I have been up since 2:45am playing with the computer. I hate to go to the shop and look over Frank’s and Kong’s shoulders while they work. Maybe they are as frustrated as I am with not being able to easily solve of Max’s problems. I know I don’t like it. I suppose I could ride the old Chang they have given me but the traffic here is much worse than anything I have driven in to date and my inability to speak Chinese puts me at a real disadvantage.
Sunday, August 06, 2006

I have been up since 2:45 playing with the computer. Well, not playing games but checking e-mails, checking the website, looking for a way and a place that will let me share some of the photos we have taken with those who have visited draginrun.com so while it’s not playing I think its more an activity to fill time. Yesterday I was checking out Libya visas and routes to get to Egypt and bypass the insanity of the Middle East. Again, kinda wasting time while I wait here.

There isn’t much for me to do. I hate to go to the shop and look over Frank’s and Kong’s shoulders while they work. Maybe they are as frustrated as I am with not being able to easily solve of Max’s problems. I know I don’t like it. I suppose I could ride the old Chang they have given me but the traffic here is much worse than anything I have driven in to date and my inability to speak Chinese puts me at a real disadvantage.

Then there is the hotel; the HengChuan JiaJin Business Hotel but the sign outside says Commerce Hotel. The four of us stayed here when we first arrived in Beijing because it is close to the shop and inexpensive (for Beijing). In fact it is about the same price as a Four Star in Changchun without the services or level of service of even a cheap hotel. Their only aim seems to be to extract all of the guests’ money 1 RMB (about $0.13) at a time.

When we stayed here from July 19-21, the maid took a towel that Tamara had brought with her to Beijing. When we were leaving, Tamara took one of the smaller hotel towels. The mistake that Tam made was in telling this to the girls at the reception desk. “You can’t do that” they protested. “But you took my towel.” “You must pay for the towel or return it.” This exchange lasted for several minutes and I suggested we just leave. By now, reception was in such a dither that you might have thought we had stolen the day’s receipts. They persisted right up until the time we got into the taxi to go to the shop to get ready to leave Beijing for Erenhot.

When I walked in five days ago, I could almost read the horror on the faces of the girls at the reception desk. “Yes, I want a room.” “No, I don’t know how long I will stay. Maybe one day, maybe ten days. I just don’t know.” This was cause for massive confusion. All of a sudden a manager appeared. “Can I help you?” I explained the situation in the simplest English I thought would convey the information. “OK, please pay for tonight, 480 RMB.” “What about dinner or phone calls?” “OK, please pay for tonight, 480 RMB.” So each day I must pay for one night and rather than being able to sign for my meals I must pay cash.

Yesterday morning at about 9:30, I walked out and started my loaner Chang when one of the receptionists came running out, “Where are you going? Will you leave or stay another night?” I told her I wasn’t sure, that I had to check to see if my motorcycle was fixed. “But you must tell me now or you can’t leave.” Now I was getting frustrated again and I remember Ella telling me to be careful and not upset people, anger serves no purpose in China. So I tried again. “What time is checkout? Noon?” She was unsure. “I will be back before noon, OK?” She was still unsure. I started the bike, “You cannot leave.” “I will be back before noon, Bye Bye” and drove away. I returned to the hotel about 11 much to her relief and paid for one more day. Now she was happy, I hadn’t cheated her.

Sometimes China is hard.

When I got to the shop yesterday afternoon, Max was fitted with Bing carbs. I laughed. I wondered if these were the same Bings that Frank had tried when he was in Erenhot but then they started Max and he seemed to run well. Out for a test spin, Kong cam back with a look of frustration—something was wrong. Check the timing, Frank made the next test ride and returned with the same look. The diaphragms were changed in the carbs, then other parts looked at and tweaked, more frustrated looks. Then they started to check the electrical system. Hmmm. The generator was not putting out the required voltage, stator changed; brushes changed, other electrical components were changed. “Hey guys, I’ll see you in tomorrow.”

