Completed: The Middle Kingdom Ride

[ryanjpyle]

Hello folks,

My name is Ryan Pyle and I am new to the website. I've recently completed a 65 day - 18,000km - motorcycle journey around China with my brother Colin Pyle. Together we became the first people to fully circumnavigate China by motorcycle and we also set a Guinness World Record for our journey.

Our motorcycle journey was completely filmed, and we'll be coming out in 2012 with a documentary television show (2 part - 60min) for a major international broadcaster. We'll also have a book about our 65 days on the road as well.

We'd love to connect with other rides / drivers / walkers out there doing amazing journey's and we look forward to staying in touch.

For more information you can visit our website: www.mkride.com

Travel safe.

 

[gjackson]

Great name for an expedition! Welcome.

cheers

 

[Ray Hyland]

Great to see you here Ryan, I loved the trailer, looks like a fantastic film.

Can you post a few pics up here and tell the community a little bit about riding around China? It is outside the experience of a lot of our members, and I know we'd all love to know more.

And as Graham said, welcome to the Portal!

Cheers

Ray

 

[ryanjpyle]

Ray,

No problem. Riding a motorcycle around China is an intense experience. You have to be prepared for the chaos of Chinese drivers, the density and traffic in the cities and the 16,000ft passes in remote Tibet. Needless to say the weather changed on us 4 times a day, we got stuck in intense flooding along the border of China and North Korea; we also got stuck in the worlds longest traffic jam in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. Mechanical problems are no small task, I burnt out my clutch at 14,000ft in rural Tibet and we had to have a spare one flown in causing a 5 day delay in our journey.

Below is a link to our MKRIDE Television trailer, it'll give you a sense of the chaos that we traveled through.

OUR TRAILER


Our Facebook Group - this has tons of imagery.

 

[ryanjpyle]

Hello folks,

I've tried to embed our trailer. Check out it:

 

[dwh]

Nice job Ryan!

Glen Heggstad wanted to do China, but they wouldn't let him solo it. They'd only let him do it as part of a group, with a Chinese "guide" and a locked in itinerary, which is totally not his style so he passed on it..

I'm curious how you arranged permission and if you had to have a guide and/or itinerary?

 

[Ray Hyland]

Forgiveness is always easier to seek than permission.

But seriously, you would be amazed at what you can get away with when you are living or working in China, especially if you speak a bit of Mandarin.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Welcome to ExPo! Good to have you here.

Looking forward to the book.

 

[Bulldust]

Looks like you guys must have had an amazing trip. It's great to think that it's still possible to do these kinds of "first" in this day.

I'll have to make sure I keep an eye on your website for the book and show release dates.

 

[haven]

Welcome, Ryan! I'd also like to know how you arranged to travel without an escort. Perhaps the escort traveled in the car used by the video cameraman. Or was this a "seek forgiveness, not permission" situation, like Ray Hyland suggests?

Have you planned a speaking tour to promote your book and TV show? I'm sure many ExPo readers would like to meet you.

Edit: Answered my question about sponsors. The MKRide web site has a list of project sponsors under the "Partners" link.
http://www.mkride.com/english.html

 

[haven]

Poking around through the blog on the MKRide web site led me to the CMG Online article about the project. This web page has several short videos shot during the ride. Well worth a minute to view.
http://cmgonline.com/content/view/2848/57/

 

[drivenachodrive]

I too am curious about how Ryan and his brother were able to get into China for such a long journey. We are planning an overland circumnavigation, and are very sad to have to rush quickly through lower China to avoid excessive costs and the discomfort of having a guide onboard 24/7. can you shed any light? Is there an option for applying to go without a guide? I don't know how you'd beg forgiveness, as I understand that a guide is assigned upon crossing the border.

Thanks!

 

[Ray Hyland]

Ryan is in London right now, with some of our other contributors. He says some new news is coming soon.

 

[Ray Hyland]

I too am curious about how Ryan and his brother were able to get into China for such a long journey. We are planning an overland circumnavigation, and are very sad to have to rush quickly through lower China to avoid excessive costs and the discomfort of having a guide onboard 24/7. can you shed any light? Is there an option for applying to go without a guide? I don't know how you'd beg forgiveness, as I understand that a guide is assigned upon crossing the border.

Thanks!

Hi Drivenachodrive,

Sorry for the late reply and misleading post. What I meant was for people who are already working or living in China. When I was working in China we just borrowed a vehicle and went exploring. If we went somewhere we shouldn't we just said "sorry, we're just sightseeing and got lost".

Since you are circumnavigating I think you will have a much different experience when you cross the border.

When do you start your trip? Will you open a trip prep thread?

Ray