In Jinan, Shangdong province
Just a brief update:
We’re doing well after taking a day of rest this past Saturday in Dezhou City, Shangdong province. We arrived in Jinan, the capital of Shangdong province today. Its been a bit of a culture shock for me, coming into a huge Chinese city after being out in the countryside and smaller towns for the last few days, but big cities are every bit a part of China as the countryside market towns and villages. We’re on our way to Taishan, one of the sacred taoist/buddist mountains in China, which is located south of Jinan by 30-50km.
Although biking into big Chinese cities is not my first choice for a good ride due to the heavy traffic and road dirt, we decided to come in to find a good bike shop that has a specialized tool we don’t have, a bottom bracket wrench, to look at Drew’s bottom bracket bearings that seemed to be popping and making noises they shouldn’t. Due to a (lovely) countryside detour today due to inaccurate maps and our tendancy to seek out smaller roads with less traffic, we wound up having to backtrack north about 25km to Jinan City, only to discover on a downhill that it’s actually most likey Drew’s back wheel (the super heavy-industrial strength one) and not his bottom bracket bearings that has the problem (as the popping happened when he was not pedaling). Sigh. Wheel bearings are something we have the tools to deal with, so we’ll disect his wheel tomorrow morning and see what the problem is. Most likely its a bad ball bearing, and should be an easy fix.
Yesturday we made great time from Dezhou City to Yucheng City due to being the first day after our rest day, a flat good road (though with heavy traffic), and a favorable wind. We usually were riding between 23 and 25km/hour, whereas our normal speed is usually 20-22km/hr on flat land. So far from Beijing, its all been flat, so tomorrow we’re heading up into the mountain range surrounding Tai Shan (Tai Mountain) for a change of scenery, and to continue on our way south to Shanghai.
I’ve been trying to upload my photos from my SLR camera to the photo page, though I’ve been having difficulties. More to come later.
September 24th, 2007 at 11:47 am
good luck on the wheel. did you find any bike shops in town???
September 26th, 2007 at 5:06 am
Pete, the photos are so wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to share your journeys especially with your families back here. Riding flat through the mud and the 18 wheelers does not appear easy….. be safe and enjoy the mud… you may need to acquire snow tires with studs at some point. Tell Jim to write also. Thanks, netzy
September 26th, 2007 at 7:16 am
You are really fast! I normally can only do 18km/h, not to mention your bikes are so over loaded… be safe, take care of yourself!
P.S is Shenme shenme’s writing new song?
Peace to you all. Tracy
September 26th, 2007 at 7:32 am
I like your pictures!
I’m really …(mixed emotions) you guys can experience all kinds of things. Cheers!
September 28th, 2007 at 3:50 am
hey,
I viewed your pictures and the one you guys posted with the family touched me the most. you all look very happy and full ( I mean smiles that are full, from inside to the outside.) Peter used to tell me only few people’s smile can be so deep-hearted and full. Now I see you all very full and complete, I am really happy for you. Miss you a lot. ride safe and have a great time
September 30th, 2007 at 10:31 am
hey Pete,
really a surprise that u’v already got to Shandong Province!
and it’s just amazin’ to c all ur photos and ur new hairstyle :p
i’m sure ul have a deeper understanding of China after this travel!
new semester has begun in BLCU and we miss u sometimes
anyway,wish al of u good luck!
enjoy ur travel~
take care
July 8th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I found your site on faves.com bookmarking site.. I like it ..gave it a fave for you..ill be checking back later
August 25th, 2009 at 3:24 am
I want to bike around China myself as well, i am not quite suite if i can stand it. The taishan mountain is one of the off-the-beaten tracks in China
December 6th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Cool Blog! Want to exchange links. I like your articles.
September 13th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
nice photo’s i wish i could visit those places to. beautiful
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