The Middle Kingdom Ride With Ryan Pyle
Hello MKRIDE friends,
I just wanted to let everyone out there know that I will be speaking for the first time, publicly, about The MKRIDE. The event is scheduled for Friday April 15th 2011, at the Innis Town Hall, #2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The event is being hosted by the University of Toronto, the Asian Institute and the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival. My talk will begin at 630pm and continue until 830pm. A one hour reception will be held afterwards. Please see below for exact details.
To refresh everyone’s memory, the MKRIDE was a 65 day – 18,000km – motorcycle journey around China completed by my brother Colin and I in late 2010. Our journey is in the process of being converted in to a television series and a book.
I am looking forward to the chance to speak about our experiences throughout our trip as the weather, bureaucratic interference and sheer magnitude of the journey took it’s toll.
Sadly, Colin won’t be able to attend the event has he is currently studying in Europe. I will focus the talk around our preparation for the journey and some of the most testing aspects of executing an expedition like this in China.
There is an event flier attached to this email, and the link for the event is below. We hope you, and a few of your friends, can make it.
Please check out our NEW Facebook PAGE for further events and details about our project.
Please RSVP using this Event Link: http://webapp.mcis.utoronto.ca/EventDetails.aspx?eventid=10002
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DESCRIPTION – THE MIDDLE KINGDOM RIDE WITH RYAN PYLE
Friday April 15th 2011
6:30-8:30 Opening remarks by Senator Vivienne Poy (Chancellor Emerita, University of Toronto); Lecture by Ryan Pyle (Award winning photographer) and Q&A
8:30-9:30 Informal reception
Ryan Pyle is an award winning documentary photographer who has spent the last ten years of his life visually documenting life in China for the world’s leading magazines and newspapers. While living in Shanghai, and documenting China has proved an amazing experience for Ryan, there was always a need for a bigger adventure. So when Ryan’s brother, Colin, recently quit his “Bay Street” job, and sold his house, the two brothers decided that something truly epic needed to be attempted. Together these brothers from Toronto decided that they were going to circumnavigate China on their BMW F800GS motorcycles. And that’s exactly what they set out to do.
On October 17th 2010, Colin and Ryan safely returned to Shanghai, on what was the first complete circumnavigation of China by motorcycle ever completed. The journey took the brothers 18,000km in just 65 days and exposed them to: dangerous flooding along the border of China and North Korea, military interference along the border of China and Mongolia, and sub-freezing temperatures and a hail storm at 5200m above sea level on the border of China and Pakistan. Not to mention the altitude sickness and mechanical failure that added to their adventure on the high plateau in rural Tibet. This was a journey and an adventure without precedent. During their entire odyssey around China, Colin and Ryan filmed daily using motorcycle mounted cameras, helmet mounted cameras and an HD Camera operated by a camera man who followed them; so that they could capture their once-in-a-lifetime experience on film. Colin and Ryan have named their project: “The Middle Kingdom Ride” and are currently in the process of publishing a book about their adventures as well as a documentary film. For more information you can visit: www.mkride.com.
We, at the Asian Institute, are pleased to announce that on April 15th Ryan Pyle, a University of Toronto graduate and AI Affiliate Member, will join us to discuss his photography career, his motorcycle expedition, and the challenges of film making in “The Middle Kingdom”. Samples of his photography and video clips from his motorcycle film will be included in his lecture. Ryan rarely makes it back to Toronto and we are excited about this opportunity to share his work and experiences with a wider audience.
Click here for event flyer!
Guinness World Record
Ryan & Colin set Guinness World Record with their motorcycle journey around China. Follow this link: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/mkride/prweb5174274.htm
Adventure Motorcycle Magazine (US)
I just wanted to direct everyone’s attention to the February 2011 issue of Adventure Motorcycle Magazine (US). They have run a story that Ryan wrote about the journey to Mount Everest Base Camp during the MKRIDE in 2010. For a direct link click here: http://www.adventuremotorcycle.com/issues/2011_Feb_AdvMC/index.html#/34/
China International Radio
The MKRIDE team is pleased to announce that Ryan Pyle was interviewed by Andrea Hunt of China International Radio a few weeks ago in Beijing. His interview about the MKRIDE, and what it meant to circumnavigate China with his brother, can be found by following this link: http://english.cri.cn/7146/2011/03/04/2702s624133.htm
Touratech
We are very pleased to announce that Touratech as posted an MKRIDE video on their Youtube page. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu6SwSEI9-I
Shanghai Daily
Hey folks, check out our new feature in the Shanghai Daily, one’s of China’s big English language newspapers. This was published yesterday. Sam wrote a great piece.
LINK: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=460258&type=Feature
South China Morning Post
Our MKRIDE motorcycle journey was covered in the South China Morning Post, earlier this week, in Hong Kong. Check it out: http://www.scmp.com/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=d4c7f67b2972d210VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCR
2 Months Later
Well, it’s been exactly two months since Colin and I returned back to Shanghai after our 65 day – 18,000km – motorcycle journey around China. And sadly, we don’t have much new to report. The “high” of the trip has now faded away and I have drifted back in to my regular routine in Shanghai, China. Colin, on the other hand, is enjoying an extended vacation in Thailand; in fact I believe he went scuba diving today. But on to more important business our book project and film project are coming along as expected; both projects are insanely time consuming as well as incredibly rewarding. We are still on schedule to release in the later stages of next year. We want to thank everyone who is still following us through our trials and tribulations to share our story. The barrier to enter this industry is very high and starting from scratch, the way we have, means that the battle is always uphill. But we’ve got some great supporters who continue to “pimp our MKRIDE” and we are very thankful. I promise not to write a “three month” update unless I have some blinding news. Until then, Colin and I will continue to lumber away editing and writing. We hope that you continue to follow our updates here on our blog as well on on our Facebook page. I hope everyone has a happy holidays. Ride safe.
MKRIDE editing begins
I am sitting down with the very talented Jonathan Hogan (editor), the editing of the MKRIDE documentary film officially begins today. Fingers crossed we can produce something lovely within the next 3-4 months. We’ll be sure to keep everyone updated with our progress.
Cardo Systems
One of our MKRIDE sponsors has issued a press release about the use of their product, the Scala Rider G4, on our trip around China. Follow the link.
LINK: http://www.cardosystems.com/us/media-and-events/press-releases/pr-011
