This morning four cyclists left the hostel in Zhangye on the road to Langzhou. This evening four cyclists arrived in a little village on the side of the freeway. In between we cycled in the drizzle through cultivated land, stopping to eat, drink, and clamber over the fences to get to and from the freeway.
The cycling group of 4
Today was the second time we were refused entry to the freeway. This time, however, the alternative meant backtracking 15km. Instead, we cycled along a dirt track that ran parallel to the freeway until we found a hole in the fence. Today we just did the kilometres and called it a day. The Chinese cycling colleague helped us all find a house that takes guests that I would have never found. Now I know what to look for, I think I can find a place to stay everywhere in small towns far away from the police.
Oh. By the way, in my rest day (another one!) in Zhangye, we discovered that the road to Xining we wanted to take has been closed to foreigners for 30 years. This means another few hundred kilometres of the same flat plains towards Langzhou before climbing to the Tibetan Plateau. Sigh.
arctic-cycler.com 
Oh, dear. The good with the bad… 😉
Every road was new for me.