Yunnan cycling Mecca.
from Dali to Shangri-La, 500km following the ancient tea-horse trading route between Yunnan and Tibet. A trip inspired by the guys at Rapha. they did a beautiful video (http://www.rapha.cc/yunnan-china) and I followed their path. Yunnan is a land of incredible Natural and Spiritual beauty, a place that can change a traveller life for ever.
Taiwan April 2013
Like every trip, this started in my mind, driven by some beautiful pictures found on the internet about the east coast of Taiwan. I plotted a route that would take me from Taipei to Taichung, crossing Yilan county down to the beautiful east coast and up to Mighty He Huang Shan trough Taroko gorge, to follow with a 100km descent down to Taichung city.
5 days to cover 500km, with my bike and my tent to explore part of this beautiful Island, its breath taking coastline, and the biggest climb of my life, 3200m of vertical ascent in 1 day.
5th Day, the end…or, is it?
Today we are going to make it, I tell myself looking at my beloved bike. So we are off into the 15th km when tragedy strike. On a sharp turn i hit a pot hole so hard that my back tire rim bend…s**ht!!..i back track all the way home pedaling like a donkey cos every half stroke the tyre get stuck.
once there I quickly reset my Bryton on my trekking bike and off again on the road to the office..in the mean time it started raining and the temperature drop…NOT NICE!!..but hei we have to finish in style.
Totals: 551km, 21hrs riding time and 12200 calories used…sure I’m not going to get fat this time 😉
pictures of the day below.
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- S*%it happens…time for the back up horse
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- she did not let me down in tibet…I can trust her :-))
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- New bridge…different bike
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- I know you have seen it before…but not with this bike..;))
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- …it looks like is going to rain
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- …and it does rain!!
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- bridge n. 1..built by the russians as a present to sister China
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- …I’d better get going, is not exactly a warm sunny day is it?
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- waterproof back pack used and abused
4th day-city ride with a twist
Now when I decided to go that way yesterday was not based solely on the statue suggestion, I did check in detail on google earth as well.
It looked like the perfect stretch of road and so it was….for the first 15km.
Then changed into a mud yard after another till the point i could not take any more abuse form the road so I switched for the not very safe higway and finally got back to the nice part of the south bank riverside.
Another day another century..today I added 118km to my festive score 😉
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- another proof that cycling is worshipped in china..now is a fact 🙂
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- riverside water feature and reflections
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- my bike paying tribute to the dragon year
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- my bike on the good part of the south bank…unaware of what is coming
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- the point of no return…once you are that far into the mud you just keep going till you find the light
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- this should have been the easy riverside ride
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- bike in need of a shower
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- me waiting in line at my local bike shop to get a shower
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- ending the day whit a night ride…to give some pleasure to my eyes
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- the end…
3rd riding day
yesterday 26 of Dec. was resting day, office duty and rain forced me to take a rest, and my legs did like the idea too. But today…well today is a different story.
Wet from start to finish I put in quite performance I would say. I completed a full century under the rain. And when I say rain I mean BIG, WET, COLD DECEMBER RAIN.
To add a bit of pepper I squeezed the usual end of the year rush to renew my Chinese working visa..the only painful part of the day!!
Enjoy the pictures!!!
(in case you are wondering…yes its a waterproof camera)
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- office arrival
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- office departure
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- is a lake..mhm no is a road…wait…I think is a river..yes yes is a river
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- IN the river
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- poor bike, is drowning Id better get going!
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- new bridge
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- Sun-lounging on the river side
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- I bet is dryer down there!!
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- a new meaning of slick tires
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- old bridge
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- should I cross the bridge or swim through?
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- Bauchu pagoda in the back ground and a beautiful bike in the front 😉
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- …a million times but hey..today is way more wet.
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- today I opted for the Dart Vadar look…I wish I wish I took the oxygen mask too.
