Friday 10 June 2016
Strava Link
4 stamp day
This was the day of the mountain climb and the one day i had been dreading all trip, knowing that long steep inclines were not my strengths.
We started out about 8am and at about 200m above sea level, so we really only had about 300m to climb on the first mountain and we were pretty much at the foot of it, so we did not have far to go before the road starting going up.
Thankfully Wayne took my backpack and I just took my sweet time on riding the incline. The ride was on a road, and was shaded for the whole climb, which kept the temperature low. We only saw a few cars as the main road was a freeway that went through the mountain. I had to stop about 3 times to allow the heart rate to return to a manageable level, but I rode the whole way without having to walk the bike. It was a steady 7% incline. The top photo below shows where we were heading - that white structure, this was taken about halfway up the hill.
The middle and bottom photo shows where we had climbed from. A great sense of achievement and relief that the hill had been conquered.
Below are some more views from the top of the mountain. You can see the flat freeway in the top left hand picture. Bottom left shows Wayne celebrating at the crest of the ridge under the white structure we were shooting for previously.
Yay - we made it to the top!
This was a well deserved stamp in the book. Ihwaryeong rest area stamp station.
After a drink, snack and a bit of a rest we took ourselves down the other side of the mountain and this was a sweeeet ride down, there were many cyclists making their way up the mountain, and I realised that the incline was much steeper than the one we had climbed.
At the bottom of the hill we came across another stamp booth (Haengchon Crossroads) which was a bonus one for a river we would not be following, we will always take a stamp, even if not needed.
There was another reasonable hill almost immediately which again was a consistent 7% incline and again I managed to ride all the way up. The descent was again lots of fun and again I am sure the incline was steeper.
We rolled into Suanbo (Suanbo Oncheon) , where we replenished our fluids, had lunch and a rest. This had a lovely large and shady rest area near the booth. Suanbo is famous for the hot springs that are there - they bubble out of the ground at 53C. While we were resting a young couple approached us and they were on their way up the mountains and onward to Busan. Victoria was from Taiwan doing a reccy for a organising bike tours to Korea, and Changmin was her guide, who also happened to be the editor of Korean Bike Magazine. It was great to chat to these two about the ride and other rides they have done.
In the rest area was a public foot bath where you could soak your feet in the 53C water. Remembering that the outside temperature was about 32C, we had a go and it was a shock to get the legs in, but I think it did give me strength to carry on for the afternoon.
The afternoon ride took us through more orchards, rice paddies and onion fields being harvested. The scenery was spectacular along the river and mountain ranges.
We had a short break along the road, and heard some sirens wailing, looked across a bridge and some very fast cyclists passed by in the distance. We didn't think too much of it at the time and just watched these guys ride by.
We then saw them again as they entered Chungju.
We were also very excited to see our first Seoul sign.
We missed a river trail sign post and ended up riding along the main road of this big city. It was noisy, stinky & really really hot after the lovely scenery we had passed through. Seeing a CU we took the chance to refill bottles and get ice and ice creams and cool down. Looking at our maps we decided our next move. Funnily enough right outside the CU was a sign advertising the "Tour de Korea" which was going on the same week and following a similar route to the one we were taking from Busan to Seoul.
Our recalibrated route took us down through the stage finish line of the tour which we had just seen.
The next check point was Chungju Tangeumdae 충주 탄금대 & 탄금대 공원 which was in a lovely park. (with much historic significance apparently) We however did not check out the park, we parked ourselves on a park bench for an hour or so to let the heat of day go by.
After looking at the map we decided to head off to cover more kilometres, and go as far as we can tonight to then find accommodation. The ride out of the city was again just beautiful with breathtaking river scenes as the sun got lower.
Part way along the track we spotted a helicopter lowering toward the river, we figured it was a practice run for water pick up for fire fighting. It was very exciting to watch for a few minutes and gave my legs a bit of a rest.
We found a place to stay in Mokgyeri which was off the path - The VIP hotel, which was way past its prime and I doubt if any VIP's stayed there. This little town must get a few day visitors as it was quite pretty near the river. Our dinner we found a local dining room, the parents were excited for their teenager daughter to practice her english with us, but she was so shy and embarrassed to do so we ended up resorting to sign language again.
A good and long day considering the elevation we had done through the day. It is fortuitous that we did stay at this VIP hotel as there was nothing for about another 30 - 40kms as we discovered the next day.
Day 7
