Braking Boundaries

The 2nd day in Beijing saw a few of us working on our bikes, changing chains and cleaning parts. I had been having issues with my seat collar causing the seat to slip during the day, so I decided to tighten the bolt as much as possible. SNAP! The bolt (steel) literally broke in half.

No problem I thought. Just go down to the local bike store and buy another right? Not as easy as it sounds. After checking 4 stores, I thought I had finally bought right size only to find out back at the hostel it didn’t fit.

A short IM with Jakub Postrzygacz (my bike contact in New Zealand) and a solution was given. “Just find someone to drill out the screw that is stuck in the collar and chuck an M6 bolt through it” wrote Jakub. Sounds simple enough except this is China and last time I checked my Chinese was a little rusty. That’s where Tan Xin took over.

Tan Xin, an Engineering student in Beijing had been tasked with showing me around Beijing and helping me with anything that I needed while here in Beijing by his friend Chun, who is my parents border back in New Zealand.

Little did he know he would have to find a way to fix a bike part for me by finding someone to drill a hole through a broken screw. But he left enthusiastically with parts in hand on Thursday night saying he would try his best. Less than 12 hours later he contacted me with the news I that he had fixed the part. Not bad.

Without the help of Tan Xin I would have spent the rest of my time in Beijing stressed trying to do this myself. Instead I spent Friday and Saturday with Tan Xin wandering the streets of Beijing and checking out the 798 Street art scene. (a must see in Beijing)

To thank him Tom and I took him out to a Korean restaurant to give him a taste of what we eat back home.

Is it wrong that one of my highpoints for Beijing has been the little chip shop around the corner from my hotel? It seems that the charms of the Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, and the Summer Palace can’t hold a candle to newspaper-wrapped fish & chips smothered in vinegar.

Cuisine has been a major part of the 4-day break. We’ve tried wood-fired pizza, Indian buffets, and a range of local dishes. Jared’s contact, Tanjin took us to a wonderful Chinese restaurant last night, allowing us to expanded our range of carnivorous delicacies from Brer Rabbit to include pigeon and donkey. As you’d expect, there wasn’t much meat on a pigeon, but the donkey meat was surprisingly tasty, if a little spicy.

In truth, I’m not too bothered at my lack of tourist mojo. These four days were always supposed to be about resting legs and filling bellies for the road to Xian. And I kinda get the feeling I’ll be back in Beijing some other time, with plenty more opportunities for avoiding Peking Duck restaurants, street hawkers, and follow-the-flag tours. Until then, pass the vinegar.

In order to reach Beijing on Tuesday we were forced to undertake our biggest ride of the trip, cranking out almost 160km and nearly 9 hours in the saddle. It was a mammoth effort and, some measure of credit for our success must be given to an unsung hero, Kent Hammond.

Early in the morning, with a steady headwind and over 100km to go, Jared announced that he was invoking emergency Kent Hammond rules – compulsory rest breaks: 1 hour on; 10 minutes off; eat and hydrate; Repeat until done. The guys used to employ the same system for any mad hikes they attempted in New Zealand, such as the time they did the 60km Kepler trail lin 13 hours.

The system worked rather well. With those little breaks, properly rested and fed, I actually felt better in the afternoon than I had at ten in the morning. Without it, I think we’d have been exhausted well before seeing the city limits. In fact, I’m all in favor of using the system on a daily basis to improve our mileage and avoid afternoon fatigue.

Kent, I owe ya a cold one. Cheers, mate!

To give you a quick idea of what we have experienced on this leg of the journey I have collated everyone’s high and low point from Dalian to Beijing and the statistics of our ride so far.

High Points

Katie – Being invited out of the rain and into a restaurant by a nice Chinese lady and given free soft drink
Tom – Tailwinds to make it to the dragons head of the great wall
Dave – Meeting Nik in Beijing and getting an expats point of view of China, plus providing us with valuable information about the local area.
Jared – The smiles on country kids faces when I wave and say hi, or Nehao – they obviously don’t see foreign cyclists very often.

Low Points

Katie – No cold beer at the end of each the day
Tom – Changing a flat tire in a rainstorm
Dave – A small argument with Jared just before Beijing (not a biggie)
Jared – Fighting with a Chinese lady about the roof leaking and her trying to charge more for a new room

Statistics

Distance : 973 km / 608 miles / 234,000 pedals
Time : 10 days
Time sitting on our asses : 55 hrs 46min
Total Ascent : 3140 meters

Below is the map of our ride from Dalian to Beijing. Each flag represents the place that we stayed a night at. Alternatively the map can also be viewed using google maps here.

I could start by writing about the negative experience Tom and I had in one of our last hotels but I find focusing on the positives seems to help the kilometers tick over quicker so I want to take a minute two write about two wonderful experiences the team has had with complete strangers of nations from the both east and west.

After a day wrought with bike problems, Tom with a flat tire, Katie with brake fluid issues, and me with a complete front tire blow out, we found ourselves yet again getting the crap beaten out of us by the weather. Nothing says “go back to your own country” like a thunder and lightning storm with winds strong enough to just about knock us all off our bikes. So off to the side of the road we pulled huddling for any shelter we could beside what looked like a closed trucker restaurant. To our surprise a Chinese lady opened the door and motioned for us to come in despite the fact that we were dripping head to toe and had mud all over shoes. She then had us sit down and proceeded to give us all soft drinks. Of course any verbal communication other than being able to say what country we were from was out of the question but with a few drawings of stick figures (we are getting good at these) we were able to explain to some degree what we are doing. A couple of minutes later out comes a camera for a photo to remember the moment. She then motioned for me to come to her room, (her husband still in bed) put it on their computer and make it her desktop background. Her generosity will not be forgotten and goes down as a big highlight of the trip so far.

