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.
From Luoyang it runs 332 km to Luoyang; allow about 4 h 32 of riding. The stops in between: Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple, Zhengzhou Section of Tongji Canal and back through Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple. 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 Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple.
Ask most people where kung fu comes from and they will name this temple, even if they have no idea where it is. The Shaolin Temple stands at the foot of Mount Song in Henan province, central China, near the city of Dengfeng. It was founded at the end of the fifth century for an Indian monk, and tradition says that Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Chan, or Zen, Buddhism, meditated in a cave on the mountain above for nine years. The monks' martial arts became famous over the centuries, and today Shaolin is as much a brand as a monastery.
Read the complete Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple comes up about 60 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 166 km into the recorded legs you reach Zhengzhou Section of Tongji Canal. Next is back through Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple, 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 → Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple → Zhengzhou Section of Tongji Canal is 106 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Zhengzhou Section of Tongji Canal → back through Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple is 107 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple → Site of Dingding Gate is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.