Where the urban meets the mountains, Hong Kong may not be immediately on your shortlist for a mountain bike trip, Damien Rosso and Nico Queéré head to this land of metropolis and mountains to find amazing scenery and huge contrasts in life, culture and trails.

No matter where you go in the world, there are always trails waiting to be ridden, sometimes when you look in the most unlikely of places you discover some of the best nuggets of gold!

All freshly kitted up with his new sponsor, Giant, Nico Quéré decided to pack his bags and go on an adventure to discover the trails and surroundings of Hong Kong. Asking me along to document the trip and having never been before I jumped at the chance to shoot somewhere new! Somewhat off the beaten track, certainly for the European rider Hong Kong offers a diverse backdrop to some truly stunning scenery. As they used to say, “there is gold in them there hills!”

It's early December, and while the weather in Marseille is cool but not yet too cold, we pack our bags and head for one of the two largest administrative regions of the People's Republic of China: Hong Kong. The Marseillais know all about the city life, it's advantages and disadvantages, but Hong Kong is another dimension altogether. After a “short” journey of only a few dozen hours, we arrived to explore this oversized and excessive city to see what it could offer the travelling mountain biker.

Upon arrival, Nico's first priority was to climb to Victoria Peak, 3000m above our hotel. This peak is truly majestic, not ideal for mountain biking, but for a stroll and a view of the city, it is just amazing. Victoria Peak overlooks Victoria Harbour Strait and offers panoramic views of the entire city; it’s one of the many vantage points from which you can admire the bustling heart of Hong Kong. It also gave us a chance to scope out some of the landscape in the surrounding area, and we started to make some plans for potential places to ride!

Hong Kong is an entirely unique place, and I can’t think of anywhere else like it in the world. Officially known as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, it is an autonomous region of the Pearl River Delta in East Asia. Hong Kong has a separate political and economic system to China, giving it an independent air and a very different feel to Mainland China itself. Over the years it has grown to become the massive financial behemoth that it is, giving rise to the skyscrapers and the wealth that litters the area. Conversely, at street level, abject poverty is very apparent offering some very striking contrasts at almost every turn.

Having sampled some of the cultural offerings of Hong Kong, it was time for Nico to build his bike and for us to start thinking about embarking on our mountain biking discovery of the area. Once we had made a plan, and a bike, Nico got in front of his computer and began attempting to learn the local language, Chinese, but as we later found out, it wasn’t going to help much!

After a restful night, we awoke on the 38th floor of our enormous hotel, which gave a rather odd feeling as it represents a drop of about 100m straight down to the lobby; this is some serious height! We descended the 38 floors down to street level and from the front of the hotel start heading in the direction of the Island of Lantau by metro then by taxi with all our gear.

It is not easy to make oneself understood here, (despite the valiant attempts at Chinese by Nico) because even though Hong Kong was granted a lease to Great Britain in the 1860s, it is still difficult to communicate with the locals especially when it comes to ordering taxis. Fortunately, our driver asks a local to help him; eventually, we are able to tell him where we want to go. Ultimately though we are eternally thankful for modern technology, we ended up showing him a map on a smartphone!

We finally arrive on Lantau Island, the largest in Hong Kong; it’s one hundred and forty-five square kilometres and has no less than 45,000 inhabitants, which represents only a small part of the total population of 7 million. Our priority is to find a taxi for us to the other end of the island, not far from the famous Buddha and the monastery of Po Lin. The Buddha at Po Lin was built in 1993, measures 34m high and sits majestically facing the north to watch over all the Chinese people. Construction took more than 12 years and just to gain access to his feet, you have to climb 268 steps.

For Nico, there is no question of spending the day at the foot of this statue; trails head off in every direction, and there is something he needs to get out of his system. The riding here is tough because the trails feature many steps for walkers but between the sections of steps, the trails are beautiful. It is quite extraordinary to be at the gates of a city populated by more than 7 million inhabitants and to ride a bike on natural trails surrounded by mountains and the majesty of Lantau Peak reaching up to almost 1000m.

