The SolarCycle Diaries: 3 riders. 12,000 miles. 1 cause.

Today the last leg of our journey begins and we hit the road in the U S of A. 

Setting off at noon from the San Francisco ferry port we will swing over the Golden Gate Bridge and then head south to San Jose.

Sungevity have organised a send off for us and are hoping to get a few people out for a ride (come down if you happen to be in the area/free for a couple of hours and in the possession of a push bike…) which will rock. 

Or, as the nice guy in the phone shop said the other day. “Awesome, rad man, you’ve just blown my mind.”

I love America!

Everyone is so nice.

From the fantastic Quayle of Renewable Choice Energy who randomly bumped into us and bought us lunch the moment we arrived, Brian who picked us up, Sam who showed us the town (and was forced to spend three hours in mobile phone shops… maturely making paper aeroplanes to bide the time) and Tiffany who showed us that the way to drink beer is to always accompany it with a shot of tequila!

But the Brits have been battling it out for being the most amazing. 

We arrived to a Thanksgiving feast courtesy of Birchy and Lulu our incredible hosts, were taken out for the day by Shaun and Alex and Jacqui from G24 has spent ages – though sadly unsuccessfully – trying to get us a welcome from Arnie. 

In a nutshell, we have spent the last couple of days being thoroughly spoilt and blissfully happy.

Thank you  all so much. 

Today though, it is back on the road.

Sungevity – who, should you live in California – can provide you an immediate, no fee, no call out solar quote using their crazy genius software that does clever things with satellite images* have organised a send off for us and we are then heading down to meet G24 – who have made our thin film PV panniers – in San Jose. 

So we get to restart with 50 miles, beautiful sunshine, beautiful people and beautiful roads.

A far cry from the 100 milers, blizzards and frostbite we encountered on the previous stint. 

Highway 1 down the Californian coast is renowned as one of the greatest ocean cycles in the world. It has rolling hills, dramatic surf and perfect temperatures.

We’ll try to struggle through…

Anyway, finally I have got around to amending the route (which swerved off course in Syria…) and have updated our google map. Take a look to see where we have been / are going. It is not all that accurate (much as my distance measurements) but does give you an idea.

Now we have better network connection we should be streaming the tracker and heart rate etc again soon.

Anyway, for anyone reading this for the first time, I have just done an update so take a look below.

Otherwise, promise to get working on some random antics to bring you more tales from the road soon.

Hope the sun is shining where you are.

Susie xx

 * UPDATE: The SolarCycle Diaries *
- Nine month round-the-world cyclıng expedition promoting solar power -
 
Having pedaled 15863 km across deserts, over mountains and through 14 countries, the SolarCycle team arrived in the US on Wednesday for the last stage of their round-the-world cycle expedition; a journey they have undertaken to promote solar power as a solution to climate change and to raise money for the charity, SolarAid.
On the 15th May, EU Solar Day, Susie Wheeldon, Jamie Vining and Iain Henderson, were waved off from City Hall – London’s most prominent solar building – by the Mayor, Boris Johnson as well as sponsors and supporters, Nokia, G24 Innovations, Solar Century and SolarAid.
 
Their journey took them from France to the North Coast of Africa, across the Middle East and Iran, over the mountainous ‘Stans’ and through China. Their ambitious route through a number of the worlds deserts was chosen to highlight the potential of these areas to provide solar energy.
 
The team are promoting the DESERTEC Concept; using concentrated solar power from the Sahara and Middle East to provide energy to Europe. This concept has been recently supported by a consortium of business leaders including Deutsche Bank and Munich Re. The DESERTEC Foundation plans to initiate further industrual initiatives in other regions, such as USA, India, China and Australia, to achieve its mission of realising the DESERTEC Concept – Clean Power from Deserts for a world with 10 billion people –.
Sadly, Iain had to return home from Kyrgyzstan but Susie and Jamie completed the journey through the Western Chinese Taklamakan desert ‘of no return’ to reach Shanghai last week. They arrived in San Francisco in time for a Thanksgiving feast courtesy of Sungevity founder, Andrew Birch. 
 

During their trip, not only have the solar cyclists experienced the searing 50 degree heat of the deserts but also battled visa issues, psychotic traffic, blizzards, gales and the attention of over-friendly goat herders… Having crossed several 3700m peaks they recently climbed to the edge of the Tibetan plateau, the closest place on earth to the sun.
Using their trip to profile solar power in all its forms, the team have made ‘solar powered’ videos for the UK’s ‘We Support Solar campaign’ – highlighting the employment, climate and economic benefits of incentivising sustainable solar energy, visited solar power projects and been given a tour of the Kuraymat concentrating solar power station near Cairo. On the 23rd November they visited SunTech in Wuxi, China; the largest solar module manufacturer in the world.
 
