Note: The following grade description is only for reference and E - bikes are available, which will lower the cycling difficulty in China. Your tour will be easier but more expensive when supporting van service is included, and will be harder but cheaper while choosing self-guided or more tour styles with non / partly supported by GCT. E.g. bike with your own backpacks all the way or bike with simple necessities and hire luggage transfer services during certain days’ biking.
Easier / Harder.
Easy and leisure bike tour / bike + walk tour for healthy people who can cycle and control the bikes well. For people who seldom use bikes but regularly doing other aerobic exercise, finishing bike tour under this level is also easy. The cycle is mainly on flat or with very little/no climb, usually the middle front gear on our bikes is enough. Unpaved tracks less than 1KM or road with constructions is sporadically included; China is a vast country developing, where road surfaces are changing fast too. The little unpaved part can be avoided when tour is fully supported by van and will not very annoying most of the time. Total cycle distance per day is less than 40KM (25miles) and kids (aged 8-13) with sports background is ok joining the bike tour under this level with their parents.If you are skilled in riding bikes and familiar with SPD shoes, doing a speedy cycling over 60KM without taking any photo nor resting too much, tours in this grade doesn’t fit you well.
Not very easy and pleasant for people who normally only ride leisure single gear bikes for short distance commute only and never experienced more sporty harder cycling with MTB or road bikes. The cycling posture on those gear changing bikes requires more durance from your body and some shocks from the diverse terrain or unfamiliar sporty saddles are also more challenging. We are still largely bike on paved roads but more section of bumping roads will be included. Not too much climbs needs to be conquered. Total cycle distance per day is around / less than 50KM (31miles) and kids (aged 8-13) without sports background is not suggested for a trip under this grade (but they can definitely finish it when skipping distance sitting in the supporting van or hiring more expensive E bikes).
A moderate level of cycling per day with a distance around 50-70KM (31-44 miles) is required. This grade is suitable for people who can stay biking and touring outdoors for around 5-7 hours (including photo and rest time but harder in hot summer - so we will shorten the distances). More physical strength and some basic cycling skills like familiar lower gears for longer climbs and better controlling of your breath and distribution of physicalwell are required. To fully enjoy this tour, man should really love / interested in a tour with bikes and do not cares too much about some ‘costs’ that normal non-cycling visitors doesn’t want to sacrifice: getting wet and a little dirty in rainy days, getting brown from the sun heats, pains coming from sitting on the more spoty saddle while climbing hills for a total ascent leas than 10KM per day, etc.).
Harder than moderate and cycle over 55-80KM (34-50 miles) per day through more hilly areas, usually 8-13 days’ itinerary is arranged. Although still largely biking on paved back roads, more terrain will be faced during the trip and a total climb less than 15KM is designed into your itinerary for couple days at least. Generally speaking, if you can cycle around 80KM per day through undulating paved mountain roads, this grade will not a very challenging.
The daily vertical ascent and descent will be around 900-1700M and totally the distance pedaling‘hills/mountains’ is over 15KM (9.5miles). A continuous bike ride up the mountain is a ‘must’ for over half of itineary, and the length for each climb will be over 8-15KM normally. You are quite possible to ride on elevation above 1000M but on average less than 3000M, guests will have very little chance to get altitude sickness. However, you are possible not feeling so strong any more after doing such long climbs for multi days. If guest do not wish to sit in the supporting van most of the time, you must fit enough and ready to overcome some difficulties before obtaining the joy of cycling into mountainous less-visited rural part of China.
We will grade a cycle tour as level 4 when cycling through paved roads and lot of climbs have to be done in most of the days. Or when the route was designed with high altitude of 1000-3000M and the total vertical ascent and descent is over 1500-2500M per day. Both the daily cycling distance and distance for each clims are very long(over 15-35KM). If supporting van service is not included, we will spend endless time pedalling slowly and arrive the top of the mountain (the high pass) around noon and a picnic lunch before catching up our afternoon long downhill or undulating with lots of shorter climbs to hotel. Tours under this level are suggested only for very skilled cyclists with years of experiences and long-haul bike background. The vast China is very hilly except few part of its east and the north east.
Nice hotels are no more available as well as the easy and fast support from vans or doctors, you are required to be fully prepared physically and mentally. Bringing personal medicine for the possible illness is suggested, few roads within this tour can be a cycling through the horse track, or a rocky off road with steep climb forced us to push or even to carry our heavy bikes for a while. A total ascent from 1000M to 4000M or even 5000M is possible with our bikes but not so nice to your butt. Please get ready that we may lose the chances to get phone signals and have to bear worse living conditions like no hot water or no places to take shower after a terrible day with off road cycling and climbs on high plateau.
A cycling in the hell, you can treat it more like a challenge rather than a holiday. GuilinCyclingTours temperately do not arrange tour under this grade because we have to send out motors bikes and some professional athletes to be with you. Usually a challenge like this requires you to finish some extremely hard cycling in limited time.
