September 13, 2015 Pingliang to Lanzhou

Today was another great day of riding in the Chinese countryside,

although it started with a romp through mud and road construction…

…really muddy,

dusty contruction.

Once past the work, the road was good.  Crops were piled high into the utility vehicles

and roadside markets were open for business.  Yesterday we were surprised to see people in Muslim attire.  It is even more evident today.

We passed quite a few mosques today - mostly small ones.

A second construction area proved to be more problematic for Andre.  He went down a ditch off the side of the road.  Luckily, some good Samaritans and Boz got his motorcycle back up on the road and 

…they joined us by the side of the road where we were waiting.  A group of men were just sitting in the sun enjoying the passing of vehicles and watching the construction progress.

Traffic thinned out.  Leaving town, we noticed an amusement park is in the works.

Passing through a series of smaller towns, we couldn’t help notice the number of women working by the road – sweeping, painting trees and bridgeworks and speading hay to dry.  Most of them were Muslim. 

The fun riding began again in earnest.  Wide sweeping turns put smiles on the rider's faces.

These two were out for a joy ride of their own.

We pulled into a gas station for a quick fueling and restroom break, behind a truck loaded with sheep three levels deep.

Randy and Boz headed over to the side of the station to use the “outdoor restroom”.  They failed to notice this pile of fur.  The dog took exception to their trespassing.  Randy managed to dive out of the way.  Boz wasn’t so lucky; Fluffy managed to sink his teeth into his pant leg and inflict some real dog bite damage.  

Boz was vaccinated for rabies, but still needs to find booster shots within the next five days.  With the help of Yingchu, he'll be searching for a place to get the real deal.  So much of what is available in China is counterfeit, he needs to be careful.

After bandaging Boz’s leg (same one injured a couple weeks ago in the Gobi desert accident), we went back out for some more fun.

This afternoon was spent riding up and down the mountains on sweepers and hairpin turns.

The views were outstanding.  The whole countryside seems to be terraced.

 Today's highest elevation was about 2700 meters.  We zipped up and down the mountains all afternoon.  The ride was bumpy, but I got pretty good at anticipating the big holes, ones and popping up to avoid being slammed into my seat.

The group had two types of riders today; those who wanted to race through the curves testing themselves and the machines, and those who wanted to take in the views. 

David was in the first group.  Naturally, that group finished the runs earlier than the second group.  While we waited for them at the bottom of one hill, Alain decided to learn how to drive a three wheel vehicle.  He took it for a half mile spin.  These things have crankstart single-cylinder engines, smoke like crazy, and go no more than ten miles per hour.  They are everywhere in China, a major source of noise and pollution.  However, they are versatile farm tools, with dump bodies that work in three directions.

whizzing past the free range sheep…

And hillside caves.

I did get David to stop at the top of the mountain for a couple of photo ops

Then we followed Alex and Ida down to the bottom.

The traffic into Lanzhou was horrific.  Rush hour chaos on top of construction, add in pedestrians in the roadway and scooters going the wrong way and we had a long slow slog to the Crowne Plaza Lanzhou Hotel.  The pollution wa also epic - we couyld not see two blocks ahead.

On the brighter side, the hotel had nice soft beds, and great soaking tub and good wi-fi.

Tomorrow we head futher west into the country.  Traffic will begin to lighten up as we head back towards the Gobi Desert and Inner Mongolia.