CSC Blog

It’s 6:00 a.m. in Chengdu (all over China, actually, as they keep the same time zone across the country), and I’m waiting for the breakfast buffet to open.  In the meantime, a few more China photos…

With Dominic Yu, General Manager of Zongshen’s Export Division, at yesterday’s departure ceremony.   Having US participation on this ride is a big deal.    Joe and I are ambassadors.

With Master Sergeant Zuo, one of my fellow riders, at the banner signing yesterday. The Chinese are big on signing banners, jackets, helmets, and other things. It’s a cool custom. I think we’ve signed three or four banners already, and we’ve only been on the road one day!

Joe, Lu, and Joe at the departure ceremony yesterday.  Lu is riding his own RX3 on this ride.

Somewhere on the road to Chengdu

I can’t tell you how many scenes like this I’ve seen in just a day on the road. The ones I missed were even better. More photo opportunities, I suppose. Grand fun.

Joe Gresh got a shot yesterday with 4 people on a motorcycle. He told me we are having a contest to see who can get the shot with the most people on a motorcycle. I’m going to let him go at it for a while, and then I’ll pull out my photo with 6 people on a bike in Colombia!

Time for breakfast, folks, and then we’re off to see the pandas!

Yep, the rain in Chongqing stopped, the bikes were ready, and after a formal departure ceremony at the Zongshen plant (I actually had to give a speech), we were on the road.   Woohoo!  I’m riding an RX3 across China!

We did 240 miles today through some of the roughest traffic I’ve ever seen, but the scenery in rural China from Chongqing to Chengdu was awesome.  It’s nearly 11:00 p.m. here as I write this, so I’m just going to post a few photos and call it a night…

Riding an RX3 across the Yangtze River!

Another magnificent Chinese bridge!

A great roadside lunch…these fellows do know how to put on a party

One of the Chinese riders on an RX3 brought his own tool kit

Yours truly with a Chinese guard…on the road to Chengdu…photo by Joe Gresh

That’s it for now.  Time for some shuteye!

Cats and dogs…that’s how our new Chinese friends described how hard it’s raining in Chongqing today.   We saw a bit of flooding, but it doesn’t matter:  We’re starting the ride tomorrow morning after a departure ceremony at the Zongshen plant. It’s supposed to clear up before we get to tomorrow’s destination (Chengdu, a city about 390 kilometers to the west).   Whatever.  We’re up for rain, or no rain, or heat, or cold.   Joe and I, and our five Chinese riding partners, are ready for the road.

Our good buddy Tracy took Joe and me to get a Chinese cell phone today, and while all of that was occurring, I grabbed a few photos of Chinese riders in the rain.

I’m digging those moto-umbrellas.  I’ll have to talk to Steve about them when I return.   Perhaps we can add them to our RX3 accessories catalog!

Enjoy, folks…this may be the last blog entry for a bit, depending on what time we get in tomorrow night and if I can get connectivity.

We’ve got a storm coming in, which may delay the start of our cross-China ride by another day or two.   Evidently, storms in Chongqing are enough to get everybody’s attention.   Chongqing had a significant storm just prior to our arrival (Fan showed us photos he took on his iPhone of the flooding in Chongqing).  Joe and I are hanging out in the hotel until we know.  We may visit a Harley and Ducati dealer here in Chongqing today.

All of this is okay by me.  I could spend a few weeks just in Chongqing…the photo ops, the food, and the people are that great.

Joe and Joe, reflected in a mirrored glass window…

Everything but the kitchen sink….

A Chinese bus rider…

Dong, one of our fellow riders on this adventure, at the rider briefing yesterday…

Yesterday’s lunch…that’s Ma and Sean in the background.

A scene from our hot pot dinner buffet last night. This is real Indiana Jones stuff, boys and girls…

Joe Gresh with Shiyar at a Chongqing motorcycle tea house last night…an amazing evening!

Furem, another one of our fellow riders…

I’ve got another hour and a half before the guys from Zongshen pick us up.  It’s back to writing Riding China for me.   We haven’t even left Chongqing yet, and I’ve got a ton of stories to tell you about this trip.   Grand fun, grand times, and the adventure of a lifetime.   Gresh is loving it, too.   Later, folks!

Just a quick blog early in the Chinese a.m. folks…these are scenes from in and around Chongqing and the Zongshen plant.

First, a quick hello to my good buddy Art, direct to you from in front of Zongshen’s world headquarters…

I am getting good with chopsticks (hey, I’m not going to starve over here!), and we are trying some interesting restaurants.  Here’s Sean and Joe Gresh.   This was the tastiest Chinese food I’ve ever experienced.

The bank where we changed US currency to Chinese RMB…

A few street scenes…

This was definitely cool…that’s our interpreter, Tracy, with Joe in front of the entrance to Zongshen’s headquarters.   Check out the photos on the bottom of the poster at the very entrance to Zong Central…they are all from our Western America Adventure Ride!

Here are a few photos from inside the plant.   One of the things I saw yesterday that was very cool was a fire-engine-red RX3 configured as, well, a fire engine!

The new RZ3, the naked version of an RX3/RC3…

This young Chinese fellow was in the plant on his RX3…

Here’s an RX3 that’s part of a shipment bound for Panama.   Check out the decals on it.   Now, you just have to know that one of these bikes is ultimately going to a Senor Gonzalez…

Another cool thing…check out this bike…

I think the bike you see above uses the same drive train as our new TT250.   That would greatly ease the CARB and EPA approval process.   Hmmmm….

And finally, a photo of Isabella, who was part of the media team that interviewed Joe Gresh yesterday…

Folks, it’s time for breakfast, so I’m headed downstairs to the buffet line.

We’re going to be in Chongqing for another day or two, and I most definitely will keep you posted.   Ride safe and stay tuned!

Chongqing:  The city from which our ride will begin.  Wow.   We’re here!

Check out this evening view of Chongqing’s central business district…

You’re seeing Chongqing’s hub at the point where the Yangtze and the Jia Ling rivers converge, and the water you see in the foreground is the Yangtze River.  That’s the river our CSC bikes sail on their way to Shanghai, and then from there on to the US across the Pacific.

It was noticeably cooler in Chongqing at a brisk 71 degrees F, but when Bella, Tracy, and Mr. Ma met us in the airport they assured us this was a temporary condition due to recent rainfalls and flooding in the city.    They said Chongqing would jump back up to Guangzhou’s sweltering heat and humidity in the next day or so, which is how I remembered it from my last visit.

Today is going to be busy.  The Zongshen folks have a media interview set up for me and the rest of the riders will be filtering into the city on this fine foggy and humid Chongqing day.  It looks like there will be seven of us on our cross-China ride, and we’ll all be riding the new Zongshen RX1 and the RX3.   The RX1 is Zongshen’s 200cc, air-cooled, fuel-injected model.   I’ll let you know more about that bike as I learn it.   I’m glad I’ll be on the RX3, too.   I love my RX3 and the bike is proven long-distance mile muncher.

That’s it for now folks.