Cycling in the Clouds

Words can not fully describe the magnitude of the hangover I am currently nursing. I have no doubt I have had greater in the past, but this one has the added effect of having cycled 306km in 1 day 2 days ago. The nursing of this hangover is taking place in a Starbucks in Chengdu drinking a Caramel Macchato watching the 14.4 million population of this vast city buzz around me on a pollution hazed Sunday afternoon. At this moment in time, the energy & frantic nature of the city are not rubbing off on me, I’m as docile and sleepy as an old sloth with Macchiato froth resting idly on my moustache and not caring what the world thinks about it. The 5 day / 791km cycle from Xiahe to Chengdu was one hell of a ride; freezing cold weather, breathtaking plateau scenery, giant herds of yaks, multiple 3,600m mountain passes culminating in the high point of the trip at 3,850m, inexplicable fits of giggles between Zac & I and finishing with a 306km ride into Chengdu reaching our goal at 21:55 looking more dishevelled than I care to describe, but will try. Where to begin….probably from the beginning!

Walking around Labrang Monastery in Xiahe was incredibly serene & special. I’m not a very spiritual person myself, but you could feel a very unique aura in the crisp morning air. Locals were plodding clockwise around the 3km Kora spinning the beer barrelled sized prayer wheels muttering prayers to themselves and I hypnotically joined in, you couldn’t avoid it. About 1km into it we turned off right into the small alleys where the 2,000 odd Tibetan Monks reside and are going about their daily chores. Around every corner appeared another little or large temple with more monks chanting & prostrating. At random moments of meandering through the vast complex I would simply stop, look around and take in the peaceful & sacred vibe of the Monastery or gaze at the crystal clear blue sky with the pine covered mountains framing it. These mornings spent off the bike are such a blessing, as for an instant I feel like a normal tourist and completely forget about the bike, my aching body and the kilometres to go and simply enjoy the sights. Slowly, after another delicious Tibetan Milk Tea, it was time to gear up and prepare to cycle on. Rather than return to the main road by the same way we reached Xiahe, we had heard of a minor road that continues up into the mountains and cuts of a chunk of the main road saving us 40km. Knowing full well that shortcuts normally end badly, the decision was taken, in the spirit of good old fashioned British adventure, to give the unknown a go and have a mini-adventure within an already large adventure. By 13:50 we were continuing up the valley from Xiahe towards Sangke and the road was a decent enough 5/10 and the skies were still magically blue, as only they can be at 3,000m high. Before Sangke we hung a left and the road immediately deteriorated to 2.65/10, if you can even call it a road. It was more like a dust path littered with potholes of varying sizes, still crawling uphill as we had entered another valley going upstream. The dust was so fine at points that it was as if we were cycling on pure cocaine, which on our road tyres (Zac’s are even thinner than mine) is very tricky. The lack of suspension on our bikes caused some serious jolts resulting in fits of laughter or cries of pain. Despite all of this, I was strangely enjoying the experience. It felt like a true adventure, cycling into the middle of nowhere not even sure we were going the right way at times (Nick, your compass came in very handy here!). The road kept on gradually getting steeper and steeper, culminating in a 3,595m pass, again signalled by the prayer flags waving at us from the top. This pass felt more special than others due to our isolation from the world and the fact it was cycled along a dirt road. After a quick Snickers and some posy photos we began our descent along the cocaine dust, which is even trickier than the ascent! We had hoped to reach the main road by the end of the day, but after only 50km we called it a day and set up camp on a gloriously perfect grassy plateau. Herds of yak were being shepherded back to their villages in the distance and we then had the entire plateau to ourselves. I was in heaven and that campsite immediately entered the top 10 of the trip.

