Braking Boundaries

Hills and Corners that never end.

What started as a pleasant early morning ride through Namcheon valley (남천계곡) with one goal in mind (to make it to the east coast in a day) soon turned into a nightmarish continual grind over mountain after mountain sapping the will to live right out of me. (well not all of it)

I knew it would be a big ask to make it to Uljin (울진) in a day but figured that seeing I had such an early start (7.30am) I would at least give it a shot, hoping that the roads to it would be mostly valleys. 4 hours later and I was only now getting to the top of my third 600m+ mountain ascent, had only traveled 35km and was still at least 25km from my planned lunch stop (90km from Uljin) with no end in sight, and was getting a little disheartened.

But after one more long slog uphill I was rewarded with a nice long downhill (headwind took some fun out of it) I rolled into Chunyang (춘양) which was more like a ghost town than anything else. It had a eary feel to it, as if no one really lived there permanently. Most of the shops were closed or boarded up. I managed to find a small kimbap restaurant and grab a decent sized lunch while pouring over my map trying to decide an alternate route to the coast. Also had a nice chat with a store owner and his wife while re-supplying my food and water at a local convenience store. He was very interested in my bike and all the gadgets and was kind enough to give me a bottle of powerade and two chocolate candy bars as a gift.

After chatting to him about the roads ahead I settled on taking an easier route to the coast via Yeongyang (영양), only to change my mind 20 minutes down the road after seeing a sign to Uljin that said 67km. “I can do 67km this afternoon, it’s only 2pm” I thought in one of my “it’s not that far” moments that most know end up in epic 4 hour hikes or hours lost in a city. Indeed this turned out to be just that.

My hopes of making Uljin were quickly fading again as ascent after ascent seemed to get in the way and next to no mileage being done. It was at about 4.30pm still 36km away and I was going up what seemed to be a never-ending incline when I started getting down on myself. “Pack it in, call it a day” thoughts were starting to overwhelm me as the leg muscles were starting to seize. If there is one more hill I would be stopping and pitching a tent for the night.

My parents always taught me to never give up and here is where it really paid off. As I reached the top of the road at 765m, the highest point of my trip so far, all I could see was a huge valley ahead of me and down I went, down down down, the road didn’t stop. All of a sudden I had thoughts of seeing the beach again. It’s amazing how you can go from an absolute low point on a ride, to a complete high as you fly down a valley. 30,29,28, the kilometers were melting away and the scenery, it was as if I had been transported back to New Zealand for the briefest of moments.

I had made it! The last 30km were all downhill and as I rounded the corner I got the first glimpse of the East Sea (동해) pulling in to Uljin around 6.30pm where I checked in and ate myself stupid.

This is a day I won’t forget (my legs sure won’t) for a long time.