All of this and more is being relayed to followers of the SolarCycle website courtesy of their Nokia kit and solar panelled panniers; custom built by G24 Innovations, these have been made using the latest in next-generation, dye-sensitised thin film photovoltatic technology. Daily progress and Jamie’s heart-rate is also being tracked in real-time using the Nokia Sports Tracker application.
 
Welcomed by the Vice President of the Public Utilities Commission, the SolarCyclists alongside supporters from Sungevity will pedal over the Golden Gate Bridge at 12 pm, Monday 30 November. They will then head to San Jose to meet up with sponsors G24 Innovations at the US Thin Film Solar Summit. Continuing their journey south they will visit a number of solar projects in California before heading East from San Diego to Gainesville where the University of Florida will host a ‘SolarCycle’ week. They will finish their journey with a trip to the De Soto Next Generation Solar Energy Centre in Florida; the largest photovoltaic plant in the country.
 
Before returning to the UK they will also compete in the Sebring 12 hour ultra marathon cycling race in the hope of putting their nine month long distance training to good use.

 
To follow the teams progress, their weekly blog and daily ‘Tweets’, please visit: www.thesolarcyclediaries.com
 
For any press enquiries please contact: nokiapressoffice@lexispr.com
 

The SolarCycle Diaries support the DESERTEC Foundation, the ‘We Support Solar’ campaign and Nokia’s Green Explorer. The expedition also aims to raise sponsorship for the UK charity, SolarAid.

*All plugs by this site are naturally entirely unbiased. Though bribing us with the most incredible roast potatoes this side of the Atlantic does help…

Somewhere back in the desolate sands of the western Chinese desert we stumbled across a magical truck stop selling delicious, steaming bowls of cheap noodles. Tucking in to our lunch with a zealous gusto we started chatting to some truck drivers. As ever, the conversation was limited largely to smiling, laughing and the words: ‘English’, ‘Egg Fried Rice’ and ‘I don’t understand’. (The sum total of our limited Mandarin). With the help of some maps and gesticulations though we explained that we were cycling across the country. The, slightly inebriated, truck driver mulled over our intended destination.

“Ahh, Shanghai.”

Before the penny dropped and his voice rose a number of octaves.

“SHANGHAI?!?!”

Since then, SHANGHAI?!?! (always referred to in the same shocked, high pitch tones) has been our goal. Charles – who we found in a home stay on the Krygyz/Chinese border – was planning to head to Beijing but terrified of attempting to cycle through even wilder snowstorms/miss out on our scintilating conversation, decided to take the southerly route with us.

And – on Saturday night – after 15863.09 km (9856.87 miles), blizzards, sandstorms, 50+ heat, -5 cold, 3700m mountain passes, the lowest place on earth, 250km cycle days, numerous punctures, chain breaks, tyre explosions, stomach bugs, chest infections and the day spent getting stuck  in mud, concrete and the kind of traffic only a city of 20 million can create, we made it.

If you average out the days we have been away, including all those taken to visit sites, learn about solar and battle/flirt with visa officials, as well as those pedalling, it averages out to 52miles cycling a day.

Or, to put it in context, almost the same as doing the London to Brighton everyday since the 15th May.

With 50kg of luggage.

Across some of the worlds worst roads.

So it was with much relief and excitement that we dragged out our glad rags (more rags than glad) and hit the bright lights.

Some entertaining antics later (Jamie…) and all is a bit calmer.

On Monday we headed over to visit SunTech, the world’s largest photovoltaics manufacturer and were given a brilliant tour. It really was impressive to see how the panels are made, the huge leaps in efficiency and to stand under the largest panel in the world. (Full account to come later.)

Yesterday we packed up the bikes and today we are heading off to the U S of A.

Which we will reach in 16 hours.

A fact that, for anyone paying close attention, is a bit awry.

Our original plans and intention were to take a cargo ship over to San Francisco. For a number of reasons this has not been possible. So we are flying.

For an environmentally friendly expedition this is a bit incongruous so I thought I had best address the issue and own up.

The aviation industry is widely cited as the fastest growing cause of climate change. Flying uses a huge amount of energy and the contrails in the upper atmosphere do even more damage. Flying is generally done by the wealthy few to the detriment of the many others. According to David MacKay’s brilliant book: “Without the Hot Air” which quantifies the real costs of climate change and its solutions (I am pretty sure I have gone on about this book before but it really is worth reading – there is an online synopsis if you only have a short time):

“The only way to make a plane consume fuel more efficiently is to put it on the ground and stop it. Planes have been fantastically optimized,
and there is no prospect of significant improvements in plane efficiency. ”

So it is not a good option.