One problem with enjoying clear skies in the mountains all day is that the subsequent night and morning after are deathly cold! We awoke at 0515 in the pitch dark and freezing temperatures and went about the painstaking task of packing up camp in the dark and cold. This adds about 15 minutes to the normal routine as we both curse our fingers fumbling around the more fiddly bits of this task. After another 3 hours the main road was discovered and we thawed ourselves out in a Petrol Station, content with the success of our mini-adventure and daunted by the day ahead which would include many 3,600+ m passes. Looking back at my diary of this day, 18th September, to gain inspiration of what to write for this blog, all I find is “cycled up, then down, then up, then down, then up…”. Not that inspirational but essentially that is what happened. Zac has an altometer, which can be a blessing as well as a curse, as sometimes you simply don’t want to know how much higher you have to climb. I remember feeling like a female model in St Tropez on this day (hear me out here …) due to the amount of times I changed my clothes. As I began an ascent I would be wearing a few layers, which would slowly be shed as the sweat began, resulting in nothing but my cycling shirt and shorts by the time I reached the top. At this point, with my Mother’s voice of reason in my head, the multiple layers would be re-applied along with a hat and gloves for the descent. This was repeated 4 times as we managed to push 4 x 3,600+m passes in one day. At the end of the day, when we were deciding whether to treat ourselves to a guesthouse in Langmusi or cycle on past it, a group of Chinese, en route to driving to Lhasa, invited us to their roadside BBQ. Zac and I looked at each other and simultaneously whispered: “we’re staying in Langmusi”. They showered us with many kebabs of expertly spiced beef (even asking how we would like our meat cooked!), mushroom and cauliflower, followed by a couple of shots of ‘grow some serious hair on your chest’ alcohol. Stomachs full and heads light we rode on into Langmusi, found a place to shower, eat & sleep, completing all 3 activities with relish.

Being in the mountains is far superior than desert cycling for many reasons. Despite complaining about the cold, there is something delightfully pleasing about putting on all of your clothes, 2 sleeping bags and schnuggling down for the night inches away from a plastic bag full of bakery goodies that will be savoured for breakfast in bed at 0530. I also thoroughly enjoyed the sight of thousands of grazing yaks crossing the road back & forth, seemingly also thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. The little dumpling yak calves have possibly become my favourite animal, bounding like deer behind their woolly mothers, full of life. However, the thought of these dumpling calves in actual dumplings is sometimes far more appealing. The plateau grasslands were also filled with fields of bluebells (I think they were bluebells, my horticultural knowledge is limited at best) giving the grass a gentle shade of dark blue. Occasionally a massive shadow would cast itself on me spanning about 3 metres. I would glance up and spot a majestic eagle soakring above, hovering above the plateau searching for its next meal of a field mouse, a dumpling yak calf or a weary cyclist. All of these sights, and more, are far more preferable than the bleakness of the desert. And for that, I am happy.

Day 3, 19th September, saw us climb very steadily all day, pop many pills and begin to feel the effect of high altitude cycling. We knew a 3,850m pass was on its way, so our plan was to get as close as possible to it today and complete it tomorrow, as you should not camp more than 300m higher than the previous night at these altitudes. At 14:00 we had only cycled 100km and both of us were already whacked! My stomach was making noises again, and both of our energy levels were down to 30% having been sapped by the altitude. The thought of stopping there and then briefly crossed our minds, but we pushed on until 16:45 with another 37km under our belts and at an altitude of 3,620m – the highest camp of the trip. These 37km were literally squeezed out. Our muscles were aching all over and each rotation of the peddles was a great effort. Not due to the steepness, but rather the altitude and minor illness. We stopped twice on this 37km stretch to eat and lay down horizontally laughing at our predicament. When we did painfully set up camp, we both collapsed and napped for a while, Zac rather more heavily than me. He could feel a temperature coming along, so after both popping a host of pills, I went about cooking us both dinner, leaving Zac to moan & grown in his tent. We were both wrapped up in our sleeping bags by 19:30 and pushed our alarms back to 06:00 to give us an extra 30 minutes in bed, what a luxury!

