Time flies when you are having fun!

S2B: Seoul to Busan

It is not a race. Ep #1
Meet the P-stars. Ep #2
Fighting the demons! Ep #3

Bare necessities that we need! Ep #4

7 Samurais set to go! ©Bob

The day is here! Ep #5

The time is now! Ep #6

Time is a river of passing events. Ep #7

Episode 8: Day 5 S2B (10.10.19)

Resolved to end the tour today, we made an early start, at the first sign of daylight. At least, that is what we thought. By the time we saddled up and tightened up a few loose ends, it was 0630 by the time we left our bike motel.

It was a chilly morning, slightly windy and foggy at 7C. Everything was going on fine for the first half of the day.

Korea decided to save the best for the last. She took us through multiple hills, some as steep as 13%. We managed most of the hills except for a few which proved too long too strenuous.

The world of Maya. The cloud-like fluffy structure in the bottom half of the picture is the early morning condensation of water above the river surface. ©HS

The struggle between Nature and Man started to prove a yo-yo. The hills at Changnyeong-gun was a sight to behold. The view of the light of the rising sun against a backdrop of mist-covered mountains and river gave the illusion as we were in high heavens.

Born to be free in the meadows but creepy crawlies. ©FG.

The Duel between Man and Nature: Sometimes Nature wins! ©MM

After giving a bit, she tested us. One, but all us, took a wrong turn. With 3 punctures to repair, because of the wrong turn that took us through a gravel-filled path that took us through farms, we were delayed by two hours flat.

Even our designated high priest thought he had lost his mojo when we found everything going the wrong way. With the patchy GPS signals in Korean language, by a twist of fate we somehow finally managed to get to the next certification centre.

A breath of fresh air. Second last certification centre in the pipeline. ©FG

The body was aching and the muscles were fatigued but one resolve in each of minds to complete the course pulled us through. We pedalled through the gruelling heat and the mid-afternoon sun at about 20C.

Finally, at about 5.30pm, the Gods took pitied us and finally landed us at Nakdong River Culture Pavilion, the final destination.

I am still standing, on the ground. ©Bob.

Three months of planning, weeks of training and many man-hours in research, we finally completed our mission. Shaken but not stirred, we were already planning our next trip, perhaps next year.

End of Day 5.
Completed about 140km. (Total ~ 675.15km) due to detours and off-course tracks, to and from accommodation and meals.

I cycled 675km and all I got is a gold-plated medal plus a piece of paper bearing my name and I had to pay for it! But it comes with bragging rights and something to talk about for a long long time.©FG.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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