CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 220 km round trip from Luoyang - roughly 2 h 50 in the saddle. It goes by way of Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’, Site of Shihao Section of Xiaohan Ancient and back through Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’.
The Hangu Pass is one of the legendary places of Chinese history. According to tradition, it was at the old Hangu Pass, guarding the narrow road between the Central Plain and the Wei valley, that the philosopher Laozi, leaving China on the back of an ox, was asked by the gatekeeper to write down his wisdom before passing, and the result was the Tao Te Ching. That pass lies further west, near Lingbao. In 114 BC, under the Han dynasty, the pass was moved east to Xin'an county, near Luoyang, and it is the remains of this later Han pass, with its gate, walls and stretches of ancient road, that form part of the Silk Roads World Heritage site, on the route between the capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang and on towards Central Asia.
Read the complete Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’ write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’ comes up 60 km in. Next is Site of Shihao Section of Xiaohan Ancient.
The Silk Road is often imagined as a line across a desert, but in places it was a road cut into rock. The Xiaohan ancient road runs through the mountains of Henan province, linking Luoyang, the Han and Tang capital, with the west through the narrow pass at Hangu. The Shihao section is a stretch of the road that survives in the loess hills, with ruts cut into the stone by wheels. UNESCO listed it as part of the Silk Roads network in 2014.
Read the complete Site of Shihao Section of Xiaohan Ancient write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
120 km in you reach Site of Shihao Section of Xiaohan Ancient. Next is back through Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’ write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’, late in the day. Next is Site of Dingding.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site of Dingding Gate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Site of Dingding. That is the ride.
Site of Dingding Gate → Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’ is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’ → Site of Shihao Section of Xiaohan Ancient is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Site of Shihao Section of Xiaohan Ancient → back through Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’ is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Site of Han’gu Pass of Han Dynasty in Xin’ → Site of Dingding Gate is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.