Sadly though, it is currently our only one.

Anyway, putting our failures aside, we are hoping to throw ourselves into a whole load of solar promotion and antics once we land. Danny at Sungevity has been an amazing help and there are plans afoot so will no doubt be back with more tales soon.

For now though, it is goodbye from Shanghai and see you on the other side.

Susie xx

Timmy’s quote actually dates back to our first week on the bikes in France. It seems an age away now, back in May, but relevant to my blog today. Without Iain here to provide Susie and I with an endless supply of  ‘facts’ I thought I’d try to fill a void that has appeared in his absence and provide you with some facts from our trip so far.

I’m currently nursing a bit of a hangover from a rather heavy and random night out in Shanghai with some jazz musicians so there will not be too much chat… just some information for you to mull over.

• Total distance cycled -        15863.09 km (9856.87 miles)
• Total time spent in the saddle -     740 hours 12 minutes (equivalent to riding the bike for one full month without stopping)
• Number of facts told to us by Iain -    309
• Number of facts told to us by Iain that turned out to be true -      9 
• Longest day in the saddle -             22nd October, 256km, 10 hours 12 minutes (one of Susie’s less than popular suggestions)
• Average speed over the whole distance -         21.46 km/hour
• Number of crashes -        7
• Number of crashes caused by Susie -       6
• Number of days spent cycling -     121 days
• Average distance cycled per day -        131.1 km
• Number of holes in Susie’s best T-shirt -       17
• Fastest speed -     72.53 km/h (although Susie claims the readout on her gps at over 90km/h was correct, I’m dubious)
• Worst weather incountered -        Blizzard conditions in Eastern China approaching Zoukuo on 15th November
• Temperature of feet on the 15th November -     approx. -5 degrees celcius
• Number of times Susie, Jamie (and Charles) have said ‘Bloody Iain’ for making them start later than planned so they had to cycle in the cold without him -     103
• Most precarious cycling conditions -       riding on sheet ice out of Deng Cheng 16th November (you could see your reflection in it!)
• Number of punctures for Susie -      less than 5
• Number of punctures for Jamie -        over 50
• Number of punctures for Iain -         not sure but there was definitely one day when he got 8 in a row
• Number of Snickers eaten by Charles on a day off -         5 (though I’m suspicious it may have been more)
• Hottest day -       riding into Cairo 30th June, 45 degrees in the shade (although the day I nearly melted in Tunisia felt hotter)
• Number of waves to and from stunned onlookers -        3458
• Physically hardest day for Jamie’s heart – 6th June 09, 153.77km, 6hours 53mintues of cycling with an average heart rate of 138 b/m 
• Number of times Jamie has thought about a hot tub full of Hawain Tropic girls waiting at the end of the day’s ride -    too many to count
• Number of years Susie has aged in 7 months cycling -         12  (the first waiter who guessed Susie’s age said 24, (he lived) the last waiter said 36, (he didn’t)
• Number of women dressed in sexy santa outfits it takes to rescue cyclists stuck in a lift -    15
• Number of times Jamie moans when hungry/tired/hurting -          constantly, apparently
• Number of accidents caused by motorists looking at Susie’s skinny ass -     3
• Number of laugh’s caused by Jamie wearing tights -      300
• Most audacious wee stop -       Susie in the central reservation of a motorway
• Site of the largest photovoltaic panels in the world -     Suntec, Wuxi, Eastern China 
• Number of days Jamie’s been happy to get up and cycle -       everyday but 1
• Number of times Susie’s GNVQ in bike maintenance has come in handy -       2
• Number of times this has nearly resulted in a serious injury -        2 
• Highest altitude reached -      3705m
• Numbers of meters climbed in one day -      approx  3000m
• Times Susie is amazed at how much food Jamie, Iain and Charles can consume -      every meal time

I could go on but think you’ve probably had enough by now. Off for some hair of the dog.

Ta ta

There comes a time in every persons life when they take stock, look themselves straight in the eye and ask:

“What the **** am I doing?!

Last night was one of those times.

Dusk had plummeted upon us, we had been cycling into a snowstorm for several hours and I had just fallen into a chasm in the road.

A car pulled alongside.

“Can we help you?”

“No, no, all fine.”

“We want to help you.”

“Really, no, all ok.”

“Please can we help you?!”

I am not sure if the passersby had stopped because of the the snow covering me, the fact my eyelashes had iced together or because I had nearly been mown down by a lorry in the twilight snowstorm.

But it was kind of them nevertheless.

And as the tailights of their car faded into the mist, I paused to wonder if this 10k was really, actually, worth it.

