June 10 rest day in Wuwei.  Tomorrow will be day 1 of 7 in a row, most about 120 to 130km.  I'm no longer concerned about riding continuous days, so looking forward to it.  Tomorrow night we camp at the western end of the Great Wall, should be a cool place - probably literally and also figuratively. 

June 9,  Location:  Wuwei  37° 56’N 102° 38’ E, elevation 1580 metres, riding day #20. 900m climbing, 142 km today, 2650 total to date.

Today we went over a pass of 2,966m or 9,700ft.  This will be the highest point we cycle in China.  I was feeling really weak today, I initially thought it was because I was tired from the previous 19 days of riding, but then realized that we started at 7,970ft and it was a continuous climb to the 9,700 highway summit.  A bit of training for the Pamir’s where we will peak at over 4,500m (14,750ft).

It was really nice to be at elevation, much cleaner air and cool enough that I rode with my light rain jacket on for half the day.

a few pictures from Wuwei and the approach:

June 8,  Location:  Tianzhu  36° 58’N 103° 08’ E, elevation 2429 metres, riding day #19. 935m climbing, 152 km today, 2508 total to date.

A relatively easy day, a steady long slow climb.  The countryside is getting much dryer, only the small valley bottom has anything green.

Some remnant bits of the Great Wall have been spotted on the tops of hills.

One really has to keep ones eyes open whilst cycling here, none of the dangers are marked in any way, e.g. missing manhole covers is just normal..

June 7, rest day in Lanzhou another town of some 3mil+ people.  Clearly there is a strong middle/upper class here, all the fancy stores are here, e.g. Gucci and all the very high end watches.  With the concentrated large population comes some odd rules,,

There is some very nice grass areas in some of the city squares, however only for looking at, do not go on the grass!

Also, the fenced off pigeon feeding area just doesn’t seem right.

June 6,  Location:  Lanzhou  36° 03’N 103° 51’ E, elevation 1594 metres, riding day #18. 1,200m climbing, 131 km today, 2356 total to date.

Went through a very scary tunnel today, totally black, big trucks roaring past in both directions, some unexpected very rough bits – glad to have survived.  I stopped at a Budhist temple at a later point in the ride – lovely grounds with trees and small lake and fountain, tea houses scattered in the trees, I sat in a Gazebo and rested and had snacks – really pleasant. .A lot of very rough roads, heavy trucks and a lot of dust.  Today I wish I had a go-pro camera running whilst riding into the city – dodging people, cars, bicycles, buses – the key is to assume that a car/truck/person walking onto a street has all the rights of someone already traveling on that street.  In other words I suspect the brake parts are really expensive here so everyone drives/cycles/walks like they have no breaks.

 All the hillsides around here have terraced crop fields right to the top of the hills.

June 5,  Location:  Clay camp  35° 39’N 104° 52’ E, elevation 1788 metres, riding day #17. 1,857m climbing, 143 km today, 2225 total to date.

Biggest climbing day yet.  We are on the second day of the detour due to the collapsed tunnel, back on the normal route tomorrow.  Awesome scenery ( see pictures below).  First night camping – seems to work OK.  Fell asleep to the constant cuckoo sounds of what I strongly suspect are cuckoo birds.  As always, the food has been excellent.

At first I thought I was seeing satellite dishes outside many of the very small huts in the middle of nowhere, but then I noticed no hydro going to the hut.  They dishes are very effective solar kettle heaters – see picture.