Monday, April 27, 2009

Korean Spring Training Camp 500kms, 4 days, 4 hours

Asian Highway 7 South of Samcheok, South Korea.
Seung Hyup & I team up on a 300km ride to Pohang!
Night Ride begins on the east coast of Korea...
From Gangneung City, I take a night ride across the desolate Korean highway 7 to Donghae to discover a quiet rarely experienced in Asia! The skies are clear and as black as coal, no stars are visible, but the mountain peaks jut out making a jagged skyline. Without the dual-headlights, I think I will run into a guard rail or sputter on my brakes. This is a steep portion of the trip, decending into valleys and climbing back until I am on top again entering another mountain tunnel. Why would I ride at night on steep mountain highways? *Well, I work Saturday's from 9am-3pm, then must catch an Express Bus to the coast in 4 hours. From 8:45~9pm until 11:00pm, I have twice enjoyed a quiet highway. The first trip was in soggy rain, covering 200+km with Justin (English student, Cycling friend) and we jumped further south to Gyeongju to avoid the rain and since both of us had to be back to work Tuesday, I had all-Monday to complete the ride into Ulsan and finally Busan North Terminal before winding back north by bus for work-Tuesday. These photos are from my second trip this season. From sleepy Gangneung south to Pohang in 2 days, 2 hours...300kms mountain/sea cycling, 30kms hitch-hiking (after the third flat!) and 45kms finally into Pohang to catch a bus to work! The second weekend trip was ridden with Seoung Hyup from Incheon, he was out riding Korea before his 2.2 year military service in the Armed Forces Korea (AFK). Happy trails to you ~~~^^~~~!!!

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