Biketobeijing <biketobeijing2008>
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 | Revolution Cycle - "BEST OF LUCK" | 387 Tage her | ||
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| "BEST OF LUCK" to Simon Evans and Fearghal O'Nuallain began the first Irish circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle this morning Nov 2nd at 10am from Blackrock College Dublin. Their unsupported expedition will cover over 30,000km, passing through 30 countries and some of the highest, lowest, driest, coldest, warmest and loneliest places on earth. In doing so, they will be promoting the positive contribution that cycling can make to mental health and the environment, raising funds for Aware and highlighting climate change. Follow their progress on http://revolutioncycle.ie/ | ||||
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| We are Now - Aug 6th | 470 Tage her | ||
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| hey all................so we finally made it to beijing! the cycle from tianjin wasn't as easy as we thought. once we left the city outskirts we realised that the sign we had seen was misleading and had underestimated our final leg by an extra 30km. so our penultimate day ended up being longer than we expected which had us cycling further into the afternoon heat than we would normally like, buy hey it our second last day and we didn't care. nothing was going to knock us off our stride, not even the fact that 3 hotels on the outskirts of beijing wouldn't give us a room, just because we were foreigners! thankfully on 4th attempt we succeeded and pretended to be part of a discovery channel documentary team to get a 50% discount. ( it really was a more upmarket hotel than we were used to). with all the excitement and anticipation it really felt like christmas eve, so much so that i insisted on blaring out bad aids "feed the world" on the ipod as we packed up our bags for the last time. leaving the hotel we had only left ourselves a little 20km hop of a cycle, so we stopped at an o briens sandwich bar for a sandwich and a self conratulatory pint ( god i love and miss good sandwiches!) and waited for the phone call to say everyone was ready at the hostel. we then left and cruised along through the multitude of beijing cyclists, sweating like mad in the smoggy heat, but elated to be finally on the home straight. cycling down the hutong to our hostel was incredible. as we pulled our bikes up in front (the lads dumped theirs on the ground,i took a little more care with angelina) a cacophony of noise erupted from our friends, family,hostel staff and guests and a rte camera crew. they had also draped a banner across the front of the hostel and tricolours were hanging off every lamppost. after the initial bedlam, things settled down and we did our interview with RTE and dutifully posed for photos ( the girls in the hostel had put on ireland tshirts and were going mental, jumping into as many photos as possible! i think they even were more excited than we were!). after everything eventually calmed down we sat down in front of the hostel, drank a few pints from the keg the hostel kindly donated to our "cause" and caught up with friends and family who we hadn't seen in ages. after that it was time to answer the phones and do all the radio interviews and talk to journalists about our achievement. last night we went down to one of the main streets to watch the opening ceremony. its finally starting to hit home that we're at the Olympics. the atmosphere on the street was unreal as the chinese went ballistic when their athletes strode out. the national fervourism was clearly on display as they booed szarkosky ( who really likes the french?), starting tchanting "CHINA CHINA CHINA" when the japanese came out (these 2 countries really really hate each other) and stared chanting out the presidents name every time the camera panned to him. so we alternated standing, sitting on each others shoulders, and sitting on the ground as the ceremony unfolded. it really was some display, especially when it showed the fireworks exploding on the screen all over the city and then one went off in the street next to us. so we're finally here at the Olympics. i watched some weightlifting over breakfast in the hostel and it started to strike home. i cant really describe how it feels to have finished this mammoth challenge we set ourselves back in october 06. its not liking the feeling after a rugby match or a mma competition. it wasnt that sharp feeling of an adrenaline rush and fatigue and feeling of achievement after a high tempo encounter. in the same way that the cycle itself was a slow steady expenditure of energy over 11 months, i feel that the sense of achievement is more like a gentle glow of accomplishment. i don't think i can fully get my head around it at the moment. i think the enormity of it all will only sink in when im back in Dublin doing the mundane day to day stuff. it ll probably hit home how tough the off the bikes stuff has been when i go home and order a sandwich in the shop, buy a drink and a packet of crisps and itll all be exactly what i wanted , ordered, and occur without any delays our confusion or mixups as ill be conducting the whole process in fluent vernacular for the first time since leaving rosslare. its been a long tough year, the lows have been so like chasms and the highs have reached the sky. the only way to describe it is incredible. really looking forward to seeing gillick run on the 18th, the leprechaun suits are out and the markers are waiting to enscribe slogans on our flags. thanks to everyone who got in contact with us over the year, it really lifted us when we were down and encouraged us to keep going slan conor | ||||
