It doesn't actually matter where the bike club is going, how far they
are going, how fast they are going, or when ... I can currently be
counted on to be one of the first people to stop by the shop and sign
up for the event.
This is because I nearly wasn't allowed to go to my first big ride due
to not signing up in time. We were taking a bus to another city and
our bikes were going by truck.
It's a little different on the rides that start from the city. For
those the purpose of the sign-up sheet is to help with headcount and
confirming that everyone paid their fair share of tea and lunch.
Today 70 of us went out to the Hongshulin Mangrove Swamps, looked
dubiously at the insufficient number of boats, were looked at dubiously
by the people with the boats, left, and went to lunch.
18.5 rmb[1] per person bought us oyster soup, two different kinds of
steamed fish, a noodle dish with squash, two different leafy green
dishes, shrimp, goose, and beer. With the exception of the grain
products (noodles, beer, rice) our food was exceptionally fresh, all of
it had still been alive when we arrived at the village/restaurant.
While we waited for lunch to be cooked we lounged about, did some
exploring, snacked, clowned about and looked at the water. Although we
were far enough from the swamps that it was probably clean enough to
swim in, no-one had brought swimsuits. I took my jersey off and spent
about 30 minutes napping in a hammock working on my tan.
After lunch we lounged a bit more. This fishing village was one of
those places that sort of sucks you in and before you know it it is
getting later than you thought. Judging by the still under
construction singletrack paved motorcycle road we took on our way in
and the paved car road we took on our way out the locals obviously are
making some money off of the restaurant. But, however enchanting it
was to us, it may be that they only see their relative poverty compared
to those in the cities.
When we finally found the energy to get back on our bikes and leave we
took a circuitious route back through the countryside including a
kilometer or so of offroad biking that took us past an abandoned Thai
style temple and Amitofo Buddha.
At first I thought the badly damaged roof partially patched with tarps
was a legacy of the recent typhoon, but closer inspection showed that
the temple itself had long stood empty. The Buddha's golden exterior
was starting to flake a little and his dais was completely overgrown.
Although there were no remnants of burnt incense and the altar for
offerings was missing, the entire area was completely planted up with
hundreds and hundreds of lilies. On our way out we passed some
peasants on their way in, carrying a huge bundle of lilies to plant. I
guess you don't need an altar to be able to make offerings.
After the Buddha the ride got pretty boring. Close enough to the
coastline to be flat but far enough inland that we couldn't actually
see the ocean. A few years ago I would have found this particular
section as fascinating as the rest of it, but, there comes a point when
all lowland farms start to look alike. Though I still think wild
banana trees are cool beyond belief, even banana plantations have
started to become carte blanche.
Most of our way back into town was spent on major roads which aren't
nearly as pretty or as interesting as the back ways. But there are no
back ways back into the city. No wending strips of surprisingly high
quality pavement barely wide enough for one car, with 20kph speed
limits posted, and kids lining the road at villages to watch us come by
while shouting "åŠ æ²¹åŠ æ²¹åŠ æ²¹."[2]Those are the best.
My very favorite thing from one of my previous trips was slowing down
to a creep and reaching my hand out at a pack of kids to give them high
fives as I went by.
Crossing the bridge on Guoxing Dadao back into the city proper I got
stuck behind a woman who was wavering back and forth, taking up the
whole of the not the very wide bicycle lane, and completely unable to
do a straight line. We've got some of those (including a person who
showed up at today's event wearing high heels, and riding a comfort
bike with a basket, that was later used to hold the live chickens she
bought at one of the tea stops) but she wasn't one of ours. Getting
caught behind her sucked because it was a nasty bit of uphill and slow
uphills are ever so much worse than getting them over and done with.
Just the other side of the bridge people were waiting and talking.
Some were making dinner plans. Others were talking about cool things
we'd seen. Fearless Leader was making his usual extremely useful
comments about how to improve this or that skill. Bike tech geeking
commenced when the best racer (who hadn't actually joined us) showed up
on his 30,000rmb bike. We already had a 20,000 rmb Bianchi in the
group and a number of highly modified bikes in the 10,000 range. I saw
one of the people on a rental mountain bike looking very blank at all
this and realized that even though this was going on in Chinese, I
understood more of it than she did.
Then, for me, it ws time to go. I had to stop by the shop to get my
rack put back on before my HSK prep class at 6:45. I skipped class.
Something is very seriously going on with my bum leg. I've been
limping to some degree or another since the rainstorms and cold front
last Saturday and now my foot is pigeon toeing enough for random
non-athletic people to notice. 85 kilometers on a bike without trouble
of any kind but walking down the hall hurt.
-M
[1] USD $2.30
[2] literal translation "add oil." A åŠ æ²¹ç«™ is a gas station.
åŠ æ²¹ is something that you chant at people to say "come on, come on,
hurry up, come on, you can do it, try harder, come on, come on, hurry
up, come on, you can do it, try harder."