In December 2010, Pierre, Fai, Andrew and Julien rode 220 km around Jade Dragon Mountain, near Lijiang in China’s Yunnan province. The trip was sponsored by Chiru Bikes.
It was an opportunity to test the Pulse, Chiru’s 29-inch bike. Julien rode this bike throughout the trip and fell in love with it.
To get around Jade Dragon Mountain, we had to find a way to link three different valleys. We had no maps – there are no trail maps in China – only a blurry aerial view of the area on Google Earth. There are few secondary roads and bridges over the Yanxi River in the region. We relied on the locals’ directions, which were invariably a bit wrong, if not very wrong. We were told over and over again, “Impossible by bike!” The route turned out to be 30% longer and higher than expected.
We walked through the Tiger Leaping Gorge on a hiking trail suspended 1,000 metres above the tumultuous waters of the Yanxi River. The trail was winding and at times difficult to navigate.
We carried 13kg rucksacks at all times. Saddle soreness was certainly the most demoralizing factor of the trip!
On the last day, we had to tackle an unexpected 40-kilometer road climb – the longest and highest continuous climb we’d ever climbed.
But that wasn’t all: we still had another valley to cross, and by the end, the light was fading and the temperature dropping.
For all of us, this last day turned out to be one of the toughest of our cycling lives.
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