It seems like all the disasters are happening now. At least that’s what Tim Lagonegro thinks. I met Tim in April when Janet and I came to get Max. Tim lives in Beijing but works on a drilling rig in Angola and is fellow Chang owner and BMW enthusiast. He had just returned and sent me an SMS to which I immediately replied. A few minutes later he called, “I thought you would be long gone by now Amigo.” I gave him the short story; he gave me an invitation to a party. It seems that many of the Changsters (is there such a word?) are getting together today to celebrate Chef Jeff’s 40th birthday and many of the local Chang riders will be there. Since I will not return to Erenhot until Max is well and the prognosis for his full recovery is assured, it looks like I will be able to make the gathering—at least one bright spot in an otherwise darkening point in time.

I just came back from the shop and guess what, Max is wearing his old carbs, and the Bings didn’t work. This whole carb thing just doesn’t make sense to me (or to them by the looks of frustration on their faces). The bike runs well in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear but dies in 4th. With a look of disappointment on my face I made them understand that it was costing me more than 600 RMB per day to stay here. What’s more I had people waiting for me in Erenhot ready to ride. They understood.

The result was that they took a polished engine from one of their floor bikes and put it into Max. I will find out about 6 tonight when the guys invited me, ever so politely to return after resting at the hotel.

In retrospect there was nothing I or they could have done differently to arrive at this decision. To their credit they tried everything, every combination of parts, and every change in components they could think of. I don’t understand Chinese but I do have a feel for people and I also understand their loss of face at not being able to fix something they had created and tested.

Just a lemon, who knows? But I do know this engine has been driven all over Beijing as a show piece for the shop and it has never faltered.

I also realized something else, if I had let out any of frustration or anger I may have felt, it would only have acted to exacerbate the situation. Both of these feelings are killers of successful outcomes. As long as I focus on not getting my way when I want it, I inhibit the process of successful resolution. If I stay focused on the real issue and not the temporary or cursory feelings, I can be a part of the solution and not the problem. But sometimes I have trouble identifying the real issues vs. those that seem important at the moment.

These are simple truths and often elude me when I am unsatisfied or not getting what I want; but the encouraging part this time is that I did not let the issues of time and money ruin my day or interfere with the process of repair. For me, this is a big deal.

I also understand that we sometimes have to make things happen. I cannot sit idly by and hope and wish that something I want to happen will occur. It never does. One of my greatest teachers once told me, “Get into action, do something positive, but act and then let the results take care of themselves.” Sometimes I push for the results I want and generally, so long as my actions and attitude remains positive, I get the results I want.

And occasionally, certainly not very often, I even get a bluebird. That’s something that is special and totally unexpected like meeting someone you haven’t seen in a long time or you find someone in a place where you don’t expect them to be. Or maybe it’s a chance to witness something special or rare. I know that for me, these things only happen when I am open to seeing them and not closed off by negativity or anger. This delay has afforded me the opportunity to meet Chef Jeff and other Chang riders. Such is the nature of bluebirds.

I love bluebirds!

I was at the shop at 5:30 and the guys had installed a 600 cc engine and old style carbs. By old style I mean they use plastic floats to control gas flow into the engine. The problem with this is that if there is alcohol in the gas, the alcohol attacks the plastic floats, they fill with gas and the carb no longer functions. I walked away to think and try not to show my anger or frustration. Then I found the last R 75 in the shop. “Frank, install this engine tomorrow morning, we will begin again.” “No problem.” He was at wits end.

Tim and I jumped on the old Chang and headed off to Beijing. I asked’ “Why does this old, ratty engine start so quickly and my BMW can’t seem to get going?” Tim and I talked about the problem on the ride into Beijing. “It sounds like fuel starvation” he said “or maybe an electrical problem.” I agreed it just didn’t make sense that all the BMW engines didn’t work or that all the carbs were bad.

While at the party for Jeff, Tim said, “Hey, I have an extra set of Bings at home I’ll sell you!’ “I’ll take them.” So a quick swing by the house and I had a set of Bings that I knew were good. Big Bill also offered to help with anything I needed. Clay, a teacher friend from Changchun who moved to Beijing a year or so ago also offered help. I had also called Gerald for his advice. He would contact some of his friends who knew BMWs well for their take on the situation. Finally, we were getting some new movement.

