Train, planes and automobile. I've tried all forms of transportation. After a couple of years on the road. I wanted something a bit more challenging. On my first trip to China. I met a very interesting person. I met him on my way to Tibet. He had just rode his way out of Tibet. He was just a normal traveler. But when he was in Tibet, he decided to buy a bike(Chinese made) to ride across Tibet and China. And we are not talking about your super strong, super light high-tech bikes you find in industrialize countries. He had 3 basic tools with him. A crescent wrench, screw driver and a pair of pliers. The first time he tried to leave Tibet on his bike, he got send back by the police. He tried again, which caused him another month. And he made it. When I heard about his tales in full details, I got very excited again. And that's when I decided I had to travel by bike. Also, at that time in my life, I preferred to travel alone. When you combined the 2, it just made a lot of sense.
But first I had to go back to Germany. I still had some money there to picked up. Then went to London to see my friend and get my teeth fixed. Then bought a ticket to Hong Kong. My friend that was working in Shanghai bought a moutain bike(Diamond Back) while he was working there. He agreed to give me the bike if I wanted to do this trip. While I was in Hong Kong, I bought everything else that I would need for the bike trip.
My second day on the bike was the best day I ever had in terms of distance. I did 270KM. Started riding at 6:00AM, and didn't stopped till 10:00PM. One of the great thing about riding in China is that there are plenty of opportunities for drafting if you are willing. All over the country side, people travel by tractors. And these tractors' speeds are between 25-35KM/H. Just the perfect speed for drafting on a fully loaded bike. But I paided for that ride. It took me a week to recover. It was only my second day, I was in no shape at all.