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- cant see the top of those building…mhm, is not a good sign
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- tomorrow I go this way
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- I did not look very clean in front of the officer but 100km are worth getting a visa refused..ehehe
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- ahhh!!..thats why everybody was laughing in my back
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- 1st ride
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- 2nd ride
2nd day Festive 500…Christmas day
What did Santa bring me for Christmas?….a flat tire and another 116km to put in my Festive 500 bag..yeahhhh!!!
The day start cold as usual. On my way to work just got into my 13th km and the back tire went flat…dam!! at zero celsius on a busy road is not the best way to start a day..but hey…we are here for the fun or for the pain?
I’d say both. in picture below thats how the day unfolded, I apologize for the multiple rides during the day, but I had to juggle work and pleasure as usual 😉
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- I’d rather be climbing a steep mountain then this
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- gost boats on the river
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- in case u have not seen it..the bike is right in front of the tree..mimetic bike!!
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- I always try to end a ride in a beautiful spot
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- Christmas ride
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- adding on a second slice since we move we might as well do it by bike
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- the last bit
Festive 500 Challenge
24th of Dec 2012, its Christmas Eve for many…but is big time riding for some. All those that are mad enough to embark in this challenge know what it means to get up early and ride 500 km during this festive season in less then 8 days.
follow on: http://app.strava.com/challenges/2012-rapha-festive-500
Everything gets on the way, starting from the usual social and family commitments ending up with the grueling weather conditions of the northern hemisphere. We have it all against, but that does not stop us, and it actually make it just more fun.
Here below a few pictures form the first day of my riding. To add up to the freezing temperature I threw in some unridable asphalt with a side of mud, dirt, trucks, factories and incinerators…just to make the air polluted enough ;-))
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- Clean road muncher ready to go!
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- Bridge crossing, nice and foggy just the way we like it
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- the sun rises but its still freezing!!
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- no sign of improvement
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- one of my road companions
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- one of the many incinerators found on the east bank of the river
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- So all that pollution was just a test?…some one do warship riders 😉
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- a happy ending
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- the ride
19th day, crossing into Nepal
We start the day with a huge breakfast, never seen bigger pancakes then these ( we name them YETI pancakes).
20 meters form the hotel is the Chinese Custom gate, nobody bother checking us…we keep riding down the switchback the number of queuing trucks increase till about 2km form the boarder where is just a solid line, makes it even difficult for bikes to get through. Once at the boarder check point we unload the all support car, and we start to take everything close to the gate. clouds of Nepalese porters and beggars surround us. I start negotiating a support car for the other side. I manage to get a good deal, 8000 Nepalese rupee for 2 days for the 4 of us. And 4 porters help us make the crossing. Once on the other side we fill in the entry form and get a Nepalese visa real fast, we change clothes the day is starting to get real hot.
We finally can ride again in shorts and t-shirt. the scenery is amazing as usual but green and lush now. Nepali colorful culture awaken us to a all new experience.
18th day, Down hill to the boarder, Zhangmu
The beginning of the day is freezing as usual, we are still on the plateau and the climate is harsh. We experience a bit of traffic on the way due to herds of yaks cruising the road. Its scary to ride among this huge animals, and they get nervous too. We have lunch in Nylam and from there the fun really begin, the longest down hill in the world take us trough a variety of ecological environment, starting from the arid plateau, then alpine forests and finally tropical vegetation. The smell is awaken again after weeks of aseptic Tibetan air. Also the colors come alive all of a sudden. Waterfalls drop in the narrow valley from everywhere.
17th Day, Over Dong Ba and Lung la pass..the last climbs!!!
Today we are at a turning point….the last 2 passes of the all trip, no matter how hard is going to be the thought of not having to climb anymore give us an exciting kick. We cross Lung la pass in good time and descend over 1000 meters to a farming village, where we spend the night in a tea house.
16th day, Tingri to Dongba
This is a really easy ride…on the paper. But as usual the freezing weather makes it real tough on us, we stop a few times on the way just to warm up our feet and hands. and spend overnight in a tea house.