The more I thought about it the more sure I was that it had to be something else other than the engine or carbs and the only two things I thought it could be was the fuel filters that hadn’t been changed in a while or the wiring harness itself. Just about everything else had been changed. This morning I will push to have the filters removed and if that doesn’t solve the problem, I will ask for the wiring harness to be replaced.

I had posted a query on Horizons Unlimited under the BMW Tech Forum and got an almost immediate response. The writer said to make sure that the timing and valves are set properly. If the valves don’t seat properly or the timing is off, this could be the reason for the lack of power and difficulty in starting.

Miracle of miracles, the new engine was tested and performs beautifully, the carbs function well, not the only thing to finish is putting it all together, attending to details of final checkout of the bike and I should be off tomorrow. Maybe all is set right this time.

It is about 750 km from Beijing to Erenhot and that should be an easy two day ride, especially with a reduced load and no passenger comfort to be concerned with. Plus I don’t expect to have to change carbs or flat tires (knock wood, cross fingers and all that other silly stuff that one does just in case it works). If I make it without problems we will head off to Mongolia in three days. Won’t that be cool?

08 August 2006

The ride from Beijing was wet. It rained most of the day and as I passed The Great Wall I had wanted to stop and take a few pictures but the visibility was poor and trying to stop on the Baidaling Highway was just too dangerous in this kind of weather. The good news was that the riding suit was keeping me dry and Max was moving along well.

The engine sounds were different from the last engine; subtle but different. I had to hear, feel and understand to what Max was telling me as we climbed the hills out of the city. Sounds that convey a sense of pending trouble, a broken component or the happy rumble of a well tuned engine functioning in harmony with so many other mechanical elements. I had to push a bit but no so hard that I would take the chance of asking more from Max than he was capable of.

Crumby weather always takes away from the joy of riding. Yet I prefer it to being locked in an iron cage totally isolated from my surroundings. People who travel by car or bus or train don’t seem to understand this. There is a sense of freedom, a feeling of oneness with the environment that belongs to travelers who choose something less than four wheels as their principle mode of transportation. I am not a purist in this; I will not ride in the cold. Maybe I am too old to tolerate the cold any more or maybe I am too smart to freeze. Changchun cured me of that.

What took us two days to ride the last time was done in less than one long day. A right turn and I was on the main street of a town just south of Jining and in a few hundred meters appeared my friendly whorehouse/hotel. Time to stop, refresh and refuel bike body and mind.

First light came slowly in the morning, hidden by a dense fog and a sun not much over the horizon. Three-in-one coffee (instant coffee with Coffee-Mate and sugar premixed in single serving packets) prepared from the thermos of hot water, a quick wash and I was on my way.

Few people were out. Fewer vehicles moving. I was waved away from the first gas station by a lonely man in the window. “Er ling ba?” I asked, looking for national route 208. Most people ignored me, some could only giggle and walk away. Even sophisticated Chinese are withdrawn when confronted by a foreigner. They become confused, reticent and diffident. Some have never seen a foreigner before and can only stare.

I remember the young girl who came to fill our tank on the ride back to Changchun from Beijing who walked confidently to the bike, shrieked and ran back to the safety of the gas station office when she recognized that Janet and I were foreigners.

I pulled into an open station where the police had set up a small inspection station to check on truck driver’s documents. They walked towards me, faces somber, gate slow and determined. I had seen this before. Soon smiles displaced professional postures and I was getting thumbs up from some while others squeaked the mechanical horn, tested the seats and gave their general approval. “Er ling ba?” They all pointed in the same direction at the same time. Unusual! Not only had they all agreed, but it looked like I had escaped the rigors of riding through Jining with the crowds of early morning exercisers and Foreign Affairs officials from the Public Security Bureau who wanted to record our passports. I was on the last leg of this short trip, only about 325 km to go.

The fog became thicker as I headed north towards Erenhot. All vehicles seemed humbled by the fog. Cars and trucks traveled slowly avoiding the impetuous pass or the blaring horn as we crawled along at speeds between 34 to 40 kph. It was cold but tolerable. Workers on small Chinese motorcycles would pull along side; smile and either pass or drop back. Max is like something they have never seen before. Their curiosity sometimes overshadows reasonable safety.

