See our winter cycling page with suitable routes, van support and other useful info.
Category: Cycling Recap
2019 Dirty Race Recap
Race Recap
By EdC & JustinJ, The weekend of the inaugural Clean & Dirty races exceeded our expectations in every way! The weather was fantastic (if you don’t mind a little sunburn), there were no serious incidents; even the holiday traffic was not too bad!
We got off to an easy start at 7am. For the Clean riders this entailed a steady long climb up the first hill, followed by a long rolling downhill winding down the valley to Qiandao Lake. A brief respite on a flat section around Weiping lead to the second long climb and descent, which deposited riders at the bottom of the infamously grueling “Forbidden by the coach” climb out of Shitan village. A technical descent took riders to the start of the “rubbish ride”, with only two more smaller and easier to negotiate hills before galloping home. Finishers started to roll in mid-afternoon. The event was won by Scott & Nicole, with some additional special prizes awarded for some not-so-serious categories.
Dirty riders also began with a big effort, gaining 700m elevation to climb into an isolated valley with beautiful concrete road descents, a brief section of hike-and-bike, and ending in flowing riverside singletrack. After converging briefly with the Clean ride, the Dirty ride took a scenic detour along a flagstone path, before rejoining the Clean ride to attack “Forbidden by the coach”. The fun was only just beginning for the Dirty riders, however, as they faced a further 3 challenging climbs: the “Red rocks” dirt road grinder, the “Pig” climb that finishes off steep concrete switchbacks and steeper gravel with some pig-dodging, and finally the exhausting effort of the “B*****d lite” climb (yes, there’s a harder one) that took riders high above Sanyang village. The descents from these climbs offered little respite, with sections like the descent from Poshan really testing riders’ offroad handling skills. Everyone pushed to their limits; the suffering was truly sincere, as was the sense of accomplishment in finishing each section and the race. Josh B. came first, Jerry 2nd; and Sara and Olivia were awarded joint “DNF” winners 🙂
Riders were met by blue skies, sun sets, mountains, rocks, streams, ancient hill villages, rivers, forests, wetlands, birdsong, inquisitive and helpful locals, and tasty coffee, sandwiches and homemade energy bars and cakes.
All in all it was a great day out! We hope next year is even better than this year. Dirty, now described as “The Most Challenging 1 Day Cycle Race In China” tries to combine adventure, wild scenery, and varied experiences all within easy accessibility from the major cities of the area.
Various road and adventure rides were enjoyed before and after the main events; along with lots of beer, coffee, and food.
🙂 Next up – a 24hr race, combining north and south sections with culinary and cultural stops 🙂
A fun and inspiring video recap & vlog by Zhou Chain
Gallery
Photos of the 2 races. Many thanks to the particpants who also took the below pictures / video especially Miles & cZhou. Video links will be uploaded soon.
Some info / routes / gps of the two rides.
There Where Two Races
The Dirty
- 8-10h of punishment and beauty.
- 165km of mixed-surface riding; from tarmac to single track and everything in between.
- Includes short sections of steps.
- Not flat.
- Mountain bike shoes required.
- Road bikes are not advised.
The Clean AKA Nearly Dirty
- 8h of laid back cat and mouse.
- 180km of tarmac and concrete road.
- Not flat.
- Road bike and shoes are advised.
Final course routes and distances are subject to change. GPX & course notes will be provided the day before the races after a final inspection. Heavy rain on the day will alter course and race formats.
Sunday Relaxed Ride
Thanks for some great prizes
Prizes where given by some fantastic sponsors to the days top achievers. See info on the great prices and sponsors. A participants memento was also provided to all finishers.
DAY PACKING – RIDE OUT THE CITY!
An interesting article by Miles on bike packing & bag gear for touring around us. There are some great bike tours in the area taking in the scenery of a very unique part of China. We suggest starting in Jingdezhen and heading East from there past us to Hangzhou. Stunning, good food, and full of culture.
Author: Miles Gibbons, April 2019
Generally speaking, cities aren’t a great place to ride. Don’t kid yourself, even if you live in Portland, Copenhagen or Amsterdam, the bicycle is still at odds with pedestrians, stop lights/signs and of course automotive vehicles.
