CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 376 km round trip from Songyang - roughly 5 h 03 in the saddle. The stops in between: Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han, Zhengzhou Section of Tongji Canal and back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han. The line favours views over speed.
The oldest surviving observatory in China sits in an unassuming spot in Dengfeng, in Henan, and it makes astronomy look more like architecture. The Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory was built in 1276 under the Yuan dynasty by the astronomer Guo Shoujing, who designed a stout stone tower about 9 metres high with a long stone scale running north from its base. The tower was a giant gnomon: the sun cast a shadow along the scale, and by measuring its length at noon through the year, the astronomers could fix the solstices and the length of the year with remarkable accuracy. The calendar that Guo helped create was in use for several centuries.
Read the complete Observatory write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Observatory is where the day begins. Next is Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han.
Luoyang, in Henan province, is one of the four great ancient capitals of China, a city that served as the seat of more than a dozen dynasties over a thousand years. East of the modern city, in the fields along the Luo river, lie the remains of the capital of the Eastern Han dynasty, which ruled from Luoyang from the first to the early third century AD, and of the later Wei, Jin and Northern Wei capitals built on the same site. The site is part of the UNESCO-listed Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor, inscribed in 2014.
Read the complete Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. Next is Zhengzhou Section of Tongji Canal.
Zhengzhou is a modern city of over four million people built on top of a very old one. Under the streets lie the walls of a Shang dynasty city some three and a half thousand years old, parts of which are still visible as long banks of rammed earth, and the Yellow River runs just north of town. The city is the capital of Henan, the province that some Chinese call the cradle of civilisation, and for much of history the plains around here were the political centre of the country.
Read the complete Zhengzhou Section of Tongji Canal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 188 km into the recorded legs you reach Zhengzhou Section of Tongji Canal. Next is back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han, late in the day. Next is Observatory.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Observatory write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Observatory. That is the ride.
Observatory → Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han → Zhengzhou Section of Tongji Canal is 111 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Zhengzhou Section of Tongji Canal → back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han is 110 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han → Observatory is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.