24th Feb 2008 - Day 2
Left Da Wu at 0845 hours, continuing on the G107 north, the ride being up hill and very windy. We past a scenic mountain spot Cockeral Mountain and arrived at Xin Yang at 1700 hours. We could not continue as planned for Zheng Zhou because it was very windy and cold, and small hail
stones striking the face is not at all too pleasant! It also started snowing at about 2000 hrs, and lasted until the next morning.
Travelled: 109 km Avg. 21 kmph 32 Ah 3.4km / Ah
25th Feb 2008 - Day 3
We started out at Xin Yang at 0815 hours. It was snowing very lightly, and temperature hovered at freezing point. There were a few structures or buildings that had collapsed from the heavy snow in early February.
At 1125 hours I fell and injured my right knee while dismounting from the bike, my legs were numb from the cold. I rested for an hour and half, and continued on with considerable pain, managing to find a restaurant to stop over for lunch and rest before finally finishing for the day at Xi Ping at about 1700 hours. We checked out the local liquor store after dinner!
Travelled: 68.5 km Avg. 21kmph 12.63 Ah 5.4 km / Ah
Starting out at the hotel at 08:15:
Spot where I fell:
The Local liquor store:
26th Feb 2008 - Day 4
We started out after breakfast at 0730 at the local fast food. My Leg / knee was sore but manageable. Wow! We rode by sustainable street lightings in town using 3rd millennium fittings – PV and wind turbine energy, but at the same time you could see 1st millennium transportation working alongside - this is China ! Then there are lots of these 5 wheel heavy vehicles as well.
We Made it to Xin Zheng in the evening.
Travelled: 132 km Avg 22.8 kmph 38 Ah 3.44 km / Ah
local breakfast:
Sustainable street lighting – PV and Wind:
Except for the Tyres it is pretty much the same as 1000 yrs ago:
5 wheels trucks:
27th Feb 2008 - Day 5
At Xin Zheng was this touristic spot about the first Yellow Emperor ca. 3000 BCE . I would not even think about attempting to write any story or history along the way. There is 200 years of history for Quentin’s ride along the Mississippi river, we have 5000 yrs here along the silk route. Going starts to get really tough, we turn west at Zheng Zhou on highway G310 and start to climb finally reaching Gong Yi at about 17:00.
Travelled: 123 km Avg. 23 kmph 35 Ah 3.48 km/Ah
About the first yellow emperor:
28th Feb 2008 - Day 6
Always give way to the trucks! There wer countless numbers of coal carrying trucks passing us by, the road and plants along the way are well coated with coal dust. There are coal fired plants at every town 30 - 50 km away. China is now the biggest contributor to the world’s atmospheric carbon content.
We made a wrong turn and headed southwest instead of northwest, we managed to get on an expressway heading north and then took the exit and
got on one heading west. Alas the highway cops made sure we got out on the next exit into Yi Ma. We had to battle strong head winds all the way. Further up north was the usual spring sand storm, we missed the sand but not the winds.
Travelled: 159 km Avg. 22.5 kmph 48.4 Ah 3.27 km / Ah
One of the many coal carrying trucks:
29th Feb 2008 - Day 7
We got out of Yi Ma and into the hills of Henan Province, seen here is some
interesting habitat. Excellent lunch stop of mutton soup and bread and arrived at Ling Bao at 1700 hours. Coal trucks pass us by and there are coal depots for small coal mines dotted everywhere. There are also a lot of gold mines, and China will become the largest gold producer in the world very soon. Got into Ling Bao, occupying the ground floor of the hotel is the local gold exchange.
Travelled: 123 km Avg. 24 kmph 33.6 Ah 3.67 km / Ah
Going up the Loess Highland in Henan province:
Cave habitat:
March 1st 2008 - Day 8
Without those elevated highways across the valley, we had to take a long detour around, climbing the loess plateau from Henan crossing into Shaanxi province. We passed the 1000 km mark on the G310, already well tanned by the sun as we ride west facing the sun each afternoon.
We reached the famous Hua Shan mountain 2160 m , famous for its martial art schools - lots of Chinese Kong Fu stories happens here! We stop early for the day at the base of Hua Shan where there are lots of nice tourist hotels, as we intent to play tourist until the next morning.
Travelled: 100 km Avg. 20 kmph 37 Ah 2.69 km / Ah
The Loess Plateau from Henan to Shaanxi:
Well Tanned at 1000 km Highway G310:
Going up and down, but mostly up:
March 2nd 2008 - Day 9
We took the morning tour of Hua Shan, going up by the local tour bus and then the cable car. Just another Chinese mountain, a sharp jagged type with very old pines creeping out of the crevices. After a quick lunch we head for Xian, or Chang An the ancient capital of many dynasties, and the famous Qin Emperor and his Terra Cotta army around his burial site. The Tang dynasty started the silk route trade with the west. We arrived at the city east gate at 1930 hours.
Travelled: 135 km Avg. 23.8 kmph 39 Ah 3.4 km / Ah
Hua Shan Mountain:
Arriving at the East Gate of Xian 19:00 hrs:
March 3rd 2008 - Day 10
We checked into the Purple Gold Mountain Hotel at Xian, and successfully negotiated to have our bikes kept there until September, when we will take it to Turfan some 2500 km away from Xian going north west into the Xin Jiang province. We bought an air ticket home to Shanghai departing at 1600 hrs, and it’s lunch time, whipping up some noodles.
Total distance covered on this trip including the day tour of Wuhan is 1125 km.
Whipping up some noodles for lunch, it’s stretching the dough , it is not skipping ropes!
