Its been a busy few months and now getting back to writing the blog. 经过了一个忙碌的春天，终于可以在这里和朋友们一起分享一些有趣的片段和新闻。
Visits 访客
We were very pleased to host a weak long Specalized company, ambassador and rider event this spring. People from all over China came to test new bikes, learn about the Specalized brand and ride around the local hills 🙂
非常高兴为闪电在乡居举办了试骑活动。
The Clean & Dirty Races turned out really well. Thanks to the whole team and guests who helped make it happen. A great cycling community event and plans being made for next year and some other cycle “races” for later in the year.
野趣乡居组织的“越野骑行挑战”在大家的支持和帮助下顺利举行了第一次活动。
F45 Wild Weekend F45 野趣之旅
清晨，温暖的阳光照射进屋子，耳边传来了阵阵鸟儿的鸣叫，伴随着潺潺的流水声，冥想，拉伸，慢慢开启了这次野趣之旅。Wake up by the birds and fresh air, medidation and streching starting a Wild Day.
徒步在碧绿的山林，雨后的空气总是格外的清新，让人总是情不自禁的深呼吸 ，想与这片山林融为一体。The air is fresher and sweeter after the rain.
来到了当地的村民家，和村民一起体验返璞归真的农家生活，感受最原始的自然生态，近距离的感受这农耕之乐。 Go to the villager’s house, join them for farming, experience the real farmer’s life. 
在一处一清澈见底的小溪中快活的戏水。在这山林李里，在这溪水边，席地而坐，享受一顿充满野趣的野餐，别是一番风味。Dipping in the water, enjoying the wild picnic, enjoying the wild life. 
Food 美食
Jenya, the wild chef, is starting to take our food to the next level. Its going to be a long term job developing new dishes, training, building new cooking experience areas etc. Our food concept remains the same; fresh, local, homemade and wild! We’ve managed to improve a range of our old items while launching new deserts and all day dinning options. Drinks have also improved with smoothies, ice tea, stronger coffee and draft beer! Over the summer we will develop a slow cooking and food smoking area and get to work on our local dishes.
Jenya，野趣乡居的厨师，给我们带来了冰淇淋，蛋糕，奶昔等新的美食，同时也在改善原有的食物。我们的食物还是和以往一样新鲜，自然。
We’re mostly focusing 2019 on systems, process and training. Not the most exciting thing for our guests. However saying that we have been able to launch a new house and are about to launch a new R&R area for children, and the occasional adult. 我们又新增了一栋民房，即将出租。还新设了一个室内儿童游戏室。
Photos of the 2 races. Many thanks to the particpants who also took the below pictures / video especially Miles & cZhou. Video links will be uploaded soon.
Some info / routes / gps of the two rides.
Final course routes and distances are subject to change. GPX & course notes will be provided the day before the races after a final inspection. Heavy rain on the day will alter course and race formats.
Prizes where given by some fantastic sponsors to the days top achievers. See info on the great prices and sponsors. A participants memento was also provided to all finishers.
An interesting article by Miles on bike packing & bag gear for touring around us. There are some great bike tours in the area taking in the scenery of a very unique part of China. We suggest starting in Jingdezhen and heading East from there past us to Hangzhou. Stunning, good food, and full of culture.
Author: Miles Gibbons, April 2019
Generally speaking, cities aren’t a great place to ride. Don’t kid yourself, even if you live in Portland, Copenhagen or Amsterdam, the bicycle is still at odds with pedestrians, stop lights/signs and of course automotive vehicles.
Out of the city isn’t devoid of risk, but at least its a little more worth it, due to calmer, more natural surroundings. For whatever reason you ride a bike, you can’t deny the subconscious effect of being with nature. The Japanese even have a specific word for spending time with nature; ‘Shinrin Yoku’, or ‘森林浴’. This literally translates as ‘Forest bathing’.
Riding out from town can take 5 minutes, or 2 hours, depending on where you live. And you can ride out and stay out for a day, two, a week or the rest of your life (wouldn’t that be nice!).