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| We are Now - Aug 6th 08 | 475 Tage her | ||
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| Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,, Ever woner how far is it from Sandyfoed to Beijing , well its 14,136km on a bikre. We made it Beijing Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, Beijing,Beijingm Beijing, Beijing, | ||||
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| We are Now - Aug 5th | 476 Tage her | ||
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| hey all...............so myself and donlon decided that in order to save ourselves another early morning start we were going to cycle the 210km to tian jin in one go. unfortunately as a result of our time "relaxing" in qingdao, my sleep cycle was completely off, so after finally getting to sleep at around 12.20 or 1am i was dragging my weary ass out of bed at 3.30 am to get back in the saddle. we pushed out 90km before pulling in for a breakfast of eggs,tomato and onions in a shabby restaurant at the side of the road. the cycling was going grand. the wind was swirling around us but wasn't really in our faces and the road was flat and in good condition. we managed to get pulled in by the police yet again, but this time they just wanted t buy us lunch and give us some water. we thanked them but politely declined as at this stage, we really just want to get through the days cycle as quickly as possible. 40km after breakfast however we had to stop. i was doubled over with stomach cramps. we pulled into a restaurant whose facilities consisted of a hole in the ground with a brick wall surrounding it. thankfully there was a nice breeze, so the smell wasn't too bad! one of the lads in the restaurant gave me a tablet to take (travelling taboo #2 broken, taking random medication off strangers), it was still in its foil wrapper so i figured it was kosher. after swallowing the pill, i put my head down on the table and had an hrs kip. after that i felt well enough to get back in the saddle, so back out on the road. the next 80km was tough going but we were stopping fairly frequently to take on water and sugary drinks. about 10 mins from the hotel i was almost creased by a car for the umpteenth time in china .I was on a 4 lane road with 2 lanes going on a left bend and 2 going straight, I was on the outside of the left bend and a car came flying across from the furthest left lane to make the exit and missed my front wheel by about 3 inches. these guys really are the worst drivers in the world!! whoever's in charge of issuing drivers licences should be denounced as a falun gong supporter!! was kinda scary thinking of it afterwards , I have had so many near misses on this trip with dodgy drivers it wouldve been gutting to not finish out the cycle being this close to beijing as a result of some idiot not looking around before making some cowboy manouevre. we arrived at the hotel at 6pm that evening, a long old day done but literally on the doorstep of beijing. so for the lat few days we've been just arseing around in tian jin.Ive gone into semihibernation, just sleeping and eating and waiting for beijing. we're now only 110km from beijing, which is absoultely nothing to us. gonna get up at 7am tomorrow and do a cushy 70km before doing a final 30km breeze into beijing on wednesday morning. only 2 more sleeps now till im finished and have completed the mammoth challenge we set ourselves all those many moons ago. beijing really seemed a long way way away that afternoon in the student bar when paul asked me if i was interested in cycling to the olympics. the last 2 months in china have been so easy that its kind of hard to remember how tough it really has been. its only when i look back over the photos of the wet days in europe,the cold -27C days in the caucasus, the dirty muddy roads winding over the mountains in kyrgyzstan and the never ending desert road in the taklamakan that i realise how much of a struggle it really was. the one slight disappointment has been that we haven't raised as much money as we'd hoped for our charities. if anyone still wants to donate, or has friends or family who want to donate they can donate: online by credit card :http://www.mycharity.ie/event/biketo... into our account: Account No: 2467-5036 Sort Code: 93-11-87 iBan: AIBKIE93118724675036 or direct to the charities themselves: UCDVO http://www.ucdvo.org/donation.html ARC http://www.arccancersupport.ie/conta... our cycling's coming to and end but the charities are still running. anyway i hope everyone's well, the next time you hear from me ill have cycled to beijing! (keep an eye on the news, RTE may be filming our arrival into beijing). i really cant wait, getting very excited about seeing the olympics! slan conor | ||||
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| We are Now - July 31st | 481 Tage her | ||