Out of the city isn’t devoid of risk, but at least its a little more worth it, due to calmer, more natural surroundings. For whatever reason you ride a bike, you can’t deny the subconscious effect of being with nature. The Japanese even have a specific word for spending time with nature; ‘Shinrin Yoku’, or ‘森林浴’. This literally translates as ‘Forest bathing’.
Riding out from town can take 5 minutes, or 2 hours, depending on where you live. And you can ride out and stay out for a day, two, a week or the rest of your life (wouldn’t that be nice!).
The term ‘Bikepacking’ has come from riders taking their possessions, survival kits and shelter out into the wilderness (just like backpacking), but on a mountain bike and generally without relying on regular, and heavy, touring racks and pannier bags. This means the load you’re carrying with you is lighter and more nimble, especially on rough and tough terrain.
From the early 2000’s, this term has evolved into being the general term for many new and old niche riding disciplines, when carrying possessions in bags on your bike. More and more ultra-endurance events (both on and off-road) such as the ‘Tour Divide’ and the ‘Transcontinental’ have been developed by hard-core bikepackers, and are the ‘poster child’ extremes of it.
But the most accessible entry into it, for most of us that live in cities, is to pack our possessions strap them to the bike, step out our front door, and ride.
I’ll call this type of riding ‘Day-Packing’. More than your regular road ride; a day long adventure by bike can be anywhere from 6-20 hours out on the road. You need to become more self sufficient when you’re doing this, as you are more likely to get further from the safety of a bike shop, a convenience store, and perhaps even people that speak your language!
You should learn how to fix your punctures, know how to check your bike for faults, and carry things that might be important to you for a day away from home.
Weather and temperature can change through the day, and so can your body temperature, so wear and take kit for every condition you’re expecting. Changes in elevation can be a key factor in this.
Everyone has a different bike and set up, make sure you take the right spares for some minor upsets. Most of us have cellphones and ride in signal these days so any major mishaps on a day ride can be solved with a quick phone call.
THE CHECKLIST
FIX
- Pump
- Inner tubes (two is good)
- Glueless patches (These are repair patches that already have glue on them).
- Tyre boot or bank note.
- Tyre levers (at least two).
- A Multi-tool with an inbuilt chain tool and spare link.
EAT
Homemade snacks can be a good way to avoid buying unhealthy snacks at shops when you’re body’s in sugar and salt debt. Check out GCN’s videoon how to make these.
If you’re planning to have a sit-down meal mid-way through, carry enough food with you to do 4/5 hours riding without stopping at a shop. Thats around 2 pieces of fruit and a few energy bars, depending on your riding speed and metabolism.
DRINK
2 x large bottles (750ml/24oz)
Whether you fill them or not, this gives you the option to do so, and also to have two different types of drinks (drinking one type of drink can get boring). Use electrolytes, fresh water, whatever you prefer.
EXTRA CLOTHING
Unless you are certain the weather is warm and stable, I would always take:
- Arm warmers.
- Leg warmers.
- Lightweight wind/rainproof jacket
- And/Or a lightweight windproof or insulating gilet.
Wearing clothing with reflective panels is always a good thing to do as well, especially as cars these days use day lights. Reflective on moving body parts (legs down) is more dynamic and therefore more visible.
SAFETY
– A helmet is a given.
– Reflective we’ve already touched on.
Lastly, a front and rear bike light that are powerful enough to light the way, not just to be seen by others. For a front light this tends to be something that can produce above 400 lumens. The rear light only needs to be 50 – 100 lumens to be very visible.
You can take a small set of emergency lights as well if you worry about battery life.
ESSENTIALS
- Your phone!
- Money!
- ID!
- Insurance card (if you have one).
- A small ‘point & shoot’ camera (If you want to be a bit more professional with your recording of the event).
- A bike specific GPS with a pre loaded route and full battery (If you’re not sure of your route).
- A small battery pack (If you want to be safe about your GPS and phone).
BAGS
Some things should be easily available to you while you’re actually turning the pedals. For food, phone, camera, small clothing accessories, consider either a small, top loading Handlebar Bag, Top Tube Bag, or a Frame Bag. Size and position are down to your preference and exact use case.
The other items from your load, such as spares and larger clothing items, can go in a large Saddle Bag, or a small Seat Pack. These are tucked aerodynamically out of the way, but are still very easy to access when off the bike.
