Guangyuan to Wenxian but much too wet to enjoy them. Decided to go to Wenxian because the direct road to Longnan, maybe 70 kms, looked like dirt hell. The detour around was double the distance but great roads and scenery.

Arrived in Wenxian at about 4.30 having done about 350 kms. 740 total.

The tiny guest house I found was fine but the lady was semi-literate and couldn’t input the characters from my license into her brand new high-tech registration system. I left the license with her and went out for dinner. I was just getting settled into a night’s drinking when a copper walks in and sits down. He’s obviously friends with the boss and he orders food and sits down with them. He looks at me but doesn’t really pay much attention until I stand up to leave, when he asks me where I’m from. I was saying goodbye to the waitress at the time so I pretended not to hear and left, I made it up near to my hotel and looked back to see him outside on the pavement making a phone call. Now don’t call me paranoid but 3 hours later I’m fast asleep in the guest house when 2 different members of Wenxian’s finest bang on my door. ‘Papers please’ they command and then ask if I want to accompany them to the copshop. I decline and tell them to return my passport to the guesthouse after they’ve finished examining it and I go back to sleep.

The next morning the guesthouse bird is falling over herself to help me and obviously feels terrible about the police incident. She even brought down a cloth and cleaned my bike for me! Alls well that ends well!

[futianshenzhen]

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Southern Gansu

[futianshenzhen]

2nd

Left Wenxian at 8.30 and had the first sunny day of the trip, stunning scenery and fantastic roads all day. The twisties into Huichuanzhen were exceptional.
Arrived at 5.30 475 kms, 1215 total. To say Huichuanzhen is a one horse town would be an understatement. It consists of one small dusty road and I was lucky that it had a hotel. The receptionist was a complete cretin and was unable to check me in using either driving license or passport. I came back from dinner to find yet another local boy in blue struggling to use the hotel computer, he asked me some routine questions and I fed him misinformation just to provide me with a brief moment of amusement. Dinner itself was fun, a group of very pikey kids were staring at me from the dusty road outside. I didn’t really mind but the 8 year old owner’s daughter shooed them away and then came over with an English book from her school. I helped her practise then she disappeared back into the kitchen and returned with a lovely painting she’d painted herself. It made a nice change from sulky 5/o!



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Twisties south of Huichuanzhen

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top of the twisties

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view from the top


I have a load of stitched photos that won't upload. They are large files about 17MB, is that too big for MCM?

[futianshenzhen]

3rd

I woke early to find frost covering the dust in Huichuanzhen, there was a crystal clear blue sky but it was more than a bit nippy so I donned the longjohns for the first time. I felt a bit guilty and foolish about lying to the young copper last night just because I didn’t like the cut of his jib. I decided to be honest from now on as I don’t have anything to hide and am road legal, spinning a web of lies is only gonna get me into more trouble.
I continued on north and stopped for petrol just south of Lanzhou. Gansu also has the stupid ‘’Anquan di yi” teapot system for refuelling and this station had leaky teapots! I ended up dripping a trail of petrol all the way to my bike, twice, so I could get a full tank. If I ever meet the genius who came up with that policy I will shove the nearest teapot where the sun doesn’t shine.


I arrived Yongchang at 5pm, 510 kms today, 1725 total. The hotel check in did have to be done twice but for what feels like the first time I didn’t have to deal with the rozzers! I went off to bend the bolt that holds my GPS mount to adjust the angle then had a good dinner served by a deaf waitress. Strangely we managed to communicate more effectively than most of the people so far on the trip. The restaurant was blasting out the techno but they kindly turned it off for me after I complained.

I took the micro SD card out of my video camera and reviewed the footage on the room’s computer. Unfortunately I had a few hours of unwanted footage due to my clumsiness in turning the thing on and off. If the buttons aren’t pressed cleanly, which is tricky with thick gloves, then it goes into a mode where it won’t turn off until you remove the battery. I also discovered that much of the footage was poor as the angle was too low.


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My new best friend and protector from staring urchins!

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Random roadside temple

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Southwest roadside view northern Gansu

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GWoC

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GWoC

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GWoC

[futianshenzhen]

4th

Left at 7.30 and followed what looked like the only road west on the map. Unfortunately they have built another non-gaosu road as the one that follows next to the gaosu is knackered. I got nervous because I was away from the security of google’s blue line and ended up doing a large circle through some small villages. I got back on the blue line and rode next to the gaosu on a nasty potholed old road, which was an especially cruel kind of torture.

I stopped for a piss and suddenly realised the Great Wall of China was only a few hundred metres back from the road! I’d been concentrating so much on potholes I’d completely missed it. As luck would have it someone had cut a hole in the fence right there so did a bit of a reccy and decided I could probably ride over. It was a very bumby ride and I had to double back a few times but I found a route through and there I was on the great wall in the middle of nowhere without another soul in sight.
I continued on for a few kilometres then brazenly rode onto the gaosu and the dude in the booth didn’t even raise his hand. I continued on to Jiayuguan where I stopped for an oil change and some spicy duck’s neck from the shop next door. I continued on in my westerly direction hoping to see the fort and take a sneaky photo without actually dealing with the tourists and buying a ticket. Unfortunately I missed it completely but wasn’t too fussed cos the bit of wall I saw was way better!
I rode back on the gaosu after trying the adjacent road for about 500 metres and this time I did get shouted at but hey, whatcha’ gonna do? The gaosu ride was very boring and having dabbled in fencing back in the UK I was amazed at the seemingly endless barbwire fence that followed the road. It was immaculate and must’ve taken years to build, I’d like to marry the daughter of the guy who got that contract! Apart from that there was the construction of the new high speed rail line which also looked first class and endless windfarms.
I continued on til Guazhou and nearly had a crash. I was looking for a hotel and not paying enough attention when a pickup truck pulled right in front of me. I locked up the rear wheel and the bike was squirming everywhere but luckily slowed down just enough to whip round behind him. The guy just sat there in the middle of the road, paralysed with fear, when all he had to do was keep going! Again, I didn’t have the video camera on but did walk back later to take a photo of the skid mark.

730 today, 600 on gaosu, 2455 total.

Guazhou was a fantastic little town and the town square was acting as beer garden with barbecue stalls with built in seating around the outside. I went and had some dinner then returned to what may have been a beer festival only to find that there was no cold beer! I asked one waitress who said of course she could find some but she returned with a bottle that had clearly been in the sun all day, you could’ve brewed a cuppa with it. I sulked off back to the hotel having fallen out of love with Guazhou.

[futianshenzhen]

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30,000 clicks up on the yingang, she's been fantastic! The water pump went after 20,000, apart from that fantastic

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The square in Guazhou decked out for what looked like a beer festival


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Some wannabe goth barbecue dude


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My skidmark