Workers paint one of those brilliant slogans that the Chinese government is so well known for on a wall in Ningxia. This one appears to relate to the railroad.

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Evan's tent sits among sand dunes in our first evening in Ningxia. A note to potential sand-campers: if you've been fighting a fierce headwind all day, don't set your tent up in the dunes. Evan and I awoke the next morning with an inch of sand in our tents that had blown in through the mesh the night before. Dad and Ellen somehow escaped unscathed.

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We don’t exactly consider Beijing home anymore (we’re really starting to feel like our home is in a couple tents pitched just out of sight from any given road), but we’re coming back! Our arrival is set for the evening of September 13th. And we’re going to celebrate.

We plan to arrive in full bike regalia at Beer Mania in Sanlitun between 5pm and 6pm and hope everyone can join us! Arrival in padded spandex and bike jerseys or with hands covered in chain grease will earn you a smile and a well-deserved pat on the back.

For the occasion, Beer Mania will be offering up local Beijing draught beer at 10 kuai per half liter all night, as well as the full selection of excellent imported beers (the thought of this has kept us pedaling for the last month!) at happy hour prices until 8pm.

So come join us! Sorry this is happening on a Monday night.

Portrait of an LBX Beijing Homecoming

September 13, 5pm

Beer Mania (Map)

Address: 北京市三里屯南街16号泰悦豪庭103

Phone: 010-65850786

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Evan, Ellen and my dad stand atop a hill overlooking the scraggly desert where we pitched camp in our last night in Gansu. Our last couple weeks have been marked by headwinds, great campsites and a rush to cover the distance back to Beijing in time.

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• Wind settled down and road conditions was paved. Evan was sick but we finally got over 100km, which we need to average back to Beijing! #
• Also finally got off national highway 110! Now making way east on dirt roads. Camping in field of sunflowers tonight with mountain backdrop. #
• Expected to find grassland up here, but that (along with actual Mongolians apparently) has been wiped out and replaced w/ cultivated fields. #
• Tomorrow we should hit the northernmost point of our trip. Unfortunately there's no time left to touch the actual Mongolian border #

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• Sometimes you just have to throw in the towel early. After an early (for us) wake-up at 6:30, we fought a monstrous headwind all day. #
• Didn't think it could get any worse with the bleak landscape and wind, but then the road turned to dust and trucks…and still the headwind! #
• Would rank today among the worst of the trip. We'll have to knock out some distance in the next couple days before a rest. #
• Only 15 days left in our trip! 1,100+ kilometers still to go. #

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A family in Gansu loads straw onto a truck after threshing off the grain.

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After a horrendous climb, the newly expanded crew, including my girlfriend Devi, my dad and his girlfriend Ellen, set up camp in the green mountains well before sunset. We were worried that a nasty storm on the horizon would soak us, but it never materialized, and we spent a great first evening on the road with a bottle of Talisker 10-year scotch whisky from duty free. There's a mystery member to our crew in this picture: a Tibetan herder who sat down and watched us talk, eat and drink for more than an hour, turning down our offers of food and drink.

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A herder takes his sheep and goats to graze by Goat Gorge (羊峽) in Qinghai.

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• Getting really tired of this headwind! Three full days of it and we are finally about to turn north. It had better not follow us! #
• Meeting up with guest rider Pete Wing in Yinchuan tonight. Should be fun! #

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