First, I wanted to thank Crazy Carl and everyone for all of their contributions to this forum - I'm a new rider and have learned a lot through this site. I also want to especially thank Lao Jia Huo - who took me around to bike shops, helped me pick out a bike, and introduced me to the Beijing riding community - his help has helped make all this all possible!

This is my first post, so by way of introduction, I've been in Beijing since August of 2009 studying Chinese full time. I crossed the year mark this past summer and wanted to do a bit of traveling before reentering the world of work, vacation days, etc. So, earlier this summer I went through the process of getting a Chinese driver's license, buying a bike, and taking day trips in areas near Beijing.

I had been hoping to take a trip over the October break - but passport and visa delays forced me to postpone and a cold-snap made me worry that Postpone would slide into Cancel. Last year's November 1st snow left quite an impression. But late October brought a string of clear days and got me thinking: maybe it's not too late.

I initially thought I'd have to flee the cold and head south, but on a whim I checked the 10 day forecast in the north and saw temperatures over 10 with no rain - so, north it was.

I took the weekend to get my gear in order (wiring the GPS into the battery, attaching a case, etc.) and on Monday morning headed for the mountains.

Before leaving, my Chinese teacher asked me "what happens if you get lost" and I said "If I don't have a destination, I can't get lost!"

Day 1 Beijing - Wubeikou

Here goes nothing! - Getting ready to head off.
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Given that I had only made the final decision to make the trip twelve hours before, I shouldn't have been surprised that Day One got off to a slow start. By the time I got my gear packed, said my goodbyes, and headed out of the city it was already after noon.

I plugged in Chengde as my first destination on the GPS and headed north. Beijing is remarkably flat, and from within the city, it can be hard to imagine how mountainous it is just north of city. After riding out of the city I branched north east and the road snaked through the mountains towards the Hebei border. The road was beautiful - well paved and lightly trafficked - and I quickly learned that a leading threat to was going to be oncoming traffic and cars passing into me. While I'm used to cars waiting until the oncoming lane is empty before crossing over and passing - apparently motorcycles don't count - so I quickly added this to the list of things to be watching for on the road (just after cars making right turns into traffic without slowing down or looking).

I packed light - no tent or sleeping bag - and wanted to avoid riding at night - so as I made my way north I kept out an eye for upcoming cities and potential hotels. As I approached the Hebei border I hit a small village in the hills under the Great Wall. The sun was starting to drop, Chengde was still over 100 km away, and I saw what looked like a police checkpoint ahead, so I decided to call it a day.

The view in Gubeikou:
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I pulled into the hotel and was immediately greeted by an older gentleman - I asked for a room and he waved me around to the back and I parked the bike in a little shed behind the hotel. I unpacked, wandered around the village for a bit, found a general store that, miraculously, had long underwear (it had been a cold day), watched the sun set over the Great Wall, and sat down to dinner at dusk.

The sun setting in Gubeikou
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As I ate dinner, the older gentleman, Mr. Tian, sat down with me and struck up a conversation. "You're a foreign exchange student! I knew it! Do like Bai Jiu? You like Whiskey? I've had Whiskey before! It was a 12 Year Old!" After I finished eating he insisted I join him and his granddaughter for dinner. He asked where I was going and I told him "Dalian" (at this point I thought this was still feasible) he laughed and said "way too far!" I pulled out my maps and he hunted for Dalian. At this point the cook had come out and joined us and Mr. Tian kept saying "My eyes are no good! What's this city here? It's not Dalian? Hmm, Dalian must be around here somewhere." His finger traced the coast and eventually he made it to Dalian at which point he laughed again and said "Way too far!" And I had to admit, it was too far. I wasn't in a hurry and had no real reason to go to Dalian so I decided the next day to just go the 100 km to Chengde and spend some time there. Mr. Tian finished his glass of Baijiu, I finished my beer, Mr. Tian got another beer for us to split ("This one's on me!") and I headed up to bed.

Dinner with Mr. Tian:
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All in all, a successful first day - even if I hadn't made it far, I was out of the city and in a hotel.