We had a goal though. And that goal was Zhoukou. Right then, it was all I could think of and all I was clinging to. 

Well, that and the thought that Zhoukou might profer a hotel. With hot water. And heating. And, and…*

“Slam. Boof. OWCH”

Sadly, in the short spell assuring the genial motorists that we did - indeed – mean to be out on the road/highway of snowfilled doom in the dark, ice had formed over the cleat in my cycling shoe. I pushed down hard but it did not click back into my pedal.

I hit the seat with force.

Then skidded a bit more for good measure.

Ar@e.

Going had been getting tough. Encouraged by the vicious headwinds, the trees had been pelting us with shards of ice. The snow and slush spraying into our faces was not only blurring our vision but causing the gears, pedals and brakes to freeze. For a good hour or so we had only been able to go at one speed, chains clunking and lurching. We were praying we would get to the navigable parts of the road before the other traffic in case we needed our unresponsive brakes.

Now I could no longer turn the wheels.

Normally, not being able to ‘click in’ to my pedal is not an issue. I simply swing it round and use the regular side for normal shoes. This time, though, with ice covering both sides of the metal, it was a battle to gain traction. The problem was amplified by the fact I had absolutely no feeling in my foot. And no idea when it actually met its target.

Clunking, slipping and – now – looking at my right pedal rather than the road, I limped the last few k’s to town.

Jamie was either just ahead or just behind, depending entirely on which parts of his bike he could, or couldn’t, get to work.

We slid to a halt outside a hotel. Laughing with nervous relief.

I went to see if there was room, almost taking myself out with the ice blocks that had frozen to the underside of my shoes as they hit the marble doorway. I couldn’t walk. I took my shoes off. As I put my foot down on the floor I wobbled all the more. I had no idea when I was touching the ground. (For anyone who has seen the ‘off-ice’ skate chase in Blades of Glory, it was basically like that…)

The receptionist looked shocked and appalled to see such a badly dressed and bedraggled creature crossing the lobby but once my appearance was explained by pointing at the (now white) bicycle she beamed and a whole bevvy of people crowded around to help. We where bustled in and half an hour later were sitting under a heater waiting to thaw out enough to shower without getting more chilblains.

We had a cup of tea.

Warmth, slowly but surely began to seep into our bodies.

POWER FAILURE

The blizzard had taken out the lines.

Oh no.

To cut a long story short. This morning, despite being outside at 6.30 trying to de-ice the bikes, we couldn’t leave until 11.45 because they were litterally solid. We couldn’t even wheel them somewhere with hot water as nothing moved. Not even a bit.

It has brought us back down to earth with a bump.

The last time I wrote, we were in Luoyang off to see the Shaolin monks. Hoping that the storm would pass. 

Well, that was storm one.

And that was an entirely different story…

The day after the trip to Shaolin – a beautiful reconstructed temple in the Song range of hills where the young monks display incredible feats and are trained to become King Fu masters – we awoke to find everything covered in a fluffy white layer.

A very thick, fluffy white layer.

Which had caused a number of cables and trees to fall down and resulted in traffic carnage.

We took one look and decided to wait it out. In the meantime, Charles, whose ability to track down the best buffet breakfast in town is unparallelled, had spied a – ludicruously inexpensive – boutique hotel on his scrambled eggs mission.

I had just purchased some killer stilleto heels (every cyclist has one luxuory item, right?),  it seemed appropriate that we moved from the youth hostel somewhere I could wear them…

Man alive. I thought there must have been a mistake.

*There was:

• Rose petals in the loo
• A gourmet breakfast
• An array of French wines
• A pink chaise longue
• An Audrey Hepburn inspired suite
• Candelabra
• Sharks….

For people who, until recently, had been sleeping in drainage ditches and truck stops, this was almost too much to take.

The following day, when the snow refused to budge, it did not take us long to err on the side of caution and stay put once more.

But all good things do come to an end.

With the countdown on our time in China ticking, we were forced to leave our – fabulous, velvet walled – haven.

Which is when things began to get colder.

And cold they still remain.

Sadly, languising in Luoyang has left us with no time to stop. So, it is onwards to Nanking, Shanghai and our trip to the Suntech PV factory in Wuxi, blizzard or no blizzard.

That’ll teach us…

Anyway, fingers crossed the sun will come back soon.

And here’s hoping it is already shining where you are.

Sweet dreams.

Susie xx

P.s. Al – Totally soft. Have been thinking about you actually. I just can’t  imagine how you managed to cycle through Siberia in winter. You absolute lunatic. How did you get the bikes to move? How could you ever be warm camping after a day in a snowstorm? Take my hat totally off to you. Well, I would if it was warm enough… Bring back the 50 degree deserts…

Roger that, alpha bravo, cuba libre.