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| Hi Everyone,.........So this is it....the last email before we head into Beijing. When we left Ireland 11months ago not knowing what the hell we were letting ourselves in for, I was 95% sure that we would make it here. After a reconnaissance mission today to find the road to Beijing, I can now safely say that we are 100% confident! "Beijing - 105km". Cycling wise its been a strange couple of weeks. We left Shanghai knowing that we were well ahead of schedule and were in no rush to get to Beijing. But what did we go and do? We horsed out the 850km to Qingdao in 6days (estimate 10days), spent 2 days there and then horsed out the remaining 700km to Tianjin in 5days (estimate 9days), before heading back down to Qingdao on the train for a weeks holiday!! Oh yeah we love our holidays!! We had a savage time in Qingdao. The city is home to China's largest brewery, so we made good use of the cheap beer on offer (only 10euro to buy a keg which holds 40pints - the cleaning lady wasn't too impressed when she came to our room each morning!!) We didn't do much else there to be honest, but i suppose how could you when a keg is only 10euro!! Only a couple a mildly interesting cycling stories...our progress was halted on our way into Qingdao by a river that had burst its banks (see pics). At first we thought we'd have to take off all the bags and carry them across the river, but like everywhere in China there is always somebody on hand to lend a helping hand (for a small fee) and within 20mins we were across the river dry as a bone. Then after leaving Qingdao we couldn't find the road to Beijing, so we were left with no other option than to cycle on the motorway. 30km down the road, whilst taking a break we were stopped by the police who kindly told us we weren't allowed on the road. We apologised for our mistake and managed to convince them that we hadn't seen the massive signs showing a bike with a line drawn through it. After 10mins of sign language we understood that they were gonna put the bikes into the back of the truck and bring us to the next town.....oh yes no fines for us special foreigners!! So we are in Tianjin now waiting for everyone to arrive in Beijing before we head in. The plan is to go meet our family and friends next Wednesday, and to say I'm excited is an understatement. Twelve months of planning and eleven months of cycling and we are now there (well nearly). Oh yeah....I can't really sign off on this email without wishing David the best of luck at the Games. After breaking his own national record last month and consistently running low 45's all season his time has come to run on the world's biggest stage. And he better do well - cos I've an awful pain in my hole after cycling around the world to see him!! Why didn't we just wait and cycle to London in 2012 to see him!! See you all soon. - Mark | ||||
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| We are Now - July 29th | 484 Tage her | ||
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| hey everyone: so what have we been up to the last few days? We left qingdao and discovered that much to our chargin that the lack of signs both in pinyin and characters was to continue. it took us abuot an hour to get free of qingdao and we ended doing an elaborate U to negotiate our urban escape. when we did finally get clear and put some distance between ourselves and qingdao we realised that the only straight road to beijing was in fact a motorway. so in true bike to beijng tradition we just put the head down and barrelled through the barrier as if this was completely normal and we hadnt seen several pictures of bicycles with red lines through them. so all was going grand until we pulled in for a drink at one of the service stations about 30 km down the road. while we were sitting in a nice air conditioned room sinking some cold water 2 police cars pulled up. we figured they were just out patrolling and hoped they wouildnt notice the bikes. unfortunately, they had been specifically looking for us. Now getting arrested and its consequences is all about attitude. i figured we werent going anywhere for a while and just sat down and had some icecream while the lads pleaded ignorance to the policemen saying "tingbudong" (i dont understand) and giving blank faces. at one stage it was looking like they were going to make us leave the bikes in the service station and take us and our bags to the next town. thankfully a local who had good english arrived and told us in a great orwellian line "everyone in equal but you are also special" and "the community will look after you", which translated to: normally you would be fined and possibly made to leave your bikes here but as your foreigners we'll load your bikes onto the back of the pickup and leave you at the next town. which they did and we had some craic in the police car with paul getting to flick the lights and sirens on and off at traffic. the police also booked our hotel and organised for us to do an interview with a local newspaper. So the next morning we set off in the predawn as always with a fine mist out. this was to become heavy heavy rain and as we had posted home our wet gear we'd no choice but to sit there in a soaking wet singlet and shorts and bear it out. eventually the day ended and we were pretty miserable in our cheap hotel that night. the following morning we set off again and it was much the same only coupled with heavy winds.after about 100km of this myself and donlon said enough was enough. what was the point in killing ourselves in this miserableness when we had plenty of time and the weather would be roasting again in a week? so we left the bikes in a hotel in the next small town and got the bus back to qingdao. paul on the other hand simply wanted to be done with the cycling so he pushed on to tian jin and arranged to meet us back in the hostel in qingdao. So for the last week we've just been bums in the hostel. its been really relaxing though, just watching dvds,playing pool,reading and going out for the occasional beverage or seven. myself, paul and jack ( an english guy we've been hanging out in the hostel with) went to the tsingtao brewery yesterday which was some craic. it was really cool to see the beer being