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Back from Taihu by Bike

As I forecasted before, I completed my trip to Taihu by bike today, covering 147 km in distance. Here is the actual route.

map-shanghai.taihu-route.JPG
© Jian Shuo Wang

I started at 7:30 AM of Saturday from 77 Caobao Road - near the Metro Caobao Road station. Then I headed to Qibao 七宝. Within two hours, I arrived at Sheshan 佘山. At noon, I passed the Oriental Green Boat 东方绿洲 and Zhujiajiao 朱家角 and arrived at #8815, Huqingping Road and had lunch there - free lunch.

In the afternoon, I cycled on the best road for cycling - from Daguanyuan - Shangta - Zhouzhuang - Tongli (大观园-商榻-周庄-同里). At 1700, I arrived in Zhouzhuang and took pictures below. After having dinner there, I continued my journey to Zhouzhuang - it is about 10 km between and I finally get Tongli at around 1915. The sun just set.

The night at Tongli is amazing - my personal advice for anyone who want to visit a historic town like Tongli, Zhouzhuang or Luzhi 甪直 have to go there at night. The village looks so nice with all doors (the doors for shops) closed and all visitors just left the town - I didn't see anyone in the town during my stay.

The next day, I started late at 0800 and arrived in another historic town Mudu 木渎 at noon. Having lunch there, I completed the last 3 km from Mudu to Xukou 胥口. It was so hot at the time I arrived - 34 degrees C or even higher since 1400 is the hottest time for the day and there is no tree alone the road. After that, it seems no possible for me to get back home within that day and I have to get back since I have already booked my flight to Beijing early next morning. So I ride back for a while and took the bus from Suzhou to Shanghai. As luck would have it, there is a car model called "North" from Neoplane. It is large enough to accomendate my bike and I left Suzhou on bus from 1820 and arrived at around 2000.

Below are technical metrics of the trip

Dst = Distance (km)
Av = Average speed (km/h)
Mx = Maxium speed (km/h)
Odo = Odometer (km)
Tm = Riding time (hh:mm:ss)
Nw = record time (hh:mm)

8815 Huqingping 沪青平 Rd.

Dst 54.95
Av 15.8
Mx 33.3
Ca 574.8
Odo 65.5
Tm 3:28:30
Nw 12:44

Zhouzhuang 周庄

Dst 81.00

Tongli 同里

Dst 97.30
Av 15.1
Mx 33.3
Ca 1010.7
Odo 107.9
Tm 6:24:27

Mudu 木渎

Dst 139.73
Av 15.2
Mx 43.4
Ca 1439.9
Odo 150.3
Tm 9:04:23
Nw 13:37

Taihu @ Xukou 胥口

Dst 147.72
Av 15.3
Mx 43.4
Ca 152.41
Odo 1581.3
Nw 14:26

Photos

Below: Reached Zhouzhuang

Below: My bike and I on the bridge in Zhouzhuang 周庄.

Below: Early morning (3:40 AM) in Tongli.

Below: Too tried so I lied down on the ground on my way from Suzhou to Mudu 木渎

Below: Finally reached the destination - Taihu.

Below: It is the hottest day of this year. It was 34 degrees C. When this picture is taken, it is 2:00 PM, the hottest time of the day.

Below: Boats waiting on Taihu to enter the river.

Below: returned from Taihua, on the bus from Hangzhou to Shanghai

Posted by Jian Shuo Wang at June 22, 2003 7:19 PM
Copyright: You are free to redistribute this work, as long as you keep this disclaimer and this link: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20030622_back_from_taihu_by_bike.htm

Related Entries: Taihu

In San Jose from Nov 9 to Nov 18 November 9, 2006
Taihu! Taihu! Taihu! March 19, 2006
Back from Taihu by Bike June 22, 2003
Taihu - From Shanghai, By Bike June 18, 2003

Comments

Cool stuff! You have a few pictures that are makes great PC wallpaper. I like really like these pics.:
tongli-street-with.light
zhouzhuang-old.man-singing

Posted by: Andrea (external link) on June 26, 2003 11:40 AM

Inspiring challenge!
I saw you had a new bicycle, this time how much did you pay for it? Is the last new one unable to move well? How were you prepaired for rain time giving there no fender covered on the tires? And how long did you take for this round travel, three days?
Anyway I appretiate it much, you are a rising star!

