The Middle Kingdom Ride

[Randy W]

.

from the Wall Street Journal

 

Eight Questions: Ryan Pyle, ‘The Middle Kingdom Ride’

 

Canadian Ryan Pyle moved to China in 2002 and established himself as a freelance photographer, traveling the country shooting for a host of publications, including The Wall Street Journal. In 2010, he turned the lenses on himself and his brother Colin as the two set off on a 65-day, 11,000-mile Guinness World Record-breaking motorcycle journey that circumnavigated China.

 

. . .

 

When we started The Middle Kingdom Ride I had already been living in China for about eight years, working as a freelance documentary photographer for mainly Western media. I had worked in all the provinces and felt I had a clear handle on what China was all about, but our motorcycle trip changed a lot of that. Traveling around China on motorways is really hard. What I learned on the trip is that no matter how great China’s roads and infrastructure is, it’ll never be safe out there. There are so many cars and so many trucks and so many donkey carts and so many people driving the wrong way on the road. It’s a death trap.

 

. . .

 

Is there one area of China that haunts you, one part of your journey that you find yourself thinking about and wanting to return to?

There is a highway that runs from China’s northwestern Xinjiang province south to Tibet. It’s known as the G219 Highway, and it runs for about 1,000 miles at an average altitude of 16,000 feet above sea level. We struggled along that road for four days — it was perhaps the toughest leg of our journey, but it was also haunting.

How so?

Never in my life had I experienced such isolation and remoteness. Never had I had to tackle such challenging road conditions in such extreme weather conditions at such a high altitude. Some might call it a perfect storm of insane riding conditions, but for Colin and I it was the challenge of a lifetime. The days were long, the headaches from the altitude were sharp, but it didn’t dampen our spirits because we were so in awe of the high altitude desert landscape around us.

 

[Randy W]

。

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLGSkJ4NA77lPUTZStGfj2v7vPyXrU3Umd&v=Nxx1pdgF3-Q&feature=player_detailpage

[Randy W]

Their web site - http://www.mkride.com/english/

[Mick]

What an absolutely incredible journey that must have been. That 1,000 mile stretch of road they describe at 16,000 feet has to be spectacular. I would love to see a full documentary of their trip.

[johnxiaoying]

The video got me to guppy-up for the book.

[Fu Lai]

What an absolutely incredible journey that must have been. That 1,000 mile stretch of road they describe at 16,000 feet has to be spectacular. I would love to see a full documentary of their trip.

 

Myself as well. Since there is some footage there must be more... possibly a deal will be made to make the films.

[dnoblett]

A coworker of mine ride his cycle from NY to Alaska and back. Nothing like that though.

 

Looks like they have a channel and did a similar trip around India.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/ProductionsG219