Despite the altitude, the morning was not as cold as we had expected it to be and our energy levels had fortunately picked up to 85% rather than plummet over night. Now to the small matter of reaching the 3,850m high point… This was not as difficult as we expected as the road continued at the same shallow gradient for 40km all the way to top, with no sudden increase in steepness. Thank you mountain! The sign read 3,840m but Zac’s altometer read 3,850m. For obvious reasons the altometer was trusted above the sign, unless of course the sign would have been more 🙂 A victory Snickers and cup of coffee were had, patting ourselves on the back for the highest point of both of our trips. Some layers of clothing was re-applied before the impending descent (over the next 1.5 days and 420km we would be slowly descending from 3,850m to 500m in Chengdu) and we were off. After a short tunnel, the view that lay in front of us was magnificent, a real masterpiece in road construction, and it was downhill. We thanked our lucky stars that our approach to the peak was far easier and whizzed down screaming louder than 50 kids on a bouncy castle. Soon we were in the Min Valley cycling along the Min river, which would lead us all the way to Chengdu. Upon reaching the valley we decided to return to our 8 x 10min slipstreaming stints, as these were not beneficial when in the mountains. We stopped in Songpan for lunch and to close down another bakery by buying everything they owned. If only we could carry the baker and his/her oven with us… Songpan is a beautiful little town with the west gate of the town walls being an original structure from the Ming-dynasty. We stopped to camp after 157km as the clouds’ darkness threatened rain. Tents were flung up and the rain never really materialised, should have known. The wind was howling though, so we prepared dinner in the porch of Zac’s tent with me crouched up like a Chinese contortionist. Dinner was inhaled, as normal, good nights were exchanged and I retreated to my ‘bedroom’ to read my book on my Kindle – perfect escapism and an amazing gift from my amazing friends!

21st September – what…a…day! We woke up at 05:30, just like every other day, ate breakfast, just like every other day and packed up our tents, just like every other day, completely unaware about what we were about to do to our minds and bodies. We had skirted around the topic of a 300+km day in passing before, but decided it would need immaculate planning and everything would have to be in our favour. At 06:30, in the pitch black, we began our day along the Min Valley doing our slipstreaming stints trying to make the most of the quiet road. As dawn began to creep up on us, the beautiful valley revealed itself to us once more. The majority of the time the width of the valley was around 500yds with the mountains coming down very steeply at either side. Every 10kms, or so, there would be a tiny village with cute little farmhouses, part Alpine and part Chinese in style. As the valley is so narrow, EVERY inch of available space is used for growing their crop, no patch is wasted – the type of gardening my Uncle Stewart would be proud of. In between the villages the morning mist was rising, leading me to believe I was on a set of ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’. It felt beautifully mystical and peaceful…until the dreaded trucks and buses slowly began to increase in numbers, making it more difficult to appreciate the natural splendours. After a faster than normal first 40km we stopped for a our first mini-break and a pee stop. As with many people I’m sure, my mind tends to wander while peeing and some stupid ideas pop into my brain. Zac and I were standing side by side enjoying the calls of nature whilst nature called us and I turned my towards Zac (just my head!) and said: “If I’m thinking it, I know for damn sure you are!”. Like all good partnerships in life, your brains are intrinsically linked thinking the same thoughts at the same times. He replied: “It’s on!”. Our plan was to reach Chengdu the following day, but as our crazy eyes met during our morning pee, seeing that slightly wild glint in each others’s eyes, our plans had suddenly changed. We would push for Chengdu in 1 day. We weren’t sure of the exact distance, but we knew it would smash our previous P.B. of 209km and with the majority of it going ever so slightly downhill along the Min Valley we fancied our chances. With the decision made we gave our bikes a thorough check, got changed out of our morning gear, ate a few snacks, tried to focus on the task ahead and began cycling once more. We planned to eat lunch in Wenchuan, which we reached at 11:55 after 130km. The cycle there was fast & furious with minimal stops. The stops which were had were simply to re-fuel and relieve ourselves before continuing. The scenery remained breathtaking and the villages idyllic with one stand out moment. After passing through one particularly long tunnel (tunnels are not a cyclists favourite place to be!) we emerged to face an almighty downhill of 8-10 perfectly crafted switchbacks leading to another tunnel way down below. We took the obligatory photo and free-wheeled our way down, cycling through the low lying clouds – cycling IN clouds, It was a perfect moment!! Lunch in Wenchuan was a delicious but swift affair, being back on our bikes by 12:40. I had spent the morning without music, opting instead to enjoy the sounds of mother nature and the blissful truck horns. After lunch I needed a pick-me-up other than our 2nd Red Bull of the day, this came in the form of the one & only Mr Phil Collins – what a hero. With Phil serenading my ear drums, nothing could go wrong. Leaving Wenchuan we came upon another barricade, this time the army not the police. However, just like with the police, we smiled, waved and hammered our way through the barriers resulting in a delightfully empty road. This lasted for about 30 minutes before an army convoy, about 100 trucks & jeeps strong, came up behind us travelling around 35-40km/h. People were lining the streets of the villages to witness the spectacle and giggled when they saw 2 British cyclists weaving in and out of the trucks trying to remain in their military slipstream. The foot soldiers in the back of the jeeps found this hilarious and were giving us the thumbs up and taking photos, the more senior members of the army in the front of the jeeps and trucks were less amused. They were waving their hands for us to pullover and generally get the hell out of the way and stop being a nuisance. We politely waved back and overtook these mean trucks instead. This continued for about 40km of wild and fast-paced cycling before our (mainly my) legs simply refused to go any more. Going downstream is mainly a down gradient, but there are still the odd uphills going around the valley bends which are quite tough. We pulled over, 170km down, and deigned the army convoy to pass us. I was sweating profusely and stripped down to the bare essentials. Once we caught our breath and downed some Skittles, we continued along our merry way.

