We had our first rider meeting this morning where we got to meet the crew and the other riders who will be starting from Beijing tomorrow morning. It’s quite a big group of us; five crew, a local ‘fixer’ (Jimmy King, the Heavy Metal fan from Shanghai – I kid you not) three local drivers, and 25 riders.
With a few exceptions we’re a fairly ‘similar’ bunch in many respects – aside from the two UK gap-year ‘lads’ – with plenty of grey hair all round (for those who have hair ;-). I’m picking I’m pretty firmly on the younger side of the average, with many of the group being retired, or at least heading that way (which makes sense when you consider the duration and the costs).
Here’s the plan for the first nine stages:
‘Weekly’ plan for the first nine stages.
The blue asterisk for stage seen indicates that’s our first border crossing from China into Mongolia.
It seems the pattern of the days is to ‘go with the sun’ so we’re up early tomorrow, with breakfast from 0600, and on the road at 0630. Unlike most days tomorrow we begin with a 7km convoy to get us out of central Beijing and onto the quieter rural roads.
Adam and I made the last purchase before I head off, managing to find a camera bag for the newly-purchased camera, in a crazy ‘electronics market’ which we went to this afternoon.
The last couple of days have been fun exploring as well as revisiting places we’ve each been in Beijing previously. Today hasn’t been terribly active, with me in rider meetings all morning, and the weather being less than co-operative (cool at 12 C, and showery). A few photos from our wanderings below.
As we’re mostly in hotels for the next 10 days I’ll hopefully be able to keep reasonably up-to-date with our progress. Thanks to those who have wished me luck – even those saying ‘break a leg’ which I promise is something I’m going to try very very hard to avoid…!!
Bush camp…..”shivers” ?
lol – yeah, there’s going to be a lot of that over the next five months – and TBH I don’t think you’d be overly enamoured with this evenings hotel either – the mildew stains on the ceiling add a ‘certain something’ to the ambience.
Looks like fun so far,especially the lemongrass mojito! Thanks for the Tiananman Square update. I hope all the air in your bike tyres does NOT go to the top. Happy trails.
Ooooooooh exciting!!!! Enjoy!!!!
If u run short of energy gels, let me know and I’ll get some shipped over. They might even be ‘in date’ if you’re lucky… 😉
Have fun!
I thought this was supposed to be tough – look at all those cushy nights in hotels!
Happy riding Steve. We’ll be cheering you on from our very different endurance challenge.
Beautiful weather here at the moment (and for a change I mean it). Have a great trip and may your saddle be soft and the roads smooth……well, here goes….ready….steady….gooooooooooo………..
Sounds like a good riding temperature 🙂
All the very best for the start / first few days, look forward to seeing the updates x
What does one say besides “break a leg”? “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do?” – a bit late perhaps. Have a jolly time!