If you decide to do an over-nighter (a 2 day ride), and you’re not camping, nothing much changes except for the capacity of your bags. You may want a fresh pair of socks, or a total kit change. You may want to bring a different pair of gloves for warmer or colder weather. You could take more spares, it doesn’t hurt, but definitely take that battery pack for phone, GPS and lights. Adding a Handlebar Bagto your set-up can be another way to add more space and balance it across the bike.
In the end, everybody, every bike, and every place is different. Follow the guide we’ve given, play it safe, then as you become more experienced, you can decide what you think is a necessity, or isn’t, and tune your packing list accordingly. There may be other things specific to the region you live in, that you should take with you (such as bear spray in an area with a wild bear population), so sit and have a think before you go to bed, the evening before your ride.
In the meantime, you can remember these 3 top tips:
- ALWAYS check the weather before you dress and ride. (It may not only make you change your dress, you may take one more inner tube, or make you do a couple extra checks of your brakes.
- Go short before you go long (if you’re new to it).
- Start with everything you think you might need (the worst that’ll happen is you go a little slower!), then trim down with experience!
- …..oh, there is a 4th, and enjoy your ride!
This article is sponsored by Roswheel Bicycle bags.
You can follow Roswheel on Instagram @roswheel , or on Facebook at /roswheel2008
TO see more of their products, go to roswheel.com
2017 Nearly World Championships
Wildhomestay was very pleased to host the 2017 Nearly World Championships by Serk. 野趣乡居有幸能主办Serk的2017年度业余骑行赛
Prerace 赛前准备
People came in from Beijing, Suzhou, Shanghai, Hanghzhou, Guangzhou and various other places around Asia to ride in the one-day “Amateur Challenge Fun Race”. The race is based nearly around the Cycling World Championships with various fun and interesting twists. Riders age, weight and various other aspects are taken into account and a handicap is given to each rider staggering their start time. This means people can compete regardless of how much beer they drink or how old their legs are!
Most people arrived late Friday. We were very lucky with the weather, the stars were out and we ended up in two camps at Daxiyuan / Wildhomestay and Daming Mountain. 7am start!
选手来自北京，苏州，上海，广州及其它亚洲不同地区，共同集聚参加为期一天的业余挑战赛。这场比赛赛制接近自行车的世界锦标赛，又会更有趣和特别。 车手的年龄，体重和其他各个方面都被考虑在内，据此设定了每个选手不同的出发时间。 这意味着各种不同水平的骑手可以站在同一起跑线上进行公平的竞争。
大多选手周五晚间抵达。赛事期间的天气非常不错，可以看到满天的繁星。选手分别住在大溪源的野趣乡居和大明山顶民宿。周六早上7点比赛拉开序幕。
The Race 赛事
The men’s race was about 80km with a 30+km hill climb ending in the top of Daming Shan along the south route. The women’s race was about 60km ending up a 25+km hill climb along mostly the classic north accent to the top of Daming. Due to the caricature of some of the road surface and the long climb it ended up being a challenging race with quite a few people bonking on the way.
男子组赛程为80公里，其中包括了30公里以上的上坡骑行直至大明山顶。女子组赛程为60公里，包括25公里以上的上坡骑行。由于一些路面崎岖不平及长时间的攀登，最终成为一场具有挑战性的比赛，有很多人在过程中有不适。
Post Race 赛后颁奖典礼
Riders met at Wildhomestay for a post-race ceremony and bbq.赛后参赛选手在野趣乡居参加了颁奖典礼和BBQ活动。
Sunday 周日
A relaxed Sunday recovery ride was had by a few of us and people made their way back home by plane, train, bus and car. 周日一部分选手参与了一段恢复性的骑行。然后各自返程。
Links: Serk Cycling, Serk NWC Page 连接：Serk骑行，Serk 业余世锦赛页面
Many Thanks: To the Serk team for organizing the race. To Ms Zhu, Qing and Hong for supporting at Wildhomestay. To Henny, Daniel, Markus, Silke, Shannon, El, Luke and anyone else for their great photos.
感谢致辞：感谢Serk 团队对于赛事的组织，野趣乡居团队对于活动的工作支持。特别感谢Henny, Daniel, Markus, Silke, Shannon, El, Luke 及其各位给我们提供了精彩的照片。
