eZeebike Silk RoadTour chapter 3

西安(Xi An) : China , Sept 24th 2008 Wednesday

1400 years ago, Xi’An was known as Chang’An (enduring peace) - the capital of the Tang Dynasty, one of the 4 great capitals of ancient China. Today, it is a second tier city after Bei Jing and Shanghai, a roaring metropolis of 8.5 million people fueling the growth of China - from softwares to developing China’s aerospace industry. A long time since buddhist monks first revently came here to translate Sanskrit text into chinese.

On this trip I am riding with Ken Ching, age 27, not an athlete, but generally fit. I am mentioning this because it shows clearly the relationships between electric power and man power ratio could be grossly different. We plan to be in Lanzhou in 4 days covering about 700 km. Each of us have 4 Li+ polymer battery 37V10Ah and 2 fast charger of 4 Ah.

clockwise from left :

opposite page - City of Xi’An, Xi’ An bell tower, muslim bbq mutton skewers, small goose pagoda.

this page - Mural in the small goose pagoda, pagoda level display wood carving, ethnic Muslim hui fruit seller, ‘Stop walking” - Chingrish sign

Xi’An to Bing Xian Checking out of the Purple Gold Mountain Hotel we worked our way to the 312 highway. The plan was to head towards the Xian Yang 20 km away. That was easy but then towards Li Quan, we made a wrong turn and have to make an extra 19 km to get back on the 312, and finish at Bing Xian. Had a call in the middle of nowhere from our friends in Seattle. China mobile network has extensive coverage, we saw cell towers scattered all over the hillsides.

W W

Distance 168 km

Ah 40.11 Ah 4.19km/Ah Wh 8.5 Wh/km Speed 21.9 km/h (avg) 7 hrs 40 mins (total)

Ken

Distance 168 km

Ah 25.73 Ah 6.53km/Ah

Wh 939 Wh 5.6 Wh/km

Speed 21.7 km/h (avg) 7 hrs 43 mins (total) clockwise from left :

Ken Ching, purple mountain hotel, Wai Won Ching

Day 1

Along the silk road - National road No. 312’s 1598 km mile stone.

cleaning up after one day’s worth of riding on a rainy muddy, dusty, torned up 312 highway.

Local resident helping us navigate around the protest blockade and get back on track to the national 312.

Bing Xian to Chang Wu Grim start to the morning with rain, made a short stop to visit buddhist hillside grottoes. Mid day pit stop at Jing Quan 48 km for lunch and charging. Then, it was going up the highland Plateau all the way and

“man.. did we climb.”

Day 2

Crossing Liu Pan Shan (6 row mountains) - The real fun begins once you’re over them. Coasting down at more than 50 km/h is lots of fun and there wasn’t much time for photos.

WW Distance 155 km Ah 39.21 Ah 3.95 km/Ah Wh 1399 Wh 9.0 Wh/km Speed 22.9 km/h (avg) 6 hrs 46mins (total)Ken Distance 155 km Ah 25.60 Ah 6.05 km/Ah Wh 930 Wh 6.0 Wh/km Speed 22.5 km/h (avg) 6 hrs 59mins (total)

Chang Wu to Hui Ning The rain has not stopped and the map says we have 209 kms to make it to Hui Ning, with a lot more treacherous mountains roads to cross and vast stretches for the 312 under heavy repair.

The bikes have taken quite a beating from the road conditions, and today, a tyre puncture happened.

Ken changed the inner tube but there was a very fine steel wire embedded in the tyre, and it went flat in the mountain again. Ken and his bike got a ride for 6 km on a local 3 wheeler to a service station where the wire was extracted with some skill.

Day 3

WW- Lost record, it was an extremely hard day.

Ken- Distance 191 km Ah 27.97 Ah 6.85 km/ Ah Wh 1094 Wh. 5.7 Wh/km. Speed 20.5 km./h (avg) 8 hrs 22mins (total)

Several days of rain on road gravel and mud

the inside of a villager’s three wheel scooter

W W

Distance 172 km Ah 34.9 Ah 4.93 km/Ah Wh 1252 Wh 7.3 Wh/km Speed 20.2km/h (avg) 8 hrs 22 mins (total)

Ken

Distance 172 km Ah 24.08 Ah 7.14km/Ah Wh 875 Wh 5.1 Wh/Km Speed 20.8km/h (avg) 7 hrs 55 mins (total)

Ken utilizes about 65 – 70 % of what I am drawing on electrical energy, even I was pushing as hard as I could. It is clear here that those who claim great mileage on the pedelec system could in fact be using more of their own body energy.

eZeebike silk road tour videos on Youtube

Day 4

Hui Ning to LanZhou

LanZhou - A Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) watermill continues to provide irrigation and operate a grindstone.

The eZee Torq Mk II is designed to be a robust treking electric bicycle, giving you the ability to overcome hills and headwinds for 40 and up to 70 kms on a single charge

Arriving in LanZhou around 9pm

Journey to the West

Shaanxi Province lies in the cradle of China, northwest from the banks of the yellow river and south from the deserts of Inner Mongolia. Its central area contains the Loess Plateau, of which its highly erosible silt gives China’s Yellow River its unique colour and name.

Centuries of deforestation are resulting in substantial desertification and degeneration of ecosystems and poor local economies. In 1994, an effort known as the Loess Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation Project was established to mitigate this desertification.

Coming upLanZhou to Xing Jiang

We have travelled from thee megapolis of Shanghai and now stand at the borders of ancient China. Beyond this land, we will ride to Qing Hai province and Xin Jiang autonomous region, the 2 largest regions of the People’s Republic of China.

This is a land that’s sparsely populated and has been an ethnic melting pot for centuries - Tibetan, Turkic, Han Chinese, Mongols and the Uyghur. It’s also famous for Qinghai lake (the largest in China), the Tibetean plateau and the Taklamakan desert.

This adventure isn’t ours alone and will be posting more trip details later on, if you are interested in joining us, send us an email at ezeebike@gmail.com

Till then.

W W Ching Ken Ching

copyright 2008 - eZee Kinetics Technology Co. Ltd text and photos by Ken Ching, WW Ching

www.ezeebike.com