Andrew,
I met another cool rider from South Africa via Facebook. I have a Cycling Korea group and have received several offers to tour Korea now and another later this summer! My new friend Murray from S. Africa is a public High School teacher in the Taebaek Mountains (Kangwondo) but likes to spend the weekends cycling the East Coast. We rode a short route together last weekend (Donghae to Samcheok), he bused home from Samcheok, I bused with my student/friend Justin to Gyeongju, then cycled from there to Bul-Guk-Sa (Temple on a mountain, we actually just went to the parking lot only, and then had some hot drinks and then rode South to Ulsan (Justin left there) and when we spoke on the phone I was enroute to Busan solo. I made it Busan and finished the last 66kms to the North Express Bus Terminal. That bus roared all the way back to Osan, Suwon and Ansan. Only three stops so it was incredible time. The training was hard in the rain and the cold seemed relentless. Nevertheless, we had an excellent Spring training session in some serious mountain terrain and survived the soggy rain and pitch night from Donghae to Samcheok in mild showers. The worst part of the ride was probably the most memorable, but better headlights are in order to avoid sudden death, next time out I will be better prepared for night riding and not risking it all for speed, distance, and lack of traffic/pollution on the highway.
Warm Wishes from the highway!
