We’re 4 days in and loving it. After avoiding the massive cyclone last night, we decided to start a bit later today as to allow the roads to dry a bit. Today’s ride was planned a bit shorter to give the legs a well deserved rest before the big ride tomorrow, where we tackle the 2 big mountains on this ride.
We got going very fast, aided by a tailwind that grew strong as the day went by. Unfortunately, due to the heavy rain the previous night, some bike lanes were closed down and we had to re-route via normal roads with cars and extra hills. That made the ride slightly longer and a bit more stressful as we don’t have that much experience riding on roads with cars in South Korea.
Tonight, we’re tenting out next to a South Korean Air Base for the military and as I’m writing this, jet fighters are performing manoeuvres right over our heads and landing less than a kilometre away.
One thing that seems consistent throughout South Korea is the generosity of all the people we’ve encountered. Judging by the lack of foreigners we’ve spotted so far, I’m guessing South Koreans want to make a good impression on the few foreigners around to encourage more to come and visit.
Tomorrow we hit the mountains with a 30km lead out on flat terrain followed by 20km of mountains, climbing to 300m first, a small descent follows with a second mountain towering over 500m to finish off. We are then likely to freewheel down the mountain on the other end and find a nice place to stay for the night.