12 provinces in 8 days

**futianshenzhen** · 09-10-2013, 03:28 AM

CIMG2121.jpg
The old and the new....ish

**futianshenzhen** · 09-10-2013, 06:55 AM

9

Left 7.30, absolute murder til 2.30, beat up, filthy, dusty, and in places inexplicably swamped. Red hot all day, stopped cos was sick of the shit and phone was going haywire. Ice cream out phone straight in freezer which did the trick! Had all but given up of any respite but then entered the Pingu mountains east of Beijing, they were all but deserted, very pretty and had some nice twisties. Had to cool the phone again, this time in a sealy bag in a stream. Then through the outskirts of Beijing and Tianjin. It wasn't too bad but a bridge was out so had brief off road adventure.

Stopped to change oil, repair camera mount and tighten steering head bearings then on to TangErLi just West of Tianjin at 7 pm

Hotel receptionist wanted a photo, that's the second time this trip, reckon its the body armour!

540, 2130 total

IMAG1859.jpg
This was the only non taxi bike i saw on the whole trip

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h27m09s127.jpg
I stumbled upon these jokers who wouldn't let a huge mound of dirt stand in the way of their tuk-tuk

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h27m17s208.jpg

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h27m40s178.jpg

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h27m47s249.jpg
Great success!

**futianshenzhen** · 09-10-2013, 07:08 AM

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h28m08s199.jpg
Then it was my turn

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h28m13s246.jpg
I only bottomed out a little bit

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h28m23s93.jpg
I think the tuk-tuk lady was pleased to see me

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h32m50s210.jpg
Apart from brief entertainment from tuk-tuk shenanigans most of the day was like this...

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h33m24s33.jpg
...or this

**futianshenzhen** · 09-10-2013, 07:16 AM

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h38m52s242.jpg
Finally the Pingu mountains offered some respite

CIMG2129.jpg
My phone overheated again and I was quite proud of this novel solution

CIMG2141.jpg
I had a break and a snack by the stream before cracking on. I just knew I had some much awfulness ahead of me and just wanted to get it over with.

**futianshenzhen** · 09-10-2013, 07:24 AM

CIMG2133_stitch.jpg
Here's a stitched panorama

**futianshenzhen** · 09-10-2013, 07:25 AM

10

Left 7.50

Nothing of any value at all today the highlight was a dual carriageway in good condition. Mostly potholed hell or under construction roads interspersed with dull straight single lane highway. Traffic was a nightmare with wankers coming out from everywhere without looking. I was shouting at everyone and kicked a couple of mianbaoche, didn't help that it was red hot all day. The air quality was shocking, made Shenzhen's worst day look like Devon. Saw a few groups of touring cyclists the mad bastards.

Made it into Linzhou at 5.30 then couldn't find a hotel, either no laowai or very pricey. Found one and scared a bird coming in the back door who then asked for my number!

585 today, 2715 total

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h39m52s77.jpg
We don't have these down south! Quality!

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h44m22s210.jpg
Just endless shit...depressing really

**futianshenzhen** · 09-10-2013, 07:32 AM

Nothing to report really, the day was spent shifting postions to try and stop the pain in my arse, but at the same time I didn't want to stop because I wanted out of the never ending filth and destruction.
vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h31m37s246.jpg

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h31m09s219.jpg
Would've been nice if it wasn't for all the trucks

**modron** · 09-10-2013, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by futianshenzhen

Would've been nice if it wasn't for all the trucks

This sums China up pretty good ;)

**futianshenzhen** · 09-10-2013, 07:54 AM

11
Left 7.10

Happily drove around the mountains on tiny paths through hamlets until I found entrance to the Guoliang tunnels. Lots of tourists but still v good.

Map took me on awful backroad and I the dropped bike in that talcum powder like pink dust when the truck in front suddenly suddenly braked. I went down in a huge cloud of dust and luckily only bent the shifter and slider, after a quick hammer job I was back on the road. Love those sliders, and found a new use for them in the way of a new riding technique, sat on back seat one foot on peg, other forward on slider or vice versa...made a world of difference to my arse.

Finally got on some better roads and zigzagged a bit up to Mudan then on good road to Weishan (7pm) in Shandong. New province #6 this trip.

Apart from GuoLiang tunnels whole day was shite. Red hot, bashed roads, fucktarded drivers and suicidal peasants. Roll on shanghai and beers with the guys!

585 today, 3300 total

After unloading the saddlebags I found the rear footpeg (which holds the exhaust) had lost both bolts. I was looking for a hardware store for a while, then a nice man in a pikey shop went off to find some for me...great. Gave me the bolts for free after searching around for ages.

Invited to join some locals at a small restaurant, the room absolutely stunk of baijiu! 4 of the guys were sound but there's always one twat. This one clearly thought the sun shone out of his arse but the truth was far from it! Probably spoilt silly by his wanker local bigwig father. His mates were clearly embarrassed and even paid for my dinner!

All these were taken while I was happily searching for the tunnels
vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h50m29s46.jpg

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h50m51s12.jpg

vlcsnap-2013-09-04-15h51m23s70.jpg

CIMG2147.jpg

CIMG2148.jpg