Distance: 92.23km
Average: 20km/hr
Actual Cycle Time: 4:36
Weather: Sunny, cloudy
Issues: Kath - 2 flats, Kath bought new tires
The final day! We knew we had about 90kms to go before Bundang, and David and I still had another 60 to go after that, so we got up early and found some coffee and bread to eat for breakfast. We were on the border of Seoul, so most of the beautiful sights had passed, although we did stick to back roads as much as possible. I had my first puncture early in the day, strangely outside a giant structure that was a massive pig. I guess it may have been a restaurant. As we were repairing the tube, all a little annoyed with the delay, a completely drunk man came staggering down the stairs of ‘the pig’ and offered us free cokes (for service??). We thanked him, and tried to be polite while he muttered all sorts of advice in Korean and broken English, as well as a few apologies, perhaps for the puncture. He brought us water, more cokes, and tried to pursue the conversation with us for a while, we moved as fast as possible to escape. Waving good-bye, we sped away from the strange man in the giant pig.
The rest of the day was uneventful. We made our way back to the brand-new highway, where I acquired another flat tire.
We reached Bundang around 4, and my first stop was the bike store, where I replaced the offending tires. We had our bikes tuned, said farewell to Jared and Katie, and David and I set off home. My new tires were great, but the old tubes were slowly leaking. We decided to pump the tubes as they needed, mostly because we were sick of changing tires. We got back to Ilsan around nine o’clock. A long day and a wonderful trip were over. The best lesson learned was how much 8 sets of tires can delay an entire group. We also thought much about what we would need to pack and what we would need to learn to eat!
Finally, I think it has made us all even more motivated to complete the big trip. We have all found the right group to do this with, each contributing in our own way to the team. Only time will tell if this big dream becomes a reality.
SPECIAL NOTE: the distance and issues do not include Kath and Dave, getting to and leaving Bundang.
GPS Map & Download file:
To download a copy of the GPX file click on the link above.