Our inspirations are The Great Vic Bike Ride, Festivals such as Woodford Folk Festival in Southern Queensland, Burning Man in America, The Camino De Santiago with its follow-the-yellow-arrows pilgrim ways.
The two day bike ride on old farmers lane ways through stunning karst landscapes is the festival – with camping under the stars, music, a guy fawks bonfire, and stall holders plumping out the event at our stunning camp site.
Local farmers will be giving it up with their local knowledge of farming to a Moon Calendar,
Luxury lovers: There is a Banyon Tree Hotel close by which is being explored as a deluxe non camping option if it is open by then.
A more detailed Festival Programme will be mailed to you upon booking.
Programme and Itinerary
Day 1: Xing Ping – Festival launch. Baisha ceremony, Halloween party.
Day 2: Great Guangxi Cycle Dragon take off from Xing Ping. Countryside ride to Fuli festival ground. Bands, bonfires, silent disco, and camping under the stars.
Day 3 – Fuli to Yangshuo Town countryside ride. Street party, bike films, music and art around town.
Programme in Detail
DAY 1 – FRIDAY 31st OCTOBER
- 12 noon onwards: arrive, register and check in to your hotel
- 7pm: Festival Launch and Lion Dance
- 8 – 10.30pm: Hallo Eve’s Dragons and Gourds Opening Party
A registration desk will be in the Festival opening venue at 34 Old Street, Xing Ping. There will be someone to orient you in Xing Ping and to help you check in to the festival hotel. The Old Street is easy to find whether coming by bus or private transfer. Please see the Getting There section of the website for more info on transport options.
If arriving early, a great way to spend the afternoon is to take a motorized raft up the Li River to the famous Nine Horses Fresco Mountain – and have your picture taken holding up a Twenty RMB note at exactly the point on the river where the artist painted what is considered one of the most beautiful scenes in China. Cheesy – but fun! Book this excursion through your hotel. It’s not included in your festival ticket… just a friendly suggestion for making the most of your time in Yangshuo. There are also some nice hikes and karst mountains to climb for stunning views of the surrounding mountain scenery.
Festival Launch Party (Kai Mu Shi) – a traditional Lion dance ceremony will open the festival at 7 pm. According to local custom this aligns our intentions with the forces of the universe for good fortune and success on new projects and events. Kai Mu Shi includes a roasted pig and we will also create a vegetarian version of this local specialty. This is a symbolic feast for the gods, though we do get to eat it afterwards on their behalf.
Those arriving after 7 can still join the festivities and meet with other festival participants over a Hallo Eve’s cocktail at our Dragons and Gourds Carved Pumpkin decorated bar and our registration table will be open into the evening with information about the flow and practicalities of the event.
DAY 2 SATURDAY 1st NOVEMBER
- 9am: Mie fen Breakfast
- Luggage on trucks
- 10am: Great Guangxi Cycle Dragon Critical Mass style takeoff.
- Daylong bike ride through Xing Ping Countryside starring the local farmers as our Yangshuo celebrities
- Picnic Lunch
- 2pm to 6pm: Camp set up, karst climbs, festival stalls, for finding out what’s cool in the China cycling scene, Flavours of Guangxi cooking workshop, local wine tasting and others
- 7pm Star Gazing, Bonfire BBQ, band and silent disco.
- The main event of the Yangshuo Bike Festival is the two-day ride – or what we call the Great Guangxi Cycle Dragon. Guangxi is the province we are riding through whilst the Dragon is a metaphor for our collective super Yang power as cyclists. We will start the ride on Saturday morning as a tight in line group following a dragon figurehead down Main Street for photo opportunities. The body of our cycling dragon will uncoil as we progress critical mass group style down the Xing Ping Road. We predict the dragon will quickly spread out as riders choose the speed with which they will take in the countryside and offerings along the way.
