The Hexi headwind

Asia
May 3rd 2010

Published: May 21st 2010

There will be no day off for us having decided last night we would crack on whatever the weather.Weve only been back on the bikes for three(tough) days since our long lay off in Hong Kong and while were both up for it our wheels need to be moving forward.Into a morning cold headwind we went the day feeling like a crisp winters day with the mighty Qilian Shan mountain range towering to our south and the open expanse of Inner Mongolia to the north.The trees were either bare or coming into bud,beneath farmers tilled the dry soil,tending to crops that lay under evaporation polythene their faces weather worn and blackend in this harsh enviroment.Cycling in these barren lands climbing slowly as the land seemed to drop away to Inner Mongolia reminded me of El Rachidia a city on the edge of the Moroccan Sahara,the colours the people and landscape had many similarities.
With Mongolia to our north and Tibet to our south we felt in awe of our surroundings finding energy to combat the growing heat of this strong headwind,trying not to think about it still being there in Urumqi, 1600km away to the west.At least the road

Sailing the silk road

is in good condition with a shoulder and light traffic giving more comparisons to our ride through Western Sahara although here there are more villages ,more small holdings a motorway and train line, the Hexi corridors close proximity to the Qilian Shan snow melt making life more habitable.
At Yongchan the familiar and frustrating ''no room at the inn ,bignose'' was everywhere.Apart from the most expensive hotel where only the most expensive rooms were available we went from notel to notel without success.Smelling mafia rats we decided to camp,its about time we tested our new tentpole anyway.Taking advantage of an unexpected evening tailwind we soon piled on 20km moving steadily upwards ,finding camp on an old pathway between fields sheltering behind a mud wall as the cold of night desended.A bloody cold night lay ahead,drinking filth to warm up and wearing all of our clothes,glad our tent pole fitted but sleeping in inadequate sleeping bags we shivered the night away happy to get into the morning sun to thaw out with our iced over water bottles.Well fuck that for a game of soilders!Next thing on the shopping list is a blanket,a warm one at that.
More headwinds to

Sandstorm in Zhangye

battle with today,climbing slowly along our narrow 312 with the motorway to one side and parts of the greatwall to the other.Made out of sand and soil the wall in this area looks pretty forlorn and battered by the elements but holds alot of character out here in the great wilderness.You can really imagine the hoardes of Mongol horsemen charging down the mountainsides to give the chinese a good kicking.
There wasnt alot in the way of supplies after Shuiguanzi just the odd nomad cart with faces masked against the cold peering out from under bedding as they passed.We'd climbed about 65km since Yongchan,had only 20km on the clock by midday before we crossed our pass and let gravity take over,desending once again below the snowline through a huge grassy valley sloping down towards Shandan adding a futher 71km in the late afternoon.
Shandan is a forgotton industrial scar full of derelict factories and broken dreams,the great wall in this area is long and intact but fenced off from tresspass, I presume? Although with the motorway running alongside it and the huge new pylons going over head we felt that the tresspassing had already been done.
With

Great Buddha temple in Zhangye

a favorable tailwind in the morning and a slight desent we decided upon trying out our sails......thats right sails.Been meaning to do it for ages,along the way weve been gathering the right 'equipment' for the job.Made from bamboo and the sails from old rice sacks we were soon setting sail with the contraptions sticking out of our panniers.But alas me hearties t'was to no avail,the wind she stopped a blowin' and these landlubbers had to man the oars to get ashore,yyaaarrrrrr!
You'd need a good tailwind to combat your own drag if you see what I mean.Shame!Its back to the drawing board .For now we had to be contented with fantastic sections of greatwall that ran right alongside the mainroad, all the time musing over whether our planned day off in Zhangye should be sacrificed in favour of the tailwind.
I guess we were lucky the wind changed direction back to the usual headwind before we reached our goal.Zhangye turned out to be a great town and it was here behind hotel windows we witnessed our first and I hope, only fully blown sandstorm.The sky went dark,the power went off(right in the middle of the snooker)as a violent