HUSTLE!!!!!!!!!

Despite the dramatic name of the situation we find ourselves in, it is sadly not as exciting as it sounds.

An orange alert means that China is currently in the ravaging grips of…

A cold snap.

Damnations!

The last such snap brought the following delightful conditions:

“Cold wave will bring down temperatures by a maximum of 14 degrees in north, central and east China… There will be gales during the three days, scaling from five to seven degrees.” Sina – English

This time the news noted:

“A new round of strong cold air that rolled in on Saturday is expected to bring a sustained cold spell, snow and rainfall Monday to large parts of China.” Sina – English

It was not wrong.

And with the rain (the Luoyang region may have snow tommorow) there is also a whole truck load of mud.

Susie's makeup gets smudged

Going through the desert is possible to overlook such cycling neccessities as: a) waterproof trousers and b) mudguards.

This is folly indeed.

Yesterday I was actually thankful my face and body were covered in splatters so it didn’t just look like I’d had a rather unfortunate accident!

Most embarrassing.

And it is also very very cold.

Again.

Not only terrible for us but also not a great help in the climate debate pre-Copenhagen next month. We have been reading that the US is also set for a cold winter. Plummeting temperatures probably don’t make your electorate too keen to spend money on rising ones.

I pray that our leaders can see past short term issues though.

Obama is heading over here to meet with Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, next week so hopefully their meeting can do something to lift the climate stalemate between the worlds two greatest CO2 emitters.

Two weeks ago the Times noted the Chinese President’s speech to the UN: “is the clearest indication yet that Mr Hu would be prepared to sign a binding international agreement on emissions. China previously rejected carbon emissions caps or cuts.  Activists were disappointed that he did not set specific targets. Al Gore, the former US Vice-President and Nobel Peace Prize winner, said that he believed that China would offer more if the US responded to its initiative.”

Those guys need to have a glass of rice wine and rustle something up.

Speaking of which.

Man alive that stuff is potent!

The last post on here was just before our first night out since Cairo.

I can report that it was an unmitigated disaster.

At 55% proof it just took a couple of glasses and it was game over by about 10.30. No dancing, no karaoke and no making the most of the salubrious night spots Xian has to offer.

So we were forced to hit the town in the tiny settlement of Hua Shan instead.

Limiting ourselves to a wild two beers we gave Celine Dion a run for her money, watched in awe the volume levels achieved by the local – slightly inebriated – holiday makers and did some shimmying/kung fu/press ups…

Essential footware only

Before getting up at 5am to climb a mountain.

And then cycling 100k’s.

The guys have decided I am trying to kill them. (Not content with long cycling distances, moving on to the dancing/climbing/pedalling extreme combo. Wimps.)

Anyway, Hua Shan, was astonishing. (Both in terms of expense and the incredible views.) 

Above the pollution line?

For an idea of what it is like to climb, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72rN5zO2T7A Well, I hope that is the right link in any case. If not and I have accidentally included a link to something totally different then my apologies. Sadly the blocks on the internet here wont let me view it. So it could really be anything…

Anyway, from there it was the road to Luoyang.

The - long, windy, hilly, police chasing you off the motorway, mad dogging through the fields, finding inconvenient precipices, battling with the pollution,  mud covering you, lime in your eyes as the rain whips into your face – road.

But we have a day off tommorrow so can get ourselves and the bikes cleaned, find some face masks and take a sneaky trip out to see the Shaolin monks  up in the Song Mountains.

Less spiritual than kick a*s kung fu masters, these guys are hard as nails.

The Shaolin temple was where Bodhidharma, finding the monks out of shape from too much sedentary meditation, set about introducing a regimen of martial exercises which later developed into kung fu.

Some of the Arts of the Shaolin Temple can be found on Wikipedia but most eye watering has got to be: “Iron Head - In this art, the head is hardened by wrapping layers of fabric around the head and ramming the head into a hard surface repeatedly.”

Ouch.

I shall, of course, let you know if we see any such antics but just realised the time and best get a move on for now.

Hope that the sun is shining wherever you are though. Especially if you happen to be in Western Henan and it is heading this way…

Susie xx

Sometimes - even in your wildest imagination - you just can’t forsee events.

Never, for example, had I imagined that I would be saved from a brokendown elevator by 15 Chinese women dressed as Little Miss Claus and 1 in a ball gown…

But so it came to pass.

Following a couple of days planning our America leg we left Xining and headed for the Tianshui.

The first couple of days were shortish rides so that we could stay in towns large enough to have somewhere to stay. (It is freezing here after a freak cold snap, hotels cost a couple of dollars and Jamie wasn’t feeling all that great. We decided to give the tents a well earned rest.) 