The term ‘Bikepacking’ has come from riders taking their possessions, survival kits and shelter out into the wilderness (just like backpacking), but on a mountain bike and generally without relying on regular, and heavy, touring racks and pannier bags. This means the load you’re carrying with you is lighter and more nimble, especially on rough and tough terrain.
From the early 2000’s, this term has evolved into being the general term for many new and old niche riding disciplines, when carrying possessions in bags on your bike. More and more ultra-endurance events (both on and off-road) such as the ‘Tour Divide’ and the ‘Transcontinental’ have been developed by hard-core bikepackers, and are the ‘poster child’ extremes of it.
But the most accessible entry into it, for most of us that live in cities, is to pack our possessions strap them to the bike, step out our front door, and ride.
I’ll call this type of riding ‘Day-Packing’. More than your regular road ride; a day long adventure by bike can be anywhere from 6-20 hours out on the road. You need to become more self sufficient when you’re doing this, as you are more likely to get further from the safety of a bike shop, a convenience store, and perhaps even people that speak your language!
You should learn how to fix your punctures, know how to check your bike for faults, and carry things that might be important to you for a day away from home.
Weather and temperature can change through the day, and so can your body temperature, so wear and take kit for every condition you’re expecting. Changes in elevation can be a key factor in this.
Everyone has a different bike and set up, make sure you take the right spares for some minor upsets. Most of us have cellphones and ride in signal these days so any major mishaps on a day ride can be solved with a quick phone call.
FIX
EAT
Homemade snacks can be a good way to avoid buying unhealthy snacks at shops when you’re body’s in sugar and salt debt. Check out GCN’s videoon how to make these.
If you’re planning to have a sit-down meal mid-way through, carry enough food with you to do 4/5 hours riding without stopping at a shop. Thats around 2 pieces of fruit and a few energy bars, depending on your riding speed and metabolism.
DRINK
2 x large bottles (750ml/24oz)
Whether you fill them or not, this gives you the option to do so, and also to have two different types of drinks (drinking one type of drink can get boring). Use electrolytes, fresh water, whatever you prefer.
EXTRA CLOTHING
Unless you are certain the weather is warm and stable, I would always take:
Wearing clothing with reflective panels is always a good thing to do as well, especially as cars these days use day lights. Reflective on moving body parts (legs down) is more dynamic and therefore more visible.
SAFETY
– A helmet is a given.
– Reflective we’ve already touched on.
Lastly, a front and rear bike light that are powerful enough to light the way, not just to be seen by others. For a front light this tends to be something that can produce above 400 lumens. The rear light only needs to be 50 – 100 lumens to be very visible.
You can take a small set of emergency lights as well if you worry about battery life.
ESSENTIALS
BAGS
Some things should be easily available to you while you’re actually turning the pedals. For food, phone, camera, small clothing accessories, consider either a small, top loading Handlebar Bag, Top Tube Bag, or a Frame Bag. Size and position are down to your preference and exact use case.
The other items from your load, such as spares and larger clothing items, can go in a large Saddle Bag, or a small Seat Pack. These are tucked aerodynamically out of the way, but are still very easy to access when off the bike.
If you decide to do an over-nighter (a 2 day ride), and you’re not camping, nothing much changes except for the capacity of your bags. You may want a fresh pair of socks, or a total kit change. You may want to bring a different pair of gloves for warmer or colder weather. You could take more spares, it doesn’t hurt, but definitely take that battery pack for phone, GPS and lights. Adding a Handlebar Bagto your set-up can be another way to add more space and balance it across the bike.
In the end, everybody, every bike, and every place is different. Follow the guide we’ve given, play it safe, then as you become more experienced, you can decide what you think is a necessity, or isn’t, and tune your packing list accordingly. There may be other things specific to the region you live in, that you should take with you (such as bear spray in an area with a wild bear population), so sit and have a think before you go to bed, the evening before your ride.
In the meantime, you can remember these 3 top tips:
This article is sponsored by Roswheel Bicycle bags.
You can follow Roswheel on Instagram @roswheel , or on Facebook at /roswheel2008
TO see more of their products, go to roswheel.com
A brief intro to the types of surfaces we will be riding for the Dirty Ride and the gear we suggest. For the Nearly Dirty Ride road bikes and road shoes will be fine.
