The ride from Jiayuguan to Yumen was the toughest day since I started this trip. So far I have always chosen the smaller roads over the expressways for obvious reasons. First of all, bicycles aren’t allowed on the expressway (although in China, there is always a way to go around the law) and in addition, smaller provincial roads are (from my experience) more scenic, quieter, less traveled and they take me though lovely villages that no one knows about. So from Jiayuguan I followed the 312 road heading towards Guazhou and I did expect a lovely ride. It turned out to be an amazing challenge. First of all, the road took me uphill the whole time; not a huge incline but enough to make me press hard on the pedals. For the first few hours I
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