Minhe was the first stop. Charles had left the day before Jamie and I to get in an extra days sightseeing. So it was just the two of us again for a couple of days.

Jamie went to check out the hotel and declared it perfect. I was to find out only after we booked in that this was because there was a window from the bedroom to the shower!

He found this highly amusing.

Until I pointed out that the window also provided views of the toilet… (Deary me. I think someone might need some female attention.)

Anyway, the next day saw a series of calamaties.

A flat tyre before leaving. A flat tyre enroute. A broken chain. Headwinds. Arctic temperatures. Unexpected hills. Cloudy skies. Industrial pollution. And falling under a truck. (Fortunately the truck was stopped at a toll gate and so the shocked driver didn’t actually run over me but it was a little bit terrifying.)

After a good nights sleep though we awoke to find the sun shining and hopped on the expressway to take the quick route south, avoiding many hills by taking the tunnels through them. (N.B. On the off chance that the sound effect guy for Harry Potter happens to be reading this and looking for a ‘Death Eater’ noise, I can recommend a police siren going off when you are half way through a 2k road tunnel. A truely awful sound. Especially if you are not sure you are meant to be on the road in question and - therefore - whether the sound is aimed at you…)

Anyway, after an exhausting uphill 100 miles, we reached a small town as dusk was falling and were pointed in the direction of the place to stay. A very basic hotel with lovely owners but no toilet or shower. This is not generally a problem for us but when I say ‘freak cold snap’ it really is bone achingly cold. Hence the reason why – and just getting in here before Jamie does in revenge for my comments on his last post – rather than brave the great outdoors, I was forced to wee in a bowl in the middle of the night. It’s like a bedpan right…? (Oh the shame.)

The next day, after saying goodbye to our kind hosts we finally got some downhill and caught up with Charles again.

Charles had, randomly, met up with a guy who I had met on a ferry to Bilbao last November.

Of course.

Last year, Humphrey had been crossing to Spain in order to do a practise cycle before his trip to Hong Kong.

Bumping into him on a hillside in Western Gansu some 11 months later was quite bizarre.

It was therefore the four of us who finally rolled into Tianshui. And who where present when the lift decided to fail on the fifth floor of the hotel.

Well, I say it decided to fail.

The lift stopped on the fifth floor and we were met with the greetings and smiles of the 15 aforementioned Little Miss Santa’s.

They had short skirts on.

I was in the lift with three young men who have spent two, six and seven months respectively cycling half way round the world.

Vehemently encouraged by the others, Charles repeatedly jabbed the ’5th floor’ button to go back!

There was a clunk.

A judder.

Then the whole thing stopped….

Ah.

Much banging, shouting and pressing of the emergency button ensued.

There were a series of squeals in response.

I tried the phone.

It didn’t work.

Jamie – having watched Die Hard on numerous occassions – prised the first set of doors open. We could see the fifth floor but – despite their best efforts the ladies above, now accompanied by a male hand (which wiggled through a gap), could not get to us.

We valiently and cleverly took photo’s of each other ‘stuck in the lift’.

A note was passed through.

“Don’t worry. We will saving you!”

This was accompanied by a cacophany of female voices repeating the same.

I was nervous.

The boys were in heaven.

Eventually we were indeed rescued. Each of us being unceremonously hoiked from the elevator and out to…. a karaoke bar!

It seems that when you get a karaoke booth you get a strangely dressed lady to help you.

Cries of “choose me!” abounded and when I took a photo of the guys with the rescue team there was more general excitement and shrieking.

"Choose me!"

It was truely surreal.

Anyway, not sure what it says about men but we hadn’t eaten and so we bid farewell to our exhuberant rescuers and headed out for food.

Stomach’s before women I guess.

Either that or they were actually a bit frightened by the overpowering nature of 15 bored, hormonal ladies wearing tinsel!

Our rescuer's await!

The next day we  hit the road a full 20k to Bedaio and the ancient Buddhist cliffside shrine of Maji Shan.

Statues and caves carved into the side of the rock, set in a stunning alpine setting. Truely magical, made even more so by the series of winding walkways that take you up and over to different nooks and crannies. A fantastic -yet more subdued – experience.

It was back on the bikes properly the following day though with another 100mile mountain adventure.

The landscape was incredible. Sharp peaks covered in red, gold and yellow trees and flanked with colourful buddhist shrines. Progress was fairly good but – as the nights are drawing in at 6 – we were beginning to worry that we would not make Baoxi by dark.

We would have to break back on to the expressway.

We girded ourselves up for a smile and wave enslaught.

The entrance was text book.

