Cycling, Camping and BBQ in Hangul way - Day 1

After first try riding along Han River 18 months ago in Seoul, I am putting in one more item in to-do list which is cycling along Han River furthest possible. Several question raised when I will ride in Seoul, which route to take, what kind of weather to ride, if winter can I handle, accommodation, language...etc.

Month after month I totally forgotten about this plan of riding in South Korea. One day saw a friend cycling tour in South Korea taking the advantage of the bike path along Han River and other rivers. Then trigger my itchy butt wanted to ride in South Korea.
Now I have the route, Han River Bike Path, next I need to know about other doubts I have. Although from my friend's blog show the bike path but it didn't mention how long it and where it leads to. After some survey and help from Korean friend I get the route of my ride. Thanks to myroman80 with her blog (http://blog.naver.com/myroman80/90179265015) I manage to plan my ride.

Next is how many days I will have for the ride and how many kilometers I will cover. The plan is to have friend to ride with me which will help solve my problem of language and accommodation. But thing never really go as plan thus one have to compromise to suit the situation. Original plan is to have 3 days for the ride but change to one day solo ride, one day short ride with train service return to campsite and last day will just back to city with car. So first day I will be going solo include camp at campsite which my friend will arrange for me.

Weather in South Korea is not stranger to me anymore but when it involve cycling then I am totally no idea how cold it could be. If I would go for more winter ride then worth investing for a set of winter cycling attire. But I am residing in a land with the temperature average at 32 degree Celsius in day time and never change 365 a year. How often I would use that winter cycling attire if I will have one? Final solution, will have my usual cycling attire (short sleeve jersey, padded short bib, arm and leg shield) then coupled with wind breaker and trekking pants if I feel cold.

SO...I am all set, ready to roll.

Get my bike ready when day break, packed my stuff in pannier and handlebar bag. I will follow the route from myroman80 thus will cycle from my location to nearest point where I will see the bike path along Han River. Not so difficult to find the river if your direction sense was working well. The only obstacle I had was to deal with the traffic lights and hilly road in Seoul. Once I got into bike path along Han River then it is all smooth.

It was an awesome path they have laid along the river. This way better than any of those I tried in other countries. All sort of services provided along the path, eg. toilet, cafe, convenient store, bus stop, train station, rest area, bicycle repair station, campsite...etc I never have any problem during the ride, moreover it was quite flat terrain with several small and short climb which is doable by any cyclist. Many couples or family take this path as their weekend outing then enjoy the mother nature before heading home with train, bus or riding.
Reach the campsite Jaraseom but was told all fully booked by locals. nearest town was Gapyeong where I could try my luck to find a proper place to stay a night. Or I could go to a city Chuncheon which is not so far from here which will have more choices. First try to look around the town found out they only have one motel. Decided to just rest here while waiting for my buddy to meet me next day.

End of day one.

Entrance to bike path, a tunnel underneath the expressway. 

 Inside the tunnel, the only way to take shot of myself during solo ride was relying on something reflective.

 Slightly behind schedule but the sky looks great and I reckon a good day to ride, indeed was a good day.

Taking a break for breakfast at a convenient store nearby to Hangang River Park.

You can many park along the river, this particular one has a track for children to play.

My first certification stamping station. Got myself the passport of Korea Four Rivers Bike Path which you could collect the stamping along the river bike path. In the end of the ride you could get a certificate.

This is one good example of share the road I found here, two way bike path with a one way car path.

Bunker not one but almost 20 of these along the river facing north, sounds like second or how many line of defense toward south.

Gloomy skies, makes me worry.

 This bike path is not one off project but on going re-surface and re-route was carry one to improve the area along the path.

 Make use of an old rail track for bike was good idea, keeping the historical part of the country while making good use of it.

 Railway tunnel turned into bike path, if not because of this tunnel cyclist would have to climb the hill to cross.

 The tunnel was complete with sufficient lighting as well as signage good for both cyclist and pedestrian. It is all about discipline thus I don't see any problem of sharing the tunnel.

 Another certification booth, hope I could at least complete one full route.

 Not sure what I meant but need this for my own record to know where I have been. This place is an intersection where you will find a big place to hangout with a bike café to enjoy the scenery with a cuppa.

 This certification booth was at the same place mentioned above.

 Not sure what I can find ahead of the path and found this café serving food with the picture and English word that will ease my ordering. The view from the table was good but too bad they don't allow me to sit outside.

Spicy squids with steam rice…side dish is free with any meal which is common in Korean eatery.

