Riding in China

[Borizuka]

Hi Guys,
Planning on going to China in June for a bit of climbing around the Guilin area, but wanting to visit Hong Kong, and possibly Beijing or Shanghai whilst there.
But, I also wanted to squeeze in a few days of riding somewhere. I don't want to take my mtb so keen to basically rock up a somewhere and hire a bike.

Does anyone know of ANY facilities or locations like that in China!
Information is so scarce.

Thanks guys!

 

[wotsis]

I assume you mean Yangshou, rather than Guilin. Get a copy of Paul Collis' "Rock Climbing in Yangshuo" if you don't already have it.

A friend scoped out Yangshou for biking a couple of years back. His report was that there wasn't much of interest there- they spent most their time riding along tractor roads and walking bikes along the narrow dirt walls that separate paddy fields. It's a vastly better place for climbing.

There is some riding outside Beijing, but the air is usually so bad that I wouldn't suggest even trying to find a hire bike there. There are days where you can see the pollution cutting down visibility at 20 metres.

There's a guy called Steve who runs a guiding operation in Hong Kong: http://www.crosscountryhk.com/ He can sort you out with hire bikes (Anthems) and take you around. Or you might be able to hire a Jamis Dakar on Lantau from Friendly Bikes and do the Chi Ma Wan cross country trail. Check www.hkmba.org for more info.

If you're flying between Oz and China and are not bringing your own bike along, the best place for biking is probably Northern Thailand, Chiang Mai. Let me know if you want more info.