Rombruk to Tingri
The plan is to ride trough the shortcut and arrive in Tingri. But after 25 km the snow prevail and our support veicle can not continue anymore. We could keep riding our bikes and meet up with them in Tingri, but that would mean riding without back up gear and in this snow we decide not to risk it. So we load all the bikes on the car and backtrack trough Gula pass back to the friendship highway and arrive in Tingri around 5pm.
14th Day, ride up to Everest Base camp and return
This is an easy 8km ride, up to base camp, the scenery is amazing, feels like riding on the moon. The weather turns form good to extremely cold and windy in a few hrs. fortunately we are back to our guest house in time to avoid the worst of it.
13th day, uphill to Rombruk and finally Everest!
As expected the morning is brutal and freezing. riding on washboard uphill at this altitude is a real test of endurance. We go from a wide riverbed valley into what it once was Everest longest glacier, now a arid and cold valley. Everest summit looks closer and closer until finally after a few switchbacks the view open up and HE is there, so close it looks we almost can touch it. The highest mountain in the world give us a majestic show of all its beauty and power. In the next 48 hrs we will experience how Everest can transform this valley in a matter of minutes. considering we are standing at 5000 meters we have in front of us more then 3000 meters of almost vertical Ice wall, and the force it can deliver on the surrounding environment is intimidating.
Over Gula pass, a real taste of off-road for our front forks…
… unfortunately for Tara, it means absorbing the all ascent and downhill in her harms, as she does not have front suspensions. Hard day but the scenery is breath taking. On top of Gula we admire the Himalayan range in all its beauty.
On the down hill we pass farming villages that seam coming out of a different century, and we finally arrive in Tashizhong, where we stop for the night in a tea house. The temperature outside is going to go way below zero on this side of Everest natural park at night, and i don’t want to be in my +5 sleeping bag in this temperatures.
11th cycling day..first view of the Himalaya range
Today we are rewarded for all the painful climb of Gyatsola with a beautiful view of the Himalaya range. we ride through shegar check point into Everest National park and then take the off-road deviation from the friendship highway. We get heavy headwinds and a sand storm just 3 km from where we are supposed to camp. and we decide to stay overnight in a tea house with a warm stove and a welcoming couple.
Over Gyatsola pass..WTF!!
This was for me the most demanding climb of the all trip. We ride in the narrow valley for the first 7km we have no sun at all, which means COLD..I can hardly feel my feet and hands, is really painful. and then the never ending climb and head wind make it look impossible….but we make it, and camp just past the pass in a dismissed structure probably used by locals to keep goats and sheep.
8th day, Gedin to Sakya
Today is an easy ride that take us past the km 5000 marker (5000km from Shanghai), and over the Younongla Pass (4500m). We end up on the up hill of Sakya and we realize that we are ahead one day on the schedule, due to the fact that we camped far past Gedin..about 15km. So we reached Younongla Pass very early, around midday and we had an easy ride all the way to Sakya uphill. We end up making camp about 15km away form Sakya as the head wind builds up. I then reach the town with my driver and guide to fetch water and petrol for the stoves. and return to camp in good time for cooking and baking bread.
7th day Shigatse to Gedin
Its another straight ride, flat road that stretches for miles without a bend. I have my first flat tire ( go figure, i just changed the outer tire yesterday). we end up the day in a field adjacent to a small river, together with a group of Swiss ppl which are on the same trip as us.
5th- 6th day Gyantse to Shigatse- rest day
We ride across a vast desert like valley, crossing villages and farms. Is a flat 90km ride to Shigatse which we cover in little more then 5hrs. The sun is warm eating up very high when standing still. But the perceived riding temperature is never more then 18 C.
In Shigatse is time for me to change the back tire, a Schwalbe Racing Ralph…which is a bit too “racing” for this country. Is now pretty worn out and I prefer to have a hard and cheap Bontrager to push up and down the next part of the trip. especially considering the offroad ahead to Everest base camp.
We rest a full day in Shigatse, visiting the old town and I manage to book my flight return ticket from Kathmandu via the internet.
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