Mission Accomplished: 1,000 miles on the road!
Team Man Zou in Shanghai...Time to celebrate!
We made it!
I’m proud to say that after cycling over 1,000 miles team Man Zou has made it to Shanghai. Sorry for the delay in updating the blog, but have been busy recuperating and celebrating our accomplishment.
The Grand Hyatt Shanghai: The tallest hotel in the world!
We entered this unbelievable city a few days ago and have been enjoying our stay here. Shanghai is massive and electrifying and we have much to tell. But let’s catch up a little first…
Cycling along the Grand Canal
The past four days of cycling leading up to the completion of our adventure turned out to be some of our longest and most difficult of the entire tour. I could tell that the hundreds of miles of cycling and weeks of being in the saddle were finally starting to take its toll on both our mind and body.
We averaged about 70 miles a day on some extremely long, straight, never-ending roads that were neither interesting or exhilarating to cycle. We also road along miles of beautifully paved, tree-lined corridors set aside China’s grand canal that was bustling with river traffic.
Still we had our goal in sight which continued to keep everyone extremely positive and excited, even when faced with some pretty heavy headwinds or another one of our nauseating breakdowns. I’m extremely proud of how our entire team has come together over the past for weeks and immensely proud of our accomplishment. We did it! Great job Guys!
Shanghai is electric and the hotel has been absolutely amazing with it’s spectacular restaurants (sushi!), pool, hot tubs, workout facility, climate controlled rooms, and down comforters!
The view from our room at the Grand Hyatt.
I have to admit that this beautiful 5 star hotel is quite a contrast to our previous 27 days of riding that led us through some extremely rural parts of China. What a way to conclude our journey.
Honk honk, beep beep!
Really? Is it really necessary for the drivers in China to utilize their horns in such a liberal fashion. I have been trying to understand what warrants the use of a horn in China and this the formula that I believe they use. Honk at anything and everything. If a car is blocking an intersection; honk your horn. If a pedestrian is walking on the sidewalk; honk your horn. If it’s a beautiful day, honk your horn. If it’s a cloudy day; honk your horn.
Reidster and Kevin on one of our three final ferry rides on the last day of the trip.
If you had eggs for breakfast; honk your horn. If its monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, etc., honk your horn. If your happy, sad, grinning, frowning, left handed, right handed, a man, woman, green, red, up, down, around, whatever……. HONK your horn! Its enough to drive you crazy (and it almost did many times). Just had to get this off my chest.
Sean celebrates riding 1,000 miles, cycling 30 mi around Shanghai the next day to make up for when he had to catch a ride earlier in the trip.
A side note. I was able to cycle the entire distance (1010miles) from Beijing to Shanghai without a single flat tire, broken spoke, or any real breakdown. Thanks Norco!
October 14th, 2008 at 12:59 am
Way to go . . . .see you boys back in the States. Ohhhhhhh!
October 14th, 2008 at 1:00 am
2.I honestly think most people go here for the crab legs and dessert. I know I do. Unfortunately, there seems to always be people at buffets that have what I call “buffet mentality”. They go in, and, thinking that they’re gonna starve, they’ll take as much food as possible and not leave any for anyone else. C’mon! Who really needs to take 2 plates piled high with crab legs? What about everyone else waiting in line? The wait staff is attentive, talking to customers and refilling beverages. I go at least once every 3 months or so, mostly to “catch up” with friends. Don’t go on Friday or Saturday night unless you like noise though.