Riding along the Qilian Shan

wind rushed into the city carrying half the desert along in an orange cloud of sand and dust.Incredible the force of nature around here as our thoughts turned to our clean washing in the backyard,thinking it was worth the risk of being hit by flying debris rather than do it all again,racing around picking up pants and socks that had blown to the four quaters of the world then running back in with a face full of Gobi.
Bloody cold out there too,these storms have something to do with the cold winds from the mountains reacting with the hot desert air to create an 'uberwind'.Later on as things calmed somewhat we got out onto the streets to wander amoung broken glass ,tiles and branches,eating the hottest chicken dish known to man we returned home to escape the bitterly cold night wind.Got to reading about the wind in my exellent Chinese National Geographic which had an article on Xinjiang our next destination.Turns out it can blow pretty hard round these parts and in 2007 it derailed a passenger train.You can bet that was a headwind too.Hmmm wish I hadn't read that!
All was calm in the morning,the clean up

water break

had begun with road sweepers cleaning the streets and drivers washing the sand from their vehicles.The sky was still hazy with dust,something weve become accustomed to having joined half the population by wearing face masks while riding.One thing with everyone going to a reopened Lhasa is that you get these northern silk road sights to yourself.At the Great Buddha temple where Kublai Khan was born we had the 35 m lomg reclining Buddha and amazing surrounding temples to ourselves.That to me was priceless.For the chinese the 41RMB (4 pounds)entry fee is steep so to combat this theyve put up a price complaints number to call.Really worth a visit as was the detour on our way out of town to the Marco Polo statue.Either the biggest traveller or con artist of his day depending which book you read.
The headwind picked up gradually as the day went on putting that familiar orange tint into the sky obscuring the Qilian Shan and bringing us to a standstill.After a reading session behind a wall the wind hadn't really died down so reluctantly we pushed on through the bent crooked trees and dry scrub.Hardy farmers worked the fields ,just another day for them

Headwind hell

you cant see it but its there

as thoughts of camping turned to a hotel at a crossroad town where we 'showered' in a bowl and slept early eagar to beat the persistent headwind with an early start.
Todays ride began at six and would become one of the hardest days ever.Quiet thoughts of 'why' became louder shouts of 'what the hell are we doing,were actually doing this because we want too'.Cyclists will know of these days all too well.The headwind was upon us before we'd gone a misarable 7km,even with our 6 am start. As soon as we left the relative cover of popular trees we became exposed to the wind that came at us relentlessly head on,climbing upwards 32km along the sloping foothills of the Qilian Shan towards to hammlet of Yuanshanzi there was no escape,it felt like the wind waited for us.It was one of those winds that seemed to follow the road direction where ever it went,out here there was no cover at all,inventing new ways to keep each others spirits up as we watched the nearby Qilian Shan disapear once again in an orange haze.We found food at Yuanshanzi and again at a small truck stop someway futher on, happy for

Robin Hood could learn a thing or two

At the Great fort in Jianuguan

the energy boost and shelter from this shattering wind.Every pedal was a strain today,hardly able to tell up from down,stopping frequently behind mudbrick walls and bill boards fearing a sandstorm and wondering where we would go if one blew up.
Plodding on we picked up a little more speed as we desended away from the mountains although the wind conspired against us to make the downhill difficult.Our salvation came when we re entered an oasis area, the tall popular trees gave us enough shelter to increase our speed to a whopping 16kmh.Come the evening we once again decided against camping after eight and a half hours in the saddle and 105 km covered, a bed and shower seemed far more attractive than a night in the dust.It was a fairly pricey place at 100RMB but it seems that most things cost more out here.Who can blame them though!
After washing the sand and dust off us we ventured out into a completely still evening,not a drop of wind in the air.What a bastard!Half an hour weve been off our bikes and we were out in that storm for 13 unlucky hours.
Thankfully the wind didnt pick up for the first 30km of our 60km day to Jianuguan.Much busier round here with the two cities of Jiuguan and Jianuguan only 20km apart.The road between the two was very busy and with a darkening sky we hurried along the shoulder into Jianuguan,'gateway to the Gobi'.
Its an odd place with a whole new spotless but lifeless city surrounding the old town,huge hotels and empty pavements run along side the wide tree lined streets.All very flash but who's it all for,no doubt futher carrots dangling for the expected migrants to help the "develop the west campain".Where has our bustling China gone?Started to worry it had been bulldozed in favour of this sterile spiritworld when we began to find a bit more life in the older used and abused section of the old town,thank god,China has returned!
Based up for a couple of days.I got my wheel seen to again, having lost two more spokes since Lanzhou(thats 6 now)Took in the Great Fort,wandered above its impressive 25m thick walls taking in the vast courtyard and elegant temples ,imagining the thieves ,tax dodgers and conartists they used to send out into the vast barbarian wastelands as punishment for evil doings.A punishment we will soon be self inflicting onto ourselves.