Posted by: Xu on June 26, 2003 5:26 PM

At first i thoght your are a less serious biker,147 k.m. is quite an achievement. And you look very happy doing it!

Posted by: Karp Boonthavi on June 28, 2003 12:32 PM

Xu,

This new bike costs 520 RMB - more expensive than the previous one - 380 RMB but is still cheap.

Yes. There is no fender covered on the tires. So if it rains, what I am going to do is bravely increase the speed and enjoy all the dirt and rains on my clothes - after I choose to start, I didn't expect to come back as clean as I started.

For the trip, I arrived 31 hours after I started, including 10 hours riding time + resting, dining and one night in Tongli.

Kapr, I am not a serious biker and 147 km is not a long distance actually. I enjoy more on the trip instead of the archivement itself. :-)

Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on June 29, 2003 3:10 PM

Very nice to see so many beautiful and inspring pics here. When i see the pic taken on early morning in Tongli, i can't help burying myself into the same hometown scenery left in my childhood memory. How familiar and how sweet!
Thank you, jian shuo.

Posted by: Echo on July 2, 2003 9:24 AM

Tongli's morning and night are wonderful!

Posted by: Jian Shuo Wang (external link) on July 2, 2003 11:29 AM

very cool trip! one thing i 100% agree is that the best time for a visitor to visit tongli or zhouzhuang or any ancient watertown like these is at night. while it is not corrowded at all.

i once visited Xitang by myself on a weekday when there're less people then that at weekends. it's raining and quite charming place. the only regretful thing is that i didn't stay there for a night, just because i'm a little bit afraid to stay a lone in the ancient room while i've heard about too many stories about ghost :(

anyway, nice trip!

Posted by: tutu on September 18, 2003 11:36 AM

照片照的不错，玩的不错嘛，好像很胖的样子！

Posted by: chuxiangfeng on February 25, 2004 1:53 PM

That looks like a really awesome trip. Just wondering if you know anything about camping around Taihu.

Posted by: Fen Chang on October 9, 2004 8:43 AM

曾经从上海骑车去杭州，同感，不错的经历！！

Posted by: duzhenrong on August 8, 2005 6:19 PM

Sounds like a good trip! Just wonder how you got back together with your bike on a bus. Is it quite common to take your bike as luggae with you on a bus, or what's your experience on this?

Posted by: Ku Jo Se on March 16, 2006 12:55 AM

Riding in Shanghai is also a lot of fun!
We are one of the most famous bike shops in China, and have all kinds of bikes and accessories for your choosing! You will feel more comfortable as we can speak English well, and most of our customers are foreigners. Anything needed, please login our web: www.bicycleshop.cn

Posted by: adamriver (external link) on July 17, 2006 2:41 PM

Hi,

I am from Malaysia and will be coming to Shanghai to work around June/July.

I am thinking of bring my bicycle from Malaysia to Shanghai. It is a racer road bike. Do you think that's a good idea?

Are there many good routes for long bike rides around Shanghai? In Malaysia I usually cycle around 60km-100km each time.

Would really appreciate your advice :)

Thank you,
Wei Na

Posted by: Wei Na on February 27, 2008 5:36 PM

Great info, wondering if there are any detailed maps of Shanghai, and the surrounding areas. I would like to complete the bike ride as you have done, and have noted the difference between expressway and freeway.

I find that all the maps I have seen only cover a small area around Shanghai, and the google earth stuff is all fuzzy and lacks any detailed street information that is accurate.I will also need highway maps...are there any available or do you just wing it??And how wold I get from Pudong across the river to your starting point????

Is the ride fairly flat??, or are there plenty of hills??What type of bike did you do it on?Are the roads suitable for a road bike/racer or will I need something more agricultural??ie mountain bike?

What else would be helpful would be a 100km or so route that I can ride, leaving from the Yangjing Rd area in Pudong, Raddison hotel, and returning.Training for an ironman distance race, but away from home enough to need to train whilst here.

Great site!!!

Cheers Cam

Posted by: Cam on March 10, 2008 11:44 AM