Friday, April 07, 2006

He's behind you!


This statue, in Yushu, of the 11th-century King Gesar of Ling, is alleged to be the largest bronze statue in China - though I daresay there are one or two Maos and Buddhas out there who would contest that claim.

8 comments:

  1. Ed!

    If you for some reason take the 214. And you need something that is hard to send in the mail like rims 2 new rims or something. Then you could allways leave your bike in the last village on 214 before you cross over to 109. grab your wheels and go to Lanzhou to look for new.three good bikeshops are all in the same street in L. It starts with Giant in central part of town south of PSB Gansu Branch( not Lanzhou branch) and two better ones a few hundred meter south. If the profile fits your spokes I will highly recommend Alexrims DH 19.If you can`t find it empty you can buy it of a new bike.

    Asmund.

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  2. Part 2.

    Maybe it is best to wait to change(if you change)rims untill you get to 109 so bad gravel roads between 214 and 109 will not make cracks in your new rims.
    In Thailand a DH 19 only costs about 10 USD. If you have to get the rims off of a new bike in Lanzhou they will cost more. Remember no eyelets.

    My rear rim was happy for about 9.000 km untill a(drunk?)driver in Kyrgystan made it into a figure 8. After jumping on it for a while,I put it on the front where it went for another 5.000 km. I still could not see any cracks! But I don`t carry front panniers.
    My best rims ever! They will of course be replaced by new Alexrims.
    Maybe Alexrims could need me to promote their rims? Probably not.

    In the Chinese hub of my Lines you can get whatever you need in LX,XT and/or XTR. They have HG 93 chain. It will cost you 150 kuai or so but it will last much longer and not wear out your cogs and chainrings so fast.

    I know nothing about bikeshops in Xining. They probably have nothing useful in Golmud. There was nothing useful in Donhuang. And in Xinjiang you will only find useful bikeshops in Urumqi. But nothing compared to the sum of the three bikeshops in Lanzhou.

    My last line yesterday was provoking and totally unnessesary. Sorry!

    Peace!

    Asmund.

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  3. A word of warning.
    Needless to say,a broken or previously bendt rim doesn`t belong on the front wheel. If the wheel gets jammed in the brakes or the fork,well you can all do the maths...

    Four years ago I had a doubble "pinch" in the front tyre going at a speed of about 45 km/h down a long hill towards Lanzhou. My helmet got a big crack,and I can`t remember anything from the next 10 hours or so exept I put on a new innertube.
    I was very lucky I did not die or get paralyzed.
    I still have problems focusing my eyes.

    Asmund.

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  4. In pursuit of the filthy money which I want for my own twisted reasons. I have chosen to sit of a plane for around 20 hours. Travel across a country by train, car and bus then spend 24 hours working ever so hard on futile stuff. To do it all in reverse order brilliant what was the point of going to school again? So this is my offcial request may I have leave of absense for 7-10 days please?

    (When I win the lottery I'm so going to set up a blog, buy a push bike, grow a beard and tell the world to leave me alone for a while I disappear into darkest surrey and become a recluse)

    If you see any planes going over head saturday night direction japan it's probably me. Try to keep out of trouble while I'm off the blog. May I also borrowed your book (which I bought) to read along the way? Still waiting for the hopkirk to come back into print.

    Further more on the issue of dogs lying dead by the road, did they show any sign of burns? perhaps someone has read Asmund's advice and fed them all bangers for a laugh?

    Right got to go pack catch up with you's later. If the theory I have is true something major will happen while I'm away and I'll have to spend ages catching up. (so try not to do anything for the next ten days appart from rest and eat garlic)

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  5. Ed!

    If you think back 10-15 years. Were there times when you were fighting for minor decisions that seemed all so important?
    Looking back on them now. Do they still look important? If you had gone through with them all do you think you still would have had a health that would have alowed you to go cycling in wintertime at 5.000 meters altitude?
    And could even one of them have prevented you from getting any further down your "lifeline"?
    If you go 214 you probably have the ability to look back on the decision you are now making 10-20 years from now? Do you really think then this not going on the bridgeless track now would look like a major thing? It is not like you going on the bridgeless track will solve any problems for the Earth or Mankind. Nor will you find the cure for canser.
    So why is it so important to risk your life?
    Are you not beeing stupidly selfish and stubborn?

    Good Luck!

    Asmund.

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  6. Ed?

    Have you left Yushu?
    I hope you know what you are doing!
    No need for me to write here untill you start to write again from the next wangba.
    Anyway the library and the wangba here are closed for the Easter Holiday.
    Good Luck!
    Good Bye.

    Asmund.

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  7. Edward

    I couldn't agree more! Alex rims DH 19 profile; the best wheels I ever had too. In fact I'd go to say I wouldn't be seen dead with anything less.

    So if this bridgeless track is as bad as Asmund suggests I'd get myself a set of DH19's just in case.

    Best of luck


    Eddy Merckx

    PS there's a great bikeshop in Ghent called 'Plum'. They build the best wheels in the World. If you make it through the bridgeless track give me a call when you get to Belgium and I'll get them to build you some up, we'll have a few beers in the 'Hop Duvel' while we wait.

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  8. Dear Eddy,

    I was briefly convinced, and very excited, that I had a message on my blog from the REAL Eddy Merckx.

    But then later the same day I got messages from the REAL Jacques Chirac and Silvio Berlusconi too.

    And it all just seemed to much of a good thing for one day.

    But, whoever you are, a beer or two in the Hop Duvel in Gent sounds just the ticket.

    See you there,

    Eddy 'Macho Man' Genochio

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