Ting Jin Yalu Jiang Recon Mission
October 2, 2008“Ting Jin Yalu Jiang” is the Chinese name given to our Tour De Dandong motorized bike tour set to take place next May. This is of course the brainchild of none other than Craig E. over at The Engleson Files. The basic premise is 4 (or 5 teams) of 4 to 5 guys will compete against each other in a race from Dalian to Dandong on the North Korean border.
Outline of the journey
The tour is set to take place over 3 days and the bikes we will be riding are all derivatives of this bike
Craig E’s motorized Flying Pigeon
On Tuesday myself, Craig and Adrian did a reconnaissance mission to map out the course. It was a beautiful day of male camaraderie that can only be had while cruising down the road. A mixed selection of Johnny Cash, The Clash, ZZTop and John Lee Hooker guided our rented Volkswagen Passat down the G201 highway through the cornfields of the DongBei region.
Unfortunately our exploration took longer than we thought and we really only basically mapped out the 1st day as the plan for our 2nd day has been put into jeopardy by geographical logistics. Without giving away too much about the proposed route all I can say is that the motto for Day 1 is “Get thee to a nunnery”
Some shots of the day
The intrepid Mr. E ready to roll
Adrian surveying the scene in the village of HuaJia
One of the many Jin Ma (Golden Horse) markets we saw that day. Buy stock in THIS company folks .. they are everywhere.
Searching for Day 1 accomodations
Welcome to the Hotel California
Where’s the desk clerk?
If our bikes hold up .. this scene awaits at the end of Day 1
If you guys pull this off I put it down as one of the greatest adventure schemes that Schmurler has come up with. I can’t wait to hear about it. By the way Darren, I hope your leg is healing well and that this year proves a little better for you than last. Take care.
Comment by loewen — October 3, 2008 @ 10:56 pm
“If” we pull it off .. no truer words were spoken. It is a heck of an idea and as you know Schmurler you know he has big plans for this one.
Leg is healing but slowly … this year HAS to be better than the last.
Comment by Dalong — October 3, 2008 @ 11:27 pm