put into the cans and bottles and them being boxewd and labelled by one big massive machine with oompa loompas (or small chinese) supervising.the tour guide really didnt understand when we kept asking when we were going on the boat down the river of beer, "there no river of beer" "what about a waterfall?lake? swimming pool?". her bemused looks were brilliant, especially when we paul asked if the escalators churned the beer underneath them. very funny, the night ended in a nightclub which had springs under teh dance floor so it bounced up and down when you lept on it, which i did frequently and often. Myself and Donlon are heading back to our bikes in zhen hua and are probably going to try and push out the 220km to tian jin in one day to meet up with paul. then its 5 days loafing in tian jin before we cycle the last 2 easy days into beijing. the end is very much in sight,hard to believe. slan conro | ||||
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| We are Now - July 17th | 496 Tage her | ||
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| We left for Weifang this morning and managed to scutt on to the motorway after 2 and a 1/2 hours cycling, (it had signs everwhere NO Cycling) we bombed along untill Paul broke another spoke so we pulled in to a service station to carry out the repair. Next thing we see the cops arriving complete with pick up truck, O BOLLOX were done for it, "We no understand" "We no understand" "We no understand" They make a call and get an English speaker on the line " In Ireland no problem cycling on Motorway" "well in China problem". When we tell him our story they agree to load up the bikes in the truck and with Paul working the siron in the car take us the last 60k to Weifang. That is not all, they contact the local Weifang newspaper, organise a photoshoot, translator and a journalist and a fab hotel for us and they will email the photos to us. We will be in the Weifang version of the Evening Herald tonight, HAPPY DAYS. We are now three days from Tianjin and then 100k from Beijing..... Mark | ||||
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| We are Now - July 16th | 496 Tage her | ||
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| We left shanghai and its hot. really hot! 35C hot. by 11am the shorts are soaked through,the wind feels like a hairdryer and the water has a distinct tang of melted plastic to it. to try and avoid the worst of it we've had to modify our schedule yet again. our routine now involves climbing out of bed at 3.30am to try and have the days cycle done before lunchtime and get out of the midday heat. our clothes wearing has changed too, for the first few hours to try and avoid the top being a complete dripping mess we cycle topless and out it back on around 9am when the day really starts to heat up. its hard work staying this white you know! going to bed at 6pm is a real pain.I you feel like a kid sent to bed during the summer holidays with the sun seeping into the room from under the curtains and the street noise slipping in through the cheap hotel windows the cyclings now really really boring and my ass is really starting to hurt. the roads are more/less flat the whole time and are in a reasonable condition barring the odd bit of road works .the chinese seem to be firmly adhering to a dig first build later policy, any road works seems to result in large stretches of dusty dug up road.for the most part we were on decent roads however with wide bike lanes. the bike lanes are more mental than the roads however as you have the full spectrum of chinese vehicles on them : bicycles,motorbikes,scooters,mopeds,mod ified tractor carts,bicycles with small petrol engines,electric engines, pedal tricycle carts,motorised tricycle carts, and the odd car or truck charging down the worng way. like most things in china its a bit mad with no reall pattern to it. a bit like being in the cycling version of gummy bears with small chinese people on wheels bouncing here and there and everywhere. as a general rule its better being out on the roads with the trucks and cars as they seem to have a vague idea of road positiosn.seem to lose a lot of time and momentum swerving left and right the whole time to avoid the locals on their bikes. after leaving shanghai i got in touch with my friends on the irish sailing team to try and meet up with them . they were out training in qingdao for 2 weeks . unfortunately they were leaving on monday, so it was looking like i was going to have to pull an all nighter to get there in time. so having already done 400km in the 3 days since leaving shanghai, i got up on sat morning knowing i had to cycle 400km in one day. but hey this trip is all about setting challenges and overcoming them. nior chaill an fear mhisneach riamh! the mornings cycle was far from ideal, we got as usual and were on the road for 4am. at about 6 we hit our first problem, the road was completely flooded for about 2 km up to our knees. no worries, we just had to lift the bikes onto a tractor and trailer and pay the local a hefty E3 to ferry us across the knee deep water. shortly afterwards paul broke his first spoke (the new wheel he got in shanghai was having some teething problems) so we lost another bit of time there while he fixed it. by the time we stopped for breakfast another 3 had popped. things werent exactly looking good for making it to qingdao especially when we missed the turn off after breakfast and went 13km down the worng way. think this was possibly only our 3rd wrong turn ever on the bike. we had been sent the worng way by a local on a motorbike. to rectify the mistake we had to get on the