I slept very late this morning. Last night I watched an interesting documentary called McLibel, and worked for a few hours on the Rocketboy Document. I went to sleep at 4am and only got up at about noon. It's really cold in my apartment (seems like in summer it overheats, and in winter it turns into a refrigerator). So now I wear thick socks and long sleeve shirts to bed, and in the morning I am not that keen to leave the coziness of warm blankets. I need to find my thick green duvet, because the blankets are not quite warm enough any more.
Dave called after 12:00 and we agreed to meet at around 2:30pm. I thought I'd be back in time for a swim at 5pm.
The cycle from Madu to Hwajeong is pretty crazy, but once you get on the track beside the highway, it's quite a charming rural Korean setup.
From Hwajeong I followed Dave on a death defying, pothole hopping, bus avoiding route through Goyang's backwoods, and across or under some busy highways to the Han River. It's a very interesting way to explore the city spaces - cycling I mean. You see a lot of interesting neighborhoods and places that you miss when you fly over in a taxi or bus. At one point Dave and I stood on a beautiful green field that stretched for miles, while above us was the massive concrete belly feeding into Seoul.
After the first 10km of traffic mayhem, it was pleasant to be cruising sedately along the river.
I felt the same thrill when I lived in London, and found a way to get to Canary Wharf from where I lived in Walthamstow. That was the summer of 1999. Canary Wharf, you may remember it from one of the latest James Bond movies - it is opposite the Dome and showcases London's (and I think Europe's) tallest building. I enjoyed bouncing over pavements, skirting highways, and slicing through the urban debris to get to work. A free journey filled with unusual and interesting insights into a fascinating city. I could get to work faster than someone catching the underground.
Today's cycle was a lot like that, because we cycled right into Yeoido, beyond the 63 Building (Korea's tallest building). To be accurate, a lot of what I saw today I've seen before. But you get the feel of a city's spiritual dimensions and composition from a bike, or even jogging, that you never do through a subway system, or a bus.
It's this angle that plugs you into the environment and gives you a real sense of a place. This is why I love cycling. It brings you closer to big places and you move right through those wide or busy spaces than you could ever achieve otherwise. Your movements and pace are determined by your own muscles, and this seems to connect you to your environment in a meaningful way.
I was in Yeoido for the Terry Fox run in September, and the sky was just as bright and brilliant today.
On the way into Yeoido we passed a little boy who'd just fallen off his bike. He was lying, chest down, on the road, his mouth open against the tar, sobbing. He tasted the road, and I can tell you what it tastes like: it has the hard sting of burning acid.
Dave is good to cycle with. He has his own mindmaps of the environment, and he is strong enough to deal with the dangers, without being intimidated or skittish about them, and game to go long distances. If you're going to get on the roads in Korea, particularly on a bicycle, you'd better have your wits about you.
We had to be alert the whole time because on Sunday these cycling tracks are just filled with tots in prams, kids skateboarding or blading, and people basically trying to spill their blood over the road in front of you. I'd like to be able to show pictures of all the fishermen we saw, the riverside soccer matches, the pretty Korean girls skateboarding, the characters en route and the carnage. But today we just enjoyed going along our windy way.
I'm inclined to complain about the cold. I was dressed in a red beanie (chucked the helmet away today, as I anticipated slower speeds), my snug Polartec (one of my fav items of clothing), and my farmer brown cycling pants. Farmer browns basically have black slings at the top that wrap around your shoulders. They also do a good job in keeping you warm. Dave meanwhile just cycled in shorts. He's Canadian (that's his excuse). It felt chilly for me in the shade, and I didn't feel warm.
Even when we arrived back in Hwajeong, we went up to Dave's apartment (he has an awesome view, and a nice balcony for breakfasts or sundowners) and when he emerged he still didn't need to put on anything warm. Meanwhile, if it wasn't for my Polartec, my lower jaw would have gone into automatic shiver.
Cycle: 3:01
Distance: 65.7km
Heart Rate: 123/158
KCal: 2439
Temperature: 14 C average (10 C minimum)
Speed Average: 21.9kmh/Maximum 38.1kmh
A brilliant cycle on another lovely day, so it was worth missing the swim.
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