Our Mixed Surface Riding / Adventure Riding / Gravel Riding is all about:
Interesting and technical routes, with a bit of road, off road, and some short hikes.
MSR are about touching the local environment through your bike, experiencing different Surfaces, Different Grades, Different Obstacles and Different Views. Its not about coming first, DNFing is not an issue, its not about cutting it short, thats all fine! Its about Resilience, overcoming challenges while experiencing a beautiful rural environment.
Surfaces & Obstacles
Flat:If we remember there might be some flat sections but not sure. Maybe 400m.
Gentle Up:5% or below. Yes there is some on great tarmac.
Hard Up: 8% to 12%. Quite a bit on concrete.
Extreme Up: 25% or thereabouts for some special sections.
Down:What goes up goes down. Some 10km fast descents on perfect tarmac. Some other stuff too………. New brake pads are seriously recommended.
Equipment choices
We are receiving lots of questions about the kinds of bike that are suitable for Dirty Weekend. Of course, a dedicated mixed surface race (MSR) or gravel bike is great; but is in no way a requirement. A mountain bike, touring bike, cyclocross bike or lightweight road bike (with some minor modifications) will all work. Overall, MSR bikes will be quicker due to their combination of low weight, greater comfort and more stable handling (due to wider tires run at lower pressures and typically longer geometry), and stronger stopping power from disk brakes. However, the type of bike you turn up on matters less than your experience and resilience. That being said; here are three key gear choices that we think are the most important when tackling events such as Dirty Weekend.
1. Shoes
MSR rides are not suitable for road shoes! There are numerous slippery or uneven surfaces on the course (including some minimal walking on stone steps) that would be a nightmare to navigate in road shoes. And if mud gets in the cleats, your pedals will likely stop working. We recommend mountain bike shoes and cleats (there are many cheap options, and they are great if you are considering future touring and adventure riding). Otherwise, flat peddles and hiking shoes or sturdy trainers work.
2. Tires
The best tire choice for an event is often a source of endless debate. There is no right or wrong answer; although wider and tubeless is better for MSR events. Of course, your tire choice is dependent on your bike: mountain bike tires are too wide for a CX frame, for example.
Here are your options, in (approximate) order of preference:
We suggest you go tubeless, especially with anything at or above 30mm in width. This will almost eliminate pinch flats, smaller punctures will seal themselves, and you can run much lower pressures for better traction.
3. Gearing
There is plenty of climbing on the Dirty Weekend course. Most elevation gain is from sustained climbs on shallower gradients, but there is also a number of shorter, sharp ascents (around 200m elevation gain) with gradients hitting 25%. A decent climbing gear is highly advisable! We recommend:
No matter how light or strong you are; it’s always nicer to be able to spin up the last hills, rather than be too tired and have to push.
Equipment choice is a personal thing, and it will be interesting to see what works best on the day. The right equipment is important, but at the end of the day it’s your legs and resilience (plus enough food & water) that will get you through the race.
Various other things are important to get correct on the day:
Tech: We need your GPX / GPS files so please use Strava or similar. Routing will be done through a GPX file we give out 24h before the race. Our timing will be done by a simple stop watch with checking of your GPX file for the top 3 positions in each category. There are two check points you will need your cards stamped. Otherwise you could try cutting corners and taking shortcuts but that will end up in very long walks over mountains. We suggest you bring a well charged phone with wechat so you can chat with us if any problem. A small battery bank for phone or other charging is also nice to have.
Spares – 2 tubes, pump and tools etc. Usual Stuff for a long self supported ride.
Food / Drink – Snacks and water will be provided at some stops and there are shops along the way. Nutrition and hydration will be key to how you perform on the day and should not be under estimated.
Lights – Some people might need so best to bring. Flashlights can be bought from local stores along the way but really only as last resort.
We will provide a GPX route and printed map the day before. This shows the drink stands / check points and key climbs and sections of the courses.
More Q&A’s will be provided by EdC and JustinJ along with some of our sponsors. Email or wechat us any questions. More Information on the Dirty and Nearly Dirty Races – www.wildhomestay.com/dirty/