Our second encounter was with a very helpful expat named Nik. Coming into Beijing we weren’t exactly sure where the hostel “The Poachers Inn” was located. Dave had stayed there twice in the past but that was years ago. Dave was fortunate enough to meet a lady on the side of the street who had a tourist map (in Chinese) and gave it to us with a rough idea of where it was.

Enter Nik.

As we cycled closer to downtown Beijing (and closer to the hostels area) we decided to approach a foreigner skipping the language barrier. As luck would have it we picked the right one. Nik, a local expat who has worked here in Beijing for 6 years now knew exactly where we needed to go and was kind enough lead us there on his electric scooter. He then stuck around for a cold one at the restaurant & bar right beside the hostel (which serves delicious brick oven pizza) and let us pick his brain about China and also provide us with valuable information about the area we are staying in.

To top it off he has offered to loan us his English/Chinese GPS for the duration of our time here which should take a bunch of guess work out of how far the next town is saving us valuable time trying to decipher Chinese maps.

We all thank you Nik and look forward to catching up with you later in the week.

(Day 9)
Everything but the kitchen sink was thrown at us today but we’re still standing. I began the morning patching up yesterday’s slow puncture. Everyone was taking their time as the weather looked unfavorable. Just as we were about to set off, David noticed a trickle running from Katie’s hydraulic brakes. Cue much tinkering as we bled and refilled the leaking tube. We finally got on the road at ten, setting the tone for the day. Stop-start-stop.

After a brief sun-shower, the weather began to clear and by mid-morning we were bathed in warm, glorious sunshine. Things were looking up. And then they weren’t….

Around 12, we were forced to stop due to another flat. I’d apparently missed the cause of yesterday’s puncture, thereby ensuring a re-run, though thankfully under sunny skies this time. In the bright light of day, David quickly found the culprit, a minute shard of metal less than a centimeter long.

Around 3:30pm, still only around the 55km mark, a loud bang announced yet another flat, this time on Jared’s bike. I initially mistook the bang for a firecracker or car backfiring. Never one for half measures, a little old slow puncture would not suffice for our Kiwi colleague. His tube blew spontaneously and rather spectacularly, shredding itself into ribbon. By now, we were well- versed in changing tires and fixed it with a rapidity that would have been the pride of any F-1 team. Even so, we did not escape the attentions of some local gawpers.

We spied rainclouds on the horizon and soon ran into stormy weather. Which is putting it mildly. It was a torrential downpour, the ferocity of which forced us to halt and seek shelter within minutes. As we stood huddled outside a little store, lightening flashing and cracks of thunder marching ever closer, I wondered aloud as to which of my comrades had walked under ladders or disturbed some ancient Pharaoh’s tomb in the last few weeks

Our savior was a little middle-aged restaurant owner who beckoned us from the sanctuary of her doorway. She gave us complementary Cokes and refused to accept any offer of payment, only asking for a copy of the photos we took with her. Surprisingly, this was easier than anticipated – she had an old PC in the back room. It gave Jared a few zaps, though I’m inclined to blame this on his sodden state rather than dodgy electrics.

The lady’s kind generosity was a nice counterpoint to the catalog of calamities, and it really lifted our sagging spirits. Still, as the song says, you gotta know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. With over 150km to Beijing and the light of day fading, we decided to cut our losses. Pausing for half an hour for the worst of the storm had passed by (the weather fronts were fast moving all day) we headed back to the nearest town and found a cheap motel/sauna to crash at for the night.

I’m definitely curious about what tomorrow will bring…

A final thought: The old Chinese proverb “May you live in interesting times” was actually a curse, not a wish for good fortune.

Wandering through markets is one of my favorite things to do when I first arrive in a foreign town or city. There always seems to be something completely bizarre to see. In the city of Houludao previously known as Jinxi I came across colored chicks.

What I want to know is, are they taken home for pets or to be cooked up like that colored popcorn you can buy at the circus.

Why would you say that you might ask. Because here in China they eat everything, or at least every part of the animal.

Every part of a chicken or a duck can be bought and BBQed on a skewer. Dave had what we think were hearts of a Duck. Nice and chewy.

Katie opted for a more familiar bite to eat of grilled corn on the cob.

For the last 6 days now we have had strong head-winds that have tested our dedication to this trip. Two days ago we traveled 76 kilometers at 13 km/hr – a long time to sit on a bike seat.

On the road from Yingkao to Panjin we experienced a very strong cold head-wind for the whole day, but at least the roads were flat. So flat that there was not a hill, mountain or even a slight rise for as far as the eye could see. The only thing we saw were smelly oil tankers and trucks with over-sized bails of hay.

These trucks with bails of hay did however work to our advantage by drafting them along the long straight flats at around 35km/hr.

Today after spending another 2 and a half hours struggling along at 12 km/hr we decided enough was enough pulling in to the last major city before Beijing for a much needed half days rest and some sight-seeing.

6 days of headwinds. Hmmmmmm, Ireland seems a long way right now.

…that blows no one any good, by which token the headwinds plaguing our pasage to Beijing must be right f@*kers. Despite finishing our first leg northward and completing a near-180 degree shift to the southwest, the wind has changed direction to match our path and make sure its right in our faces again.

We’ve had some degree of headwind on almost every one of our six days on the road, sapping strength and willpower in almost equal measure. When you’ve just done a solid two hours for little more than 20km of progress, it’s easy to get a wee bit disheartened.

I ‘ve been working on a system to mitigate the effects – a full supply of sugary snacks in my quick-access bag, water and coke a-plenty, and an audiobook for company (it’s hard to hold conversation when the wind is carrying your words away with it). Just turn on, tune in, and pedal – “in the zone.” There’s nothing else for it.