Nothing to Slow Me Down

4/16/11

The red line towards the bottom was my route.

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From Fuzhouchengzhen to Buyaquan, Liaoning, China.
I left at 8:25 am and arrived at 2:45 pm

Today's Total Distance: 87 km
Trip Total Distance: 226 km

After riding for my third day, a few things are certain:

1. My banana intake has gone way up.
2. I need to take more photos, especially with me in them.
3. Parts of my fingers will remain tingly and numb throughout this trip.
4. After taking off each morning, within 5 minutes I’ll always have to stop and make some sort of adjustment.
Usually the bags on my rear rack are too far forward and the back of my heel will hit them while pedaling.
I just have to move the bags back a bit.

Today was the best day yet! The weather was great so I was just in a T-shirt for most of the ride. And absolutely no wind till 80 km, which resulted in a wind of cursing from my mouth. Most of the ride was gentle rolling hills and me trying race down each one.
I’m in a city called Bayuquan and I have to say it’s probably one of the nicest cities I’ve been to in China. Maybe the nicest (for one day.) The city is so nice, even a man sitting in a restaurant offered me some ‘cock head.’ I explained chicken is a better word to use, and quickly stopped him after he tried to order me a sample. There are just some things that aren’t meant to be eaten.

While riding you have a lot time to zone and think. Sometimes I think about what I’ll write on this blog, and other times I’m innovative. Almost at any grade change in the road and I’m shifting gears, trying to find the right gear for these few moments. I probably shift gears every 5 minutes. How damn amazing would it be if there was an automatic bicycle gear shifter. You heard it here first (Ha. It probably already exists.)

That’s all for today. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so I might leave later in an attempt to avoid the storm. Tomorrow’s a short ride anyways.