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 251 km round trip from Songyang - roughly 3 h 58 in the saddle. It goes by way of Observatory, Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han, Site of Dingding and back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han. The line favours views over speed.
A que is a gate tower, and the Shaoshi Que is a pair of them, standing like two stone gateposts at the foot of Mount Shaoshi in Henan province, on the approach to the sacred mountain. They date from the Han dynasty, nearly two thousand years ago, and are among the oldest surviving examples of this type of monument in China. The tall stone shafts, with carved reliefs of hunting scenes, animals and chariots, stand on the slope with the mountain behind them. Together with the Taishi and Qimu que on neighbouring mountains, they belong to the group of monuments in Dengfeng that UNESCO recognised in 2010 as the Centre of Heaven and Earth.
Read the complete Shaoshi Que Gates write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Shaoshi Que Gates is where the day begins. Next is Observatory.
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 comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 101 km into the recorded legs you reach Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han. Next is Site of Dingding.
Luoyang was a capital for so many Chinese dynasties that locals like to say it holds the history of thirteen of them, and the Dingding Gate was the grand southern entrance of the outer city in the Sui and Tang periods, when Luoyang was one of the largest cities in the world. Through it passed officials, merchants, pilgrims and ambassadors, many of them travelling on the routes that linked China with Central Asia and beyond, which is why it forms part of the UNESCO listing of the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor, inscribed in 2014. Excavations revealed the foundations of the gate and the road surface, with ruts and even footprints of people and animals, now protected inside a modern museum building that echoes the shape of the original gate.
Read the complete Site of Dingding Gate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site of Dingding, about halfway. 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 sits at 174 km, about halfway. Next is back through 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 through Observatory comes up about 230 km into the recorded legs. Next is Shaoshi Que Gates.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shaoshi Que Gates write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Shaoshi Que Gates closes the day.
Shaoshi Que Gates → Observatory is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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 → Site of Dingding Gate is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site of Dingding Gate → back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Site of Luoyang City from the Eastern Han → back through Observatory is 77 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Observatory → Shaoshi Que Gates is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.