Sidling up behind a lorry, the bemused security guard didn’t stand a chance in the face of our greetings and frantic last minute speed pedalling.

40k later though (through some more astounding scenery and massive tunnels) we came up to a stumbling block.

A weigh in station.

As here all of the traffic slows, merges and is organised by officials we were preparing for our inevitable removal.

SMASH

A lorry saw the station too late and didn’t have time to stop before reaching the barrier. This low speed incident, in which no one was hurt, brilliantly distracted the assembled body of men in luminous jackets. 

We sailed past.

The next morning we still had over 180k to go to Xian.

Bearing in mind the speed difference between the highway and the smaller roads we decided to attempt break on two…

This time the ‘smile and wave’ did not go as planned. There were no lorries to sneak up behind and – with an uphill ascent to the toll booth – we were spotted way in advance. A friendly looking guy came over to talk to us. Jamie stopped and gesticulated that we were heading to Xian. He asked if it was in the direction the motorway went in. The man nodded and said yes. This was all in I needed. “Great. Thanks.” “Guy’s pedal!”

We waved our thanks and sped off. The guy realising too late that he had inadvertantly sent us onto the highway.

Our luck remained for quite a while. We were motioned off once around a first set of roadworks but hopped back on the otherside. After 90k we hit our second set though and this time the police were in attendance. There was no escape. Sirens blazing we were escorted off.

It was back to the small roads.

And actually, it was initially refreshing.

It is smooth, safe and fast on the motorway but – though you get an incredible view of the passing scenery – you naturally miss out on the towns and villages. We had spent the first half of the day speeding along, so weaving through the rural lanes again was quite fun. Right up until the road deteriorated into piles of rubble and pot holes… Weaving along rural lanes gets a bit exhausting if this is also weaving back and forth in the face of oncoming buses and lorries as they spew smoke fumes over you and inadvertantly chuck you into gauges in the tarmac.

Fortunately after a couple of hours the countryside gave way to towns and a marked improvement in the road surface. Following some impressive navigation from Jamie and a final gauntlet of city traffic we eventually made it to Xian.

Which is where we are now.

It is a huge city full of people, attractions and department stores. There’s even a Starbucks. Such a stark contrast to some of the places we came through.

There is so much to do. Visit the terracotta warriers, cycle the historic walls and wander round the drum tower.

So we are planning a trip to Bar Street!

Since finding the worlds smallest pub in Damascus and having two beers we haven’t actually been out.

Could be quite a shock to the system.

But we are having a rare two days off in a row so thought we should hit the town.

Hopefully by Saturday we will be recovered enough to make the final push to the East coast.

Our last destination in China is Shanghai but we are stopping before then to visit SunTech, the world’s largest crystalline silicon photovoltaic module manufacturer, in Wuxi. It will be pretty cool to see how the PV panels are actually made so will be able to report back in on that soon.

For now though, I had better go.

Better mentally prepare for being hustled back to a karaoke bar…

Susie xxx

Although my ‘typical days’ and Susie’s blogs can give a nice overview of our daily exploits I thought it might be interesting to put in an actual day from my personal diary.

Note: I havn’t changed anything so a couple of bits may not be as clear as they could be! Anything I think might need explaining I’ve added in [brackets].

I’ve also been keeping a food diary everyday so that is here too.

Diary 9th October

Susie’s alarm went off at 7 and I finally made myself get up at about 20 past. Decamped and faffed around with the heart rate monitor and phone batteries for a while. It was chilly so tried my new gloves for the first time. Susie almost lost a tent peg but managed to find it in the dirt after scratching around for a while. This surprised me as I’d expected her to give up fairly quickly. We left the campsite at around 9.

Did the first 30km into the wind… as usual. Same 10km stretches with Susie and I taking the lead. The mountains were on our left and open land to our right. Listened to music as the wind was directly against and makes talking or playing 20 questions difficult to hear the others. The immaculate road up to now had it’s first bad stint with 10km of unfinished roads where they were making a new motorway. Very bumpy in places and hard to ride but still smooth as silk compared to some of the Kyrgyzstan roads.

Unfortunately my phone was still playing music when I put the ear piece in in the morning and was out of battery not long after the first stop… Off the bank near an underpass/toilet! [The underpasses provide good shelter from the wind and are often the only place we can find with any privacy for calls of nature, as such, we tend to stop at them for our breaks and use them as a handy loo].

Ate oranges that Susie had been trying to palm off for ages to reduce the weight she was carrying, some apple sweet variations ['apple sweet variations': - 'apple flat' as I have called it is a sweet we originally came across in Iran being sold by the side of the road. It consists of a thick film of sugary apple concentate, it generally came in LP size and thickness with the consistency of leather. The variations refers to both a different shape of 'apple flat' and also a new apple sweet which is sugar coated strips of apple concentrate] and grapes.