Between 170-235km things got a bit hazy. A host of tunnels seemed to come out of nowhere sapping our energies further, as we always cycle furiously through them to get it over and done with, and the traffic was getting heavier and heavier along the little 1-lane valley road. At one point there were 3 lanes of cars overtaking us (on a 2-lane road!!!!), oblivious to the fact a truck could be coming up the other way any second. We thought we were about to pop out of the mountains, but the mountains had one more surprise up their sleeve; a monumental climb of about 300m over a very very short distance. Our hearts sunk at the sight of it and we were drenched from head to toe in sweat & filth from the trucks already. We avoided truck surfing as we wanted this epic day to be pure (not that we’ve done a lot, more the odd bit for a touch of fun) and began slogging, panting and dying up the hill. We were already below 1,000m and the humidity had already picked up considerably. The top of the climb resulted in another long tunnel, which opened up in to what can only be described as hell! Normally the sight of a long & snaky downhill would have me wagging my metaphorical tail, but the sight of this one made me crap myself. Every inch of tarmac was taken up by a vehicle overtaking an even slower vehicle in both directions in 2 lanes. Watching the chaos ahead of us was somewhat comical until we realised we too had to join this shit-show. We mumbled some prayers, said we would meet at the bottom and delved in. I never imagined my London cycling skills coming in useful in the Chinese country side, but they did. My mind was already beginning to fry at this stage of the day, so 150% concentration was needed. Fear had to be thrown out of the window and I approached it as a game of Mario Kart instead, the main difference being I only had 1 life and not 3 balloons circling my go-kart and having the option of restarting at any point. Banana skins were being lobbed all over the place, red turtle shells were being hurled around willy-nilly and I used more expletives than I thought I had in my vocabulary. The strange thing was….I was having a lot of fun 🙂 At the bottom, with adrenalin flooding our veins we swapped near death experiences from our separate descents before continuing along the busy road. After that adrenalin rush I could feel a downer coming on, and I began to feel very light-headed and on the verge of light hallucinations. I motioned to Zac that we needed to pull over at the next possible place, so we did. Here, 225km into the day, we finished off the last of our food and water rations leaving us with nothing. We even spooned the jam pots dry to increase our blood sugar levels once more. After 5 minutes of rest, life returned to my body, and more importantly my mind, and we had an almighty fit of giggles about the fact we were still miles from Chengdu, we have no more food or water and we are not even celebrating smashing our P.B. of 209km by 16:30. The laughter was intensified when we looked at each other and realised what a mess we were: whole bodies glistening with sweat and splattered with dirt, our clothes filthy &,smelly and deep & dark bags under our eyes as if we were trendy Shoreditch residents wearing eye-liner but our eyes themselves were still hungry, hungry to reach Chengdu. So we continued.

