Sichuan
Sichuan in the Mid West of China offers some of the best mountain bike packing available in China. From high mountain passes to technical single-track rides Sichuan offers the bike packer the best of all types of riding.

Trail one: Er Dao Hai hot springs.
Follow main road past Pancake house towards Yin Yue bridge. Cross the wooden bridge and head up along the creek on the lower of the two trails. The trail crosses the river 1km along this track, follow the steep climb up away from the creek to the top of the ridge (60min 3km), don’t stray along the trails that come off this track up the hill as they only lead to fields.
Follow the trail, which flattens out along the ridge for 2km to the pass, and then down steeply to the road 6km. The trail follows the road North along the river and joins at a bridge. From here it’s a 7km ride along the mud surface road to Er Dao Hai. There are wooden walkways that lead to the hot springs 3km inside the Er Dao Hai park area, you can ride these if you like.

There are usually happy trails groups staying at Er Dao Hai and you can join these if you don’t have a tent as the whole park is covered by lakes of bright shades of blue, green and turquoise linked by tiny streams. The hot springs are at best Tepid but set in a pine forest with grazing yaks wandering around t\it’s a lovely place to spend an afternoon for a picnic.

If you decide you need a bed for the night its downhill all the way to a guesthouse at the entrance to the waterfall park. 30 RMB a night and very friendly and clean it’s a good deal. If you are looking for a Tibetan experience you can also stay in the village halfway between Er Dao Hai and the waterfall, there are two shops on the road where the horse trek groups stop, just wander up into the village above and wait for locals to come out and offer you a room in their houses also for 30 RMB.

The ride up to the waterfall passes a small Tibetan monastery, which makes a nice stop, and the waterfall itself is impressive although crowded with Chinese groups.
Just down from the waterfall are the mineral springs, which offer a more tranquil experience, you can trek into these from the Tibetan village on the road.

Trail Two: Back to Songpan from Waterfall / mineral spring.
To get back to Songpan there is a different trail. 3km back along the road from the waterfall towards Er Dao Hai at the Tibetan village there are two shops, cross the bridge over the river here and head up the main trail over the mountain. It will pass a mountain village and head back down to Songpan arriving also at Yin yue bridge total distance 13km.

Trail three: Tibetan Mountain village loop.
A steeper and longer trail from Songpan to Er Dao hai this trail passes a Tibetan village where there is another trail down to Songpan. It makes a nice 3-4 hour loop.

Follow the main road up from Happy trails to a river follow this trail into the mountains crossing the river at a small dam 600m along the trail. The trail continues up steeply into the mountains eventually crossing the creek 4km upstream. The trail then climbs even more steeply up 4km to the village you will be able to see at the top of the ridge.

Continue past the village another 5km to get to the pass 3800m with amazing views in every direction. Continue on towards Er Dao Hai or turn around back to the village. At the village instead of turning left down the mountain ridge continue straight on the little trail which drops very steeply through the fields ending up at the dam at the beginning of the trail, this would be impassable in the wet.

Trail Four: Ice Mountain
Rising up to the East of Songpan this trail is a four day return trip by horse and described by Happy trails to be more difficult than the Western trails described above, ask at Happy trails if you need a guide.

Trail Five: Huanglong
Worth the long trek I’m told again a guide would be helpful here if you can’t speak Chinese. A horse would be good to have to help get the bike and equipment over some of the difficult up hill sections.

Trail Six: Jiu Zhai Gou off road.
This is the classic adventure; difficult, technical, exhausting and beautiful. If you have the time do this trail. I don’t know the way and maps are hard to come by but Rick at Happy trails will arrange a guide and a horse for this 5 day adventure. Packing the bike on the horse will be no problem although you’ll have to walk yourself if the horse is carrying your stuff.

Why take the bike if I have a horse?
Horses make the uphills easy but the downhills on a horse are just as slow as the ups, to have a bike going down makes walking up seem worthwhile. Even without a horse I climbed only a little slower riding and pushing and the flats and downs were much quicker, I covered the same distances as the horses in half the time.

For those independent spirits horses can be rented for 40RMB a day without a guide.