Another tunnel, I love these tunnels along the bike path. It reminds me how adventurous I am battling with big trucks carrying sands and pebbles in the tunnel during tour in Taiwan.

Rows of camper and families with the young children playing.

Bike rack available at most of the rest area.

Still plenty of time to kill, I took another long break under shady place.

Another stretch of path where you can enjoy nice view.

I am actually travel light, but the pannier look bulky due to the jacket and clothing for cooler night.

The rail track, the river, the camper…and myself.

A newly open bike café which is no way accessible by other who is not cycling on the bike path.

Relax a while at bike cafe enjoying my latte and the snack a local cyclist gave me.

Certification at my day 1 final destination.

Bike path even include some of the bridge with proper railing protecting the cyclist.

A nice scenery of the rail track bridge with Jaraseom at the back.

Korea is a hilly place and many nice hill and mountain to explore, would like to try trekking in Korea in future.

My room from the only motel in town, nothing much to complaint because I don't have other choice.

My dinner at a Chinese restaurant recommended by the motel owner, my first visit and last as well.

Actual ride route on day 1 with elevation profile and speed graph against distance.

Ride detail from my Garmin Edge 800.

1st ride outside of home country

One of the reasons to get myself a folding bicycle was to be able to move around easily when it folded. That including going abroad checking in my bicycle with the flight I am taking. With that I could go around with my bicycle whenever I am abroad. Most of the time it would be business trip which I may felt boring just stay in hotel.

Before I could cycle abroad, I need to figure out how am I going to pack my folding bicycle for shipping. Option 1 is to use carton box pack to the size approved by airlines rules, dump the carton box after unwrap. This way I may have to find a way to pack it on return which is not so easy. Option 2 is to get a luggage bag that can fit my folding bicycle.I can reuse my luggage on return. So I decided to go with luggage then came a question, what size would be good. (I bought my folding bicycle from Taiwan, after much survey I just bring my largest luggage to pack it. Managed to squeezed most in except my front wheel which I hand carry.) No idea which bag I should since my largest luggage cannot fit my bike completely. Then came an angel who offer me a bag for folding bike. The total accumulative dimension of this bag was similar to my previous bag but due to odd 3-axis dimension I was able to fit in my bike with 2 wheels removed.

With just my bike and the bag weighted about 15kg, most full service airlines offer free 20kg check baggage and 7kg hand carry baggage. This allowance is sufficient for bike, clothing and other required accessories.Without thinking too much I started to pack my bike with the accessories be ready to roll.

Contacted friends in Thailand as well as China to arrange for a ride then we are having fun on 2-wheels.

Ride recording

When I first seen a cyclometer at the age of 14, it was an excitement to know that we could see how fast we are going. My friends and I were so happy and keep playing with the magnet and receiver which was then a wired system. We never know what else it does besides showing the speed for advance cyclist. I couldn't afford to have such luxury gadget and always keep my distance close to this friend who one the cyclometer. The reason doing so was to find out how fast I am going by check his cyclometer.

In recent day cyclometer was just a gadget which came along with bike. It cost nothing comparing to the price tagged to the bicycle sold. And you can either have wired (cheaper) or wireless depending how much you bought the bike. And for a folding bicycle most shop sales will recommend you a wireless cyclometer because you fold you bicycle without those tangling wire between your cyclometer and receiver.

My folding bicycle do come with cyclometer unfortunately it was wired type. I didn't had much problem with this wired cyclometer because I do fold my bicycle with care. Besides I am glad to have that cyclometer because I was not aware that a cyclometer is so cheap (still had the old memory 10th years ago). Not really know what this cyclometer can do but I basically use it to see my speed. Then later on I notice it could track my total distance travelled as well as top and average speed of each ride. And of course you need to know how to operate it...it took me a while to find out.

After few rides with fellow cyclist, I notice the differences between my cyclometer and other cyclist. I learnt new term like cadence, altimeter, temperature, etc in a cyclometer. Then I started to pay more attention to this gadget by surveying a better cyclometer for my rides. Since my brother's friend left his Gary Fisher Katana (MTB hard tail) in my house I could relocate my wired cyclometer to this bicycle for other use. More I look into cyclometer feature and specification I could not make a solid decision which to have it. It just got complicated by my greed......

Before continuing to conclude my cyclometer story, I would like to share another story which happened during my search for cyclometer. After joining a ride most cyclist would like to share the result of their ride by snap shot their cyclometer result. Some would just shows average speed, total distance (current ride) and time cycled. While other with much advance cyclometer would have more information which he/she could analyse and recap how he/she did. From this data it is possible to input to a website where you can can have history of your rides. And good news is these sites provide free App for GPS enabled phone with mobile internet which will perform like cyclometer. Then I was amaze and thought it would be an alternative for me to use these App without getting a full feature cyclometer.