At 235km we were finally out of the mountains and onto a beautifully flat road with 4 lanes going each way. Huge sigh of relief! It was 17:30, the time we would normally be setting up camp and darkness would be upon us in 2 hours. Soon we found ourselves on the main highway towards Chengdu (although the toll gate assistants really didn’t want us to be there) and a sign reading 30km to Chendgu was spotted, the light at the end of a very long tunnel. Zac’s energy levels were going through a slight decline whereas I was experiencing an out-of-body type resurgence, ready to attack the highway. I therefore led the slipstreaming 2 man cycling convoy for about an hour, punishing my body to travel at 33km/h as we wanted to get as close to the city before darkness set in. During this hour I tried to immerse myself into a tranquil trance like state, concentrating simply on keeping the pace high and all other distractions to a minimum. Zac would occasionally ask if I’m still OK to lead, to which I replied with a simple thumbs up. My mind raced through many things during this hour, trying various techniques to stay focused, most of which are too embarrassing to repeat to you here. It did the trick though and by 19:30 we had hit 270km. we prepared ourselves for the final leg in the darkness and in to the city. We knew Chengdu was big, but little did we know that it was MEGA. 14.4 million inhabitants and 4 major ring roads, each equalling the ferocious traffic levels of the M25. Our end goal was a Warm Showers host (Couch Surfing for cyclists) named Dhane who lived in the south-east of the city, we were approaching from the north-west…Where we were getting the energy from at this point I simply can not say as I don’t actually know, but more mental than physical energy was required for the last 30km. We were back to playing Mario Kart, this time at 150cc not 50cc. It wasn’t too dissimilar to cycling in London to be honest, but unlike cycling to work in the daylight along a route I know off the back of my hand, we were cycling in the dark in a city neither of us know without a map, having spent 10 hours and  270km in the saddle already. We made our way to the 2nd inner ring road before turning right and going anti-clockwise around it before hitting Wanda Plaza where we should turn right for the last 8km to Dhane’s flat -simples. This we managed with intense traffic, multiple giant intersections, empty minds and even emptier stomachs. We reached Wanda Plaza at 21:00 and 298km cycled whereupon our eyes fell upon a smiling colonel with an immaculately sculpted goatee, guarding the doors to the exquisite culinary delights of KFC. Upon entering all eyes glared at us, for once not because we were white British but because we looked & smelt like we had just been dragged through the Mumbai sewers before riding a wild roller-coaster for 5 hours straight listening to Slipknot. A cheeky Zinger Tower Burger meal was eaten before it was placed on the tray at the counter before cycling the last 8km to Dhane’s. When the 300km appeared on our odometers we roared, as if the Rugby World Cup had be won again. The crazy thing is that we physically could have probably kept going, but our mental states were on the unhealthy side. End of day figures: 11hrs 45mns in saddle, 306km, in the shower by 22:15, beer in hand at 23:00 and head on pillow at 01:10.

It is now 23:00 on 23rd September and I’m getting ready to get back on the road tomorrow morning. Our time in Chengdu has flown by, but has been fun. Most people try and escape the big cities to enjoy the countryside. We, however, crave the big cities so we can indulge on things that we simply can’t find on the road . Simply wandering around a shopping mall knowing that I’m not going to buy anything is oddly quite fun, eating the odd bit of junk food because it’s there and feels naughty and last night we went out until 04:30 in the morning, testing to see if we still possess the conversational skills to allow us back into civilisation and making sure that Jack Daniels tastes the same in China as it does in the UK. After countless glasses of it on the rocks, I can safely confirm that it does.

Hong Kong does seem to be creeping closer on the calender, but it’s still an alarming 2,200km away and lots can potentially go wrong en route. Achieving that monumental day of 306km day has gifted us an extra day to play with, but things could still go down to the wire. I do hope they don’t though… Time for me to get some much needed shut eye now, so I shall bid you all a good night and I wish you all a very pleasant week ahead!

If you do decide to write to me via e-mail or comment on this blog, do include a joke or a riddle. This would be hugely appreciated.

For some new photos from China, please visit my Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/thewrightwayeast . If you wish to read Zac’s account of the last 5 days (I know I do!) please visit his website: www.zacplusbike.com.

p.s. in other groundbreaking news, we have managed to raise a whopping £10,000 …so far! Thank you to everyone who has helped us reach this fantastic milestone. If you would like to donate for the first time (or second time) to the very worthy cause of Breast Cancer Care, please do so here: www.justgiving.com/thewrightwayeast 

p.p.s. if you know of anyone who lives in Hong Kong and would like to join the welcoming party on 11th October, please contact Mark Chalmers here: mark_chalmers@hotmail.com.  I plan to arrive at The Peak Tower on top of The Peak (residents of Hong Kong will know this) at 16:00. For more details of the welcome party please ask Mark. Anyone is more than welcome to join, don’t be shy! It’s going to be quite an evening 🙂