Tamara once asked me if I sing while I ride. “No.” “What do you do, what do you think about?” That was a hard question, thinking about what I think about while on the road. So I tried to be aware of my thoughts. I think about everything, random thoughts sparked by elements of my environment, issues of the larger trip, listening to Max—trying to get a sense of his condition. I also like to just enjoy my surroundings like when I break out of the fog for a few minutes and am warmed by the sun. Although I can see more cold fog ahead, I know the sun will win this battle and soon the fog will be gone and the heat of the day will again return.

The same small Chinese villages flash by with the same people squatting in the same places as before, doing and saying (I imagine) the same things as before. The sad truth is that these peoples’ lives won’t change much. They have been much the same for several generations and I suppose will continue for some generations to come while Beijing brags on the tele about the coming Olympic Games and the new venues they are creating and the pictograms, so reminiscent of the old style writing made so famous on the chops the Emperors used, of new construction and beautification projects in the city.

Then I saw a man with shoes that had finally given up trying to be shoes and became instead just a laces covering for whatever it needed to cover. I smelled the stench of the toilet pits shared for any who had the courage or need to use then. I didn’t see schools to educate or fields designed for play or anything that would relieve the burden of the people whose only activities were work or boredom.

I wonder about the Olympic venues, will ordinary people use the softball stadium or swimming pools or any of the recreational facilities currently being built? My guess is no! Young people are too busy with exam based education, college students too tired from the rigors of middle school to try to work hard and young adults too busy with the pursuit of money and position. So for the sake of a BIG SHOW, trillions of RMB are poured into Beijing while the residents of the countryside remain the uneducated beasts of burden serving the needs of the growing urban centers search for the good life. But who said life was fair?

10 August 2006 - Guo and Company called me while Janet, Tamara and I were having lunch, “We are waiting for you at the hotel.” “I’ll be right there.” Candy showed me the letter from Erenhot Customs, duly chopped with their red ink seal making it official and said “China says you can leave but Mongolia says no to the motorcycle.” I just couldn’t believe it, how could I have been so unprepared? Nothing in my research and planning had turned up the need for a customs form to get the bike out of China not to mention a hang-up in Mongolia. None of the people I know who have ridden their bikes across the border into Mongolia had ever been stopped much less had the bureaucratic bullshit that we are having to face.

It seems that Mongolia is requiring a guide that must accompany us while we are in Mongolia. Guo and Company say they will handle it. Late yesterday afternoon we were told that a transportation company in Ulaan Baator will send a man to guide us to UB, “…maybe money, maybe no money.” Looks like we are ready but until we are cleared through Mongolian Customs and Immigration I know that almost anything can happen.

We have been delayed in Erenhot from July 26th to August 11th, a total of sixteen days more due to mechanical problems with Max than from border regulations. I knew this has had a significant impact on the route of the Dragin’ Run but I was not aware of how significant until last night. Tamara cannot make it to Moscow and Istanbul on time to get her job by the end of the first week of September. I have a ticket to fly back to Changchun the last week of September to check on the school and attend Susan’s wedding. The distances are just too far and we are faced with the time limit imposed by the Russian visa and their singular refusal to extend or modify the dates.

Our options are:
1 Take the train from Ulaan Baator to Moscow
· I must go to Moscow where I have a communications system waiting to be installed
· I want to have Max looked at by BMW professionals to ensure his continued performance, especially in the Middle East where Janet and I will travel solo.
Tamara and Dave can take the train from UB directly to Istanbul and have several weeks of leisure time before starting work.
Get new Russian visas, ride Mongolia and forego the start date for Tamara’s job and delay my meeting in Changchun.

Tough decisions and in my case, how to reschedule my trip and the disappointment of missing Susan’s wedding.

Right now we are going to try to get to UB by the 15th. The train to Moscow leaves on the 18th so we have a little time to consider, discuss and decide. Maybe the 650 km of bad washboard road between Erenhot and UB will help us with that decision, maybe not. Tough decision.