motorway which we're not meant to be on, but a bit of stealth and slying in beside 2 big trucks blocking the guards view and we were away. we arrived into a town around 1pm having cycled 150km.the lads were booked into a room for the night and went off into the town to get something to eat and find out the details about the ferry across the bay to qingdao for me. i had a shower and caught 3 hrs kip in pauls bed. after a bit of grub and some gifts from the lads i was on the bike again at 6pm. as night fell i put in pauls ipod (gift #1,mine has been out of action now for 3months) and worked my way through the entire dubliners backlist. i figured a bit of a solo singsong was the best method for keeping me awake. it seemed to be doing the job ok but by 12 i needed to sink my mr bond ice coffee (gift #2) which gave me a bit of a kick. at about 2am i was realy struggling and put on the prodigy to keep me awake. to take my mind off the cycling i pretended i was not in fact cycling but at a moving rave and the flashing front light was in fact a strobe. cycling on your own in the pitch dark having churned out 270km your mind becomes quite succeptible to suggestions/hallucinations. at about 4am i was finding it difficult to keep my eyes open and not wanting to pull a ryaner and crash into a barrier with my eyes closed,i pulled in off the road, hid the bike behind a haystack and using my rucksack as a pillow caught an hrs kip before being woken by the sun coming up and locals cycling past me at 5am. the nap reinvigorated me for only so long and after a quick breakfast of steamed dumplings i was really struggling. it felt like my tyres were stuck to the road and just wouldnt turn for me. i kept pushing on though andthe ipod reappeared,this time set to rock anthems. i could really start to feel the heat rising so to say i was relieved to finally reach the ferry at 9am is a bit of an understatement.i drank a can of red bull (gift #3) and cycled out to the lads hotel and the sailing area. they were out on the water training so i left them a note saying id be calling back later and went to find myself a bed for the night. so finally at 11.15 am, after cycling 403km spread over 32hrs i took off my filthy wringing wet cycling clothes,rinsed the road dirt off my filthy body and lay down on the bed exhausted. it was great to see the lads in qingdao and see how they were getting on. it was funny talking to them and seeing the similiriaties and differences in our paths to beijing. like ourselves the lads have had difficulty getting money together and we're both really looking forward to the olympics starting. for me so i can finish cycling and the lads who can stop training and just go out and perfom.the rountines werent that different either, long hrs on the water/bike, getting in contact with home over the internet and not seeing as much of china as people back home seemed to imagine. qingdao is also the home of tsingtao brewery, and the stuff flows like water here. you even see locals going by with shopping bags of beer filled up from the taps. every shop ,rtestaurant etc seems to stock it and its nice and cheap and most importantly tasty! so we've had one or two good nights here and are getting back on the bike tomorrow to cycle to tian jin. when we reach tian jin we'll only be 150km from beijing so itll just be a matter of waiting for the days to tick away until we can cycle into beijing on the 6th. at this stage the overriding feeling of the cycle is tedium. i cant speak for paul and mark but at this stage im just looking forward to being finished and going home and picking my life back up. its been a long tough year, and it has been fantastic, but we've seen so much and cycled so far that we're just incredibly bored on the bikes and with travelling in general. the month off the bikes was great and gave us a jolt in the arm but thats faded now and i really just want to arrive into the hostel in beijing and say " i did it" and sit back and sift through the various photos and memoribilia and start to look back over the year and think about the experiences ive had and how theyve affected me. its incredible to think we're so close now, and even if i have to rob a bmx, theres no chance i would not finish this challenge slan conor | ||||
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| We are Now - July 13th | 499 Tage her | ||
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| Conor finished his cycling le mans of 400km in 32hrs. He arrived in Qingdao before the Irish sailing team left port shattered but overjoyed. Paul and I are going to Qingdao in the morning, we will all spend 2 days there resting and then head up to Tainjin, which is only 100km from Beijing. We plan to park the bikes in a hotel there and get a train back to Qingdao on the 20th to meet a gang of English teachers we met in Urumqi all those months ago. We hope to spend about 4 days with them and visit the town of Lu, in Shangdong province where Confusius was born.....Mark | ||||
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| We are Now - July 12th | 500 Tage her | ||
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| In the last 3 days we have cycled 450km. Today we are after doing 155km which leaves us about 250km from Qingdao. Conor is heading off now to pull an all nighter to get to Qingdao before the Irish sailing team leaves port. Myself and Paul will be more than happy to reach Rizhao tomorrow and Qingdao on Monday. If we had hats we would take them off to Conor for pulling out all the stops but a boat is a boat to Paul and I. | ||||
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