The wind picked up a bit and the next 30km we did in 5km stretches when we wern’t on temporary roads due to the roadworks. The roadworks were on and off for the next 20km untill we finally got back to the normal good roads. Stopped at a garage for Pepsi and snacks. A huge number of flies made us want to leave quickly but I’d got a flat tyre. Managed to find the culprit (a piece of tyre wire) and fix the puncture without taking the wheel off.

Only 50 or so km to Korla so we headed off wanting to get there early so we could find a hotel and relax. 20km out of town we found a cafe, we saw a dish being served that we hadn’t seen before and ordered the same as both lagman [noodles with spicy veg and beef sauce] and rice with mutton fat [plov] was getting a bit samey. This was a huge dish with stewed chicken, potatoes, veg and chillies [Dapanji]. I ate the chicken foot which is eaten as a snack here, much like we might eat a packet of crisps. Nice food, although the staff were more interested in praying than cleaning the tables. There was a lorry outside with cows in. One stuck it’s head out of the grill, we hoped it wouldn’t have an accident and lose it’s head. Although we decided that falling off the bike because a cows head rolled infront of you would make a good story.

Hot out but we wanted to get to Korla and by the amount of climbing we’d done Korla looked as though it was all downhill into town. Not far off and appart from a little stitch from getting on the bike too soon after lunch we were soon in Korla. Used the GPS to take us straight to the road with the hotels mentioned in the guide.

Saw 2 or 3 hotels and shouted to Susie but as per usual she cycled on. Charles and I stopped to have a look but he cycled after Susie. I wanted to go and ask the price of the room but there were steps to the reception and didn’t fancy leaving the bike with all the people that were milling about. I spotted a Bank of China and I went over to change some money but they couldn’t. Almost bought myself a beer and sat to see how long it would take for one of them to come back, but didn’t. Cycled along and Charles had asked in a hotel but it didn’t have a triple room. They sent us along the road to the Silver Star Hotel.

Turned out to be a four star hotel but a standard room with an extra bed and breakfast included was 37 pounds. Just 15 pounds more than the last place and that didn’t have breakfast. The receptionist was nice as pie and fit, and after she showed us the room to make sure it wasn’t too small for three of us we accepted it so we didn’t waste any more valuable rest time searching around town to save maybe 3 pounds each.

Sweeping marble staircase to the second floor restaurant and elephant statues in the lobby. Great hotel and about a quarter of their published price for the room. We showered, watched tv and then went to get supplies from the supermarket. Got another ladel for the Primus stove [our cooking stove that is missing a couple of vital parts - the ladel was intended to be used as one of these vital parts - a diffuser for the central flame] and some boxes for my pannier. Dropped off the stuff at the hotel and resisted the temptation to have a steak at the hotel restaurant.

We went around the corner to another restaurant with a large bubbling fondue style bowls that you cook your own food in. We’d forgotten the little magic book [Charles' mandarin language book with a very good food section at the back] and after some of my better impressions of cows, chickens and pigs I went into the kitchen to point at what we wanted. After pointing at a number of dishes, some of which I recognised, others I was not so sure about, I returned to the table. Susie and Charles were already digging into the prawn crackers and beer.

Some beef turned up, then another dish with some chewy strips of meat, some mushrooms, little sausages, salad etc. We were already cooking lots of things, finding the chilli half [the fondue was divided down the centre, one half normal, the other spicy] very chilli, then a huge plate of fish arrived. The others tried to take photo’s as I ate the fish’s eye. We drank more beer and ordered noodles to cook. We took a while and Susie consistently splashed boiling water onto Charles when throwing food into cook. Totally full and a little tipsy we had bets on what would come out of the lucky dip [what was left in the fondue bowl] and then how much the bill would be. It was 119 Yuan [$14] for all the food we could eat and beers for all of us all night. I love China.

Ice cream on the way back to the hotel room. Couldn’t find the movie channel so watched the National Geographic channel. Tickled Susie’s feet for a bit while she ate my ice cream. Played scrabble for a bit and then bed around half midnight. I attempted to do my diary for the day but fell asleep halfway through the food diary.

Food Diary 9th October

Sandwhich – banana, honey x2

Coffee sugar

Biscuit Lge

Grapes

Apple strips in sugar

Orange

Pepsi

Grapes

Chicken, veg, potato, chilli stew

Beef strips x5

Chewy strips of meat? x3

Sausages sm x8

Beer

Prawn crackers with dip x10

Fish x5, noodles, spinach, cabbage

Beer x2

Coffee ice cream

Beer