Rhino Cam #13 – China (Xinjiang)

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We are racing through China. We don’t quite know how we’ve made it so far, so fast, but we’re not complaining. The huge, desolate province of Xinjiang in north west China seems like a long way back now, but here’s what happened during those hot, windy weeks of empty desert.

Our time cycling in Xinjiang was dominated by big fast roads, enormous lorries and a schizophrenic relationship with the wind. On some days we would cycle well over 200km on other days we would struggle to make 100km. The wind was everything to us. We just had to pray for more good days than bad. Wind farms, aren’t good places to cycle we discovered having both been blown off the road. The wind actually forced me over the embankment and then flipped the bike over landing on top of me. Thankfully some kind locals stopped and climbed down the embankment to lift the bike off me. Scary stuff. We lived out of the petrol stations that were scattered across the desert and survived on a diet of pot noodle and water.  We didn’t see a single other traveler during our time in Xinjiang and it was pretty clear why. There was simply nothing there apart from wind farms and the odd city that would rise up out of the desert floor.

It was a big barren wilderness, but we enjoyed it. We think we’ve got the hang of deserts now…

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