Lantau Peak is an almost constant backdrop to our riding, and it forces a sense of respect and humility, much like the people who live there. We continue around the south slopes of the island, discovering a beautiful ribbon of single track with bends and yet more stairs, although as we are descending, they add a welcome level of technicality to the trail. Ocean views dominate on one side, city views on the other, eventually, however, we cannot call it a view because the pollution and smog is so thick. The black fog barely allows us to see silhouettes of buildings and only a semblance of blue ocean. Sadly the mass of human activity in the surrounding region creates this dense toxic blanket that often envelopes the area. After a fun morning ride of discovery we return to a road hoping to find a passing taxi that will pick us up and take us to a small restaurant to eat, it’s early afternoon, and after all the pedalling and climbing stairs we are starving!

Despite the smog, the climate is quite special, in December, which is winter, the day temperatures can reach 26 degrees, the nights are thankfully cool however the atmosphere is very humid, so we sweated litres of water during our rides. After a few minutes of waiting by the side of the road a taxi arrives, after dismantling the bikes, we head off in search of food. The food here is great, but it is the opposite of Europe, everything is very healthy, sugar is not in abundance in dishes, and there is hardly any cheese. We were a long way from our good old Camembert with a piece of bread! On the south side of the Island, we enjoy a hearty plate of rice with home cooked organic seaweed, and we are ready to move on to a new location.

We wanted to explore another part of the island, and to our great amazement, our next taxi was driven by a very friendly and professional lady with an ultra clean car that smelt so good! Leather trim and seats, this was a serious ride, and this was so much better than our previous experiences of Hong Kong taxis! Our new driver dropped us at exactly the place where we asked her too, the first time it had happened the whole trip!

Our quest for this day was to climb one of the highest peaks of Lantau Island, where the view was said to be phenomenal, sadly for us, the pollution meant we would miss out on the ultimate goal, however, we started pedalling anyway!

The climb was a serious test, as there were many steps and we had to carry our bikes and camera gear on our backs, but the hike-a-bike was worth it. Nico wasn't quite of the same opinion as he would rather be pedalling or descending, but this was all about the adventure. Arriving at the top, we were still happy to have put the effort in. It was great, and we came across people of all ages, from all walks of life, we even met a person making a film for an advert, with a bird on their shoulder! It was clear we were amidst a very different culture.

We waited for the sunset at the top of the island, Nico eyed up a big rock that stood out for a photo opportunity. He climbed on top of it, scoping out a possible jump but it was not to be. With no landing and a long way from any medical help we wisely decide to be cautious and enjoy the trails instead! The trails are amazing at this altitude with very different makeup from the previous ride we had enjoyed in the morning. At the top of Lantau, there are fewer trees and the trails are more open with fast flowing dry dirt.

It amazes us that such diversity that can be found in every corner of the globe and yet riding a bike is always possible, no matter where you are. Only the landscape, culture and vegetation changes, as for the rest, everything is the same. Rubber tyres rolling on dirt, the wind in your face and the exhilaration of riding your bike!

Later that evening when talking with the locals, we learned that Hong Kong was a very expensive city at the real estate level, the property at the bottom of the buildings is the cheapest and the higher you go, the more expensive it is. On the other hand, very few Hong Kongese own a car, as they are taxed at 50%, and there is no free parking that we enjoy in France. Parking costs an average of 40 HKD per hour or €5. The social level is also very disparate, one tenth of the population are millionaires while one tenth live below the poverty line.

It’s a place of truly stark contrasts alright, the high rise and densely populated city of Hong Kong is surrounded by mountains and rolling trails. The beautiful views of nature are blocked by humanities devices, and the language is about as far from French as you can ever get! Despite all of this, though, Nico and I had an amazing few days in the area, enjoying the trails, the warmth and friendliness of the locals and the tasty yet exceedingly healthy food.

While rice and vegetables won’t ever be a match for Camembert and bread, the trails scenery had us enthralled at every turn! We can strongly recommend you try to immerse yourself in this culture one day; it’s one of respect, humility and calm. A fantastic experience!

By Damien Rosso

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