Later these Apps that runs on GPS enabled mobile phone broaden my search for cyclometer. I have to include another feature to look far in search of cyclometer, Global Positioning System a.k.a. GPS. With GPS enabled we can get many information without actually having other sidekick (sensors) to incorporate to cyclometer. Speed, distance, elevation (altitude), temperature, time etc will be made available with the availability of GPS reception. These GPS enabled device commonly called tracker which will record every coordinate point with all possible information this device can retrieve from. Some of this tracker can incorporate gadget like cadence sensor, heart beat sensor, foot step sensor etc. Apart from those, everyone knew GPS enable device can lead us the way. I can pre-plan my ride with the application on web to route preferably road to go. Just download planned route to my device and it will be my cycling buddy on the road.

With so many choices that come with price that determine type and feature you will get from the device. It is hard for me to determine my liking. I have budget to control thus decision making will have to be tougher. Then came an angle from abroad.....friend (friend is what we need most when we are away, making more friend is part of my routine whenever I am abroad). This friend of mine could help me to acquire a full feature GPS enabled device. With friend's help I could get this device with an extreme good price which I cannot resist from buying. Using it every ride, everywhere, every time....

Bicycle improvement

I begin to strip down those not necessary item from my bicycle after noticing I need a lighter bicycle to move around. This idea came after few ride to work which I prefer not to obstruct my move in case of clashing with the heavy traffic.I take off the front light since I am not going to ride at night.....nothing else I could remove. So I have to think of how to replace with lighter parts.

First cam to my mind was the tyres, Schwalbe Big Apple 20x2.0 got to be replaced. At first no idea what type of tyre I should be getting to have lighter weight. Then thinking of reason to get lighter was to go faster, then I shall look for tyre that can go faster. And it would be easier by just try to find out from Schwalbe since I had Big Apple on my bicycle. After further survey, I decided to go with Schwalbe Kojak 20x1.35. It is sleek which gave me speed, smaller size means lighter and it came with Kevlar technology that minimise puncture.

Next I go for cylindrical parts, handle bar and seat post. Found some attractive bar yet not able to decide which to go with. Then after massive survey I ended up with the choice I and happy with. Having carbon fibre handle bar which is made for MTB. Although the length was longer than original bar but the diameter matched to mounting. Thought I would get carbon fibre seat post but found out it cost more yet not lighter than a Aluminium Alloy. With these two replace I am taking away few hundred gram from my bike.

Later heard a cyclist complaining about original foldable pedal was not good and easily break. Without compromising the feature of folding bike I insist to get a pedal which is easily fold yet stronger then the plastic type I had on the bike. I was not able to find any good replacement except MKS removable pedal. Some may say it is not a good decision to choose removable pedal since you may forget to bring along your pedal after removing it. But to me this is all about how you handle your belonging. Once I remove my MKS pedal I will make sure it is bagged and hang to my bike.

While browsing on Dahon site admiring some other higher end bike recommend by friend, I found out Dahon Pro TT having different type of fork which is made for speed. Further research shows it is not just narrow but lighter with different material used. Immediately without thinking twice I acquire this fork for my bike. When fixing it to my bike found out several problem (just small matter) with the material used to make this fork as well as the length of the mounting rod. I am pretty sure seller in the shop says it fit perfectly on my bike but probably he forgot to mentioned with minor modification. The width of the fork is smaller than my original fork which make removing wheel with Schwalbe Big Apple 20x2.0 a little harder. Since I will be using Schwalbe Kojak 20x1.35 then this is not a problem anymore. The material used (Aluminium Alloy) was softer which is not good when I press hard on brake. This tells me to start learning softer braking as well as earlier braking to avoid accident. The reward for all this is reducing the weight of fork by half!

Last part of my modification which I later decided not to go any further modification was my saddle. It is hard decision to make when a friend offer me his saddle after he got another better saddle. My original saddle was so comfortable unfortunately it contribute lots of weight. After much thinking I make up mind to give this light saddle a try. First ride was not so easy to adapt to this saddle and my body was rejecting this saddle in a very bad way. But second ride was much easier and smoother, even with longer distance ride. With the amount of weight I could remove I could withstand the changes I have to bear with.

There are plenty of part to be replace but some of it was just too much work for me. And furthermore I do not see the point of spending more money for a bike that has a limit of what it capable of doing. Thus final weight recorded on my work on this bike was 10.6kg which I am very happy with.