The route will be marked the day beforehand. Maps will be provided and local guides on hand – enabling you to go at your own pace, or enjoy the ride through the eyes of a local person who can interpret the countryside and culture for you.
About ten kilometers into the ride, there is an option for the hardcore cyclists who like to raise a sweat and test their leg muscles on the hills to loop off on an extension that will then rejoin the main dragon way in about 12 km.
The Yangshuo Farmer is the local celebrity of our event. At this time of year, the last rice harvest is being brought in. Farmers will be threshing the golden grain and decorating the countryside with Van Gough like haystacks. Pomellos and persimmons are the fruits of the season – and our local guides – mostly former farmers themselves – will be on hand to get you up close with the activities in the fields.
Fuli camp. Set up camp and enjoy the stunning circle of karsts that surround this special place. Insight Adventures will set up ropes and an easy demo climb on one of the nearby karsts, and as you set up your camp sites a bonfire will be sparked, to create the campfire ambience for our performing artists. Those for who campfire songs are too hippy – there will be a silent disco space.
DAY 3 SUNDAY 2ND NOVEMBER
- 9am: Breakfast
- Tents down and luggage on trucks
- 10am: Day Long cycle through the Fuli countryside, along the Li River to Yangshuo
- Picnic Lunch
- 2pm: Early finishing point for early departures
- Up until 6pm: Arrive Yangshuo, baggage collection, depart anytime or book an extra night in our Festival Hotel.
- From 7pm: Street party with bike inspired karaoke, quiz night and chill out film festival into the night.
- Our second day ride takes us past some of Yangshuo’s most famous karst peaks, though we do take all the smaller roads that very few other tourists know about – but should. They take us through more beautiful rice paddies, alongside the Li River and through villages of quaint yellow mud brick, and Qing dynasty architecture. There will be an early finish point on this trip – for riders who want to take it easy, but who also need to get back to town for transfers back to the airport for work on Monday.
Most riders needing to get out on Sunday night should be able to make it to the official finishing point in Yangshuo by 2 and be ready to transfer to the airport at 3pm for evening flights. If you are able to take the Monday off work, then we recommend taking your time getting in to town and checking into our Festival Hotel – and continuing the festivities at Gui Hua Lu Street Party. Post festival events include Bicycle tunes karaoke, bike themed quiz night, and a chill-out film night featuring a programme of cycling inspired films.
Qigong, Tai Chi, Yoga, Pilates
We have some great practitioners who have offered to sponsor their gurudom to keeping the Cycling Dragon flexible throughout the ride – and hopefully forever more once you have learnt the skills. There will be morning sessions of Yoga whilst meditating on a wispy piece of mist hovering over a karst. Tai Chi will give you the inner resolve to peddle meditatively for two whole days, and Pilates may just be the thing to stretch out any over exerted muscles.
Riding with Kids
Bring them along if you feel they are up to the ride and you can be responsible. The small pathways through the countryside are mostly traffic free until we get close to Yangshuo where we would encourage you to walk sections of the last two kilometers into town if you are with children, or coordinate to ride with your children protected in a ring of adult cyclists.
We are also working together with Insight – a local events company that hosts many international school groups for outdoor adventures and will set up a kids club for parents with children who cant ride – dependent on demand. Please write to us for more information if this sounds like you.
EXTENSIONS
There is so much more to Yangshuo – even though you will have already seen some best! We strongly recommend an extra day at least if you can get the time off. Book an extra night in our recommended Magnolia Hotel in Yangshuo town for just 300 RMB (its clean comfortable, stylish atmospheric and central but there are hundreds of other options too). Talk to us about extending your time in Yangshuo.
ARTS RESIDENCIES
We have some wonderful sponsors who will provide space and support for artists in the week lead up to the festival. Romancing the Bike, Making Cycling in China Cool again, The Great Guangxi Bike Dragon –inspirations in Yangshuo for the artist are everywhere, and our festival venues will become galleries to showcase your work. Get in contact with us for more info.