Cycling in Si Ming Shan
North of Fenghua is a famous tourist area called Xikou. Among other things it is famous to be a former home of Mao's nemesis Chiang Kai Shek. I posted about it last fall when I went with two coworkers.
Biking in China is very convenient. If you aren't chain smoking you can usually make it around the city faster than the buses and cars. I can make it to Ningbo in about the time and while the drivers in this area are the worst I've ever seen (ever ever), in many ways I feel safer on my bike here than in the U.S. For one the drivers give you some elbow room. I've had drivers come by me at 60 mi/hr a foot from my elbow so many times. Here they cut you off, merge into you and cause what could be serious accidents but if you're defensive are avoidable. A problem I have here is when I bike to Ningbo, the pollution really bothers me sometimes. I get a cough, or need to clear my throat kinda feeling. It's a point A to B thing.
Enter Si Ming Shan (four bright mountains) and another area south west of Fenghua I've recently "discovered". The roads are all relatively new, smooth concrete, quite narrow and serving many very small, very old towns that previously had little more than cart paths. I was out on a holiday and saw one or two cars per hour and half of them were almost annoyingly friendly yelling invitations for "dinner ahead with us" etc. It's also nice to see the old town perched on the mountain sides. The mountains aren't particularly tall, topping out around 4k feet, with valleys around sea level, but if the roads aren't cut through it can be plenty of vertical fun. I've never ridden so many switchbacks in my life. If anyone in Arkansas is reading this, I'll compare these roads to the road ascending south from Ponca towards Steel Creek or Mount Nebo, only with no cars, lots of shading cane, no gas stations and no end.
Another positive note, in 140km, I had one aggressive dog come out. Unfortunately for the cute thing it didn't know to avoid my stiff-soled shoe either. A couple others barked, but were quickly subdued by their owners. I think I heard them yell "time to eat the dog!".... just kidding.
As far as I and my cycling friends know, there are no good maps of the areas so I brought along my GPS in hopes that I could piece together the data one day. It's only purpose was collecting data, though it often shorted the switchbacks. The weak signal in the narrow valleys, switch backs that are all but on top of each other and of course my incredibly high speeds magnified any error. Can anyone recommend an affordable mapping program?
I'm glad the vertical profile doesn't show my speed, despite my blazing speed (sarcasm). Stopping to try to ask "how to get to (insert town name on the map, but not on the signs)" using my best attempt at the local dialect, turning around when the half a dozen switchbacks I've been descending suddenly dead ended, taking stone paved paths over passes, and taking photos meant that I was on my bike for a very long time that day. Both my GPS and bike computer had errors at different stages, so I'm still not sure what it was. I just know I got back to my house about 9 hours after I left the house. I'm calling in 100mi.
Another interesting note is the bamboo is starting to shoot (connotation of speed intended) up. In about three days these grasses reach full height sending up their black spears from a root that has been maturing for a few years. I need to get the wikipedia article on this. They're also delicious to eat. See the photo gallery.
I posted a few photos on Flickr
Biking in China is very convenient. If you aren't chain smoking you can usually make it around the city faster than the buses and cars. I can make it to Ningbo in about the time and while the drivers in this area are the worst I've ever seen (ever ever), in many ways I feel safer on my bike here than in the U.S. For one the drivers give you some elbow room. I've had drivers come by me at 60 mi/hr a foot from my elbow so many times. Here they cut you off, merge into you and cause what could be serious accidents but if you're defensive are avoidable. A problem I have here is when I bike to Ningbo, the pollution really bothers me sometimes. I get a cough, or need to clear my throat kinda feeling. It's a point A to B thing.
Enter Si Ming Shan (four bright mountains) and another area south west of Fenghua I've recently "discovered". The roads are all relatively new, smooth concrete, quite narrow and serving many very small, very old towns that previously had little more than cart paths. I was out on a holiday and saw one or two cars per hour and half of them were almost annoyingly friendly yelling invitations for "dinner ahead with us" etc. It's also nice to see the old town perched on the mountain sides. The mountains aren't particularly tall, topping out around 4k feet, with valleys around sea level, but if the roads aren't cut through it can be plenty of vertical fun. I've never ridden so many switchbacks in my life. If anyone in Arkansas is reading this, I'll compare these roads to the road ascending south from Ponca towards Steel Creek or Mount Nebo, only with no cars, lots of shading cane, no gas stations and no end.
Another positive note, in 140km, I had one aggressive dog come out. Unfortunately for the cute thing it didn't know to avoid my stiff-soled shoe either. A couple others barked, but were quickly subdued by their owners. I think I heard them yell "time to eat the dog!".... just kidding.
As far as I and my cycling friends know, there are no good maps of the areas so I brought along my GPS in hopes that I could piece together the data one day. It's only purpose was collecting data, though it often shorted the switchbacks. The weak signal in the narrow valleys, switch backs that are all but on top of each other and of course my incredibly high speeds magnified any error. Can anyone recommend an affordable mapping program?
I'm glad the vertical profile doesn't show my speed, despite my blazing speed (sarcasm). Stopping to try to ask "how to get to (insert town name on the map, but not on the signs)" using my best attempt at the local dialect, turning around when the half a dozen switchbacks I've been descending suddenly dead ended, taking stone paved paths over passes, and taking photos meant that I was on my bike for a very long time that day. Both my GPS and bike computer had errors at different stages, so I'm still not sure what it was. I just know I got back to my house about 9 hours after I left the house. I'm calling in 100mi.
Another interesting note is the bamboo is starting to shoot (connotation of speed intended) up. In about three days these grasses reach full height sending up their black spears from a root that has been maturing for a few years. I need to get the wikipedia article on this. They're also delicious to eat. See the photo gallery.
I posted a few photos on Flickr
posted by Israel Holby at 4:14 AM
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