Daily Updates

11.7.07

What is the best way to get though one of China’s biggest cities? When we began cycling underneath the grand archway of Xi’an’s city wall—I had my answer…straight though the middle.

Like an amorphous school of fish, we swim through the city. We engulf unsuspecting pedestrians and cyclists, leaving them befuddled in our wake. Predators attempt to agitate the shoal from all angles, requiring one of us to distract the danger until the rest are safe. All the while, flurries of fingers fall from handlebars, highlighting the next pothole, crack, or rock for those behind. We make for a ravishing creature.

As we pedal, thousands of years of Chinese history pass. The terra-cotta army of Qin Shi Huang, the museum of Chinese writing and calligraphy, and the Wild Goose Pagoda are a few of the many historical fingerprints. Xi’an served as the capital during the Tang Dynasty--the “Golden Years” of China. As we traversed from West to East, we view Xi’an as the terminus of our adventure along the Silk Route. Gone are the minarets of Samarqand and the melting mud walls of Merv. Replacing them are the hum of neon lights and the green glow of Starbucks. Signaling our exit from the ancient and entrance into the familiar and ordinary.

11.8.07

As our days dwindle in China, many of us are rethinking our assumptions about this country. Some pictured millions of people, wading in rice paddies, wearing the stereotypical conical straw hat. Many riders grew up during the Mao era, a time when China’s progress looked rather grim. While others had the chance to visit the country after it was reopened in 1978…when wai guo ren were truly a novelty.

China is dynamic and impossible to describe entirely. How can one begin to compare the skyscrapers of Beijing to a mud hut in Gansu province? We have the pleasure of experiencing both these extremes, and everything in-between, walking away with an uncommon impression of China. These impressions manifest through anecdotes, explaining in minutes, where a university professor may explain in weeks.

Robert Ball recently had a ‘China Learning Experience’ during a ride. “We tried to enter the expressway and were stopped at the toll booth,” he begins. The tollbooth attendant pointed to a sign with a list of pictures: no horses, no carts, no carriages, no motorcycles, and no bicycles. Having no choice, the small group took the less attractive side road and battled a gusting headwind for nearly two hours. Having had enough, the riders slithered underneath six strands of barbed wire and clambered up a 12-foot embankment to reach the expressway. The next 100 km were spent on the prohibited expressway, with police passing periodically, but not harassing them in the least. “A month ago I would have assumed immediate deportation for this,” ends Robert.

11.9.07

Cycling through XinJiang and Gansu, brought spectacular vistas, marred only by the passing coal trucks. Now the trucks have delivered their payloads and are causing much more harmful effects. More than half the riders don their facemasks every morning, with the other half wishing they had brought one. When we arrived in China, we were appalled by the amount of hawking and spitting in public places. Now, due to the declining quality of air, many of us are hawking and spitting in much the same way.

It’s unsettling to blow one’s nose and see nothing but black mucus in the tissue paper. Soot takes residence along our eyelids and when a cold wind blows, ebony tears stream towards our ears. A typical day finds us passing several thermal power plants and burning trash in a drainage ditch. Days are shorter, terrain flat, but we battle manmade conditions.

China recently overtook the United States as the number one air polluter in the world. Additionally, China has 16 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities. Our original route to Beijing was deliberately changed due to the city of Linfen, Shanxi—recently deemed the most polluted city in the world. It is said, coal dust in the air is so thick that cars must use headlights during the day.

As our bodies experience repercussions of environmental denigration, we cannot help but meditate on greater cause and effects. While we are cycling, we are helping rather than hurting.