Yeongsan River Cycle Path

I had a split shift today so I cycled down the Yeongsan River path to the Sungchon Weir. It's not really a beauty spot, but it's a nice easy ride. They are developing the park all along the river, so unfortunately it's a bit of a building site in places.  I rode for 21km before turning back to Gwangju. It is possible to continue along the river path all the way to Mokpo. We met a couple of Korean cyclists who did this the other day. I plan on doing this in the next couple of weeks, but I worry that cycling along a bike path for 110km might get a little bit tedious.




When spring really kicks in hopefully the river will burst into life. Not much going on there today,






This is the Sungchon Weir. Nothing special. Time to turn around.


I actually prefer the road next to the river. It's quiet, smoother than the cycle path and it has better views because you can see in all directions.


Here you can see how far it is to Mokpo in comparison to the 21 km I cycled today. The river is quite windy so it adds quite a few extra kilometres. I want to do this one Saturday soon so I can eat some fried (or maybe live) Octopus and drink some makkoli when I get there. I have a fondness for Mokpo seafood. My guts, not so much!

Donhou Expedition Bike: COMPLETED.

Django is born!

It's been a while in the making, but now my Donhou expedition bike is complete!









I went to Phil's shop in Seoul (Dongdaemun Gu) to get the beast assembled. It's a sturdy ride! I spent the day watching Phil assembling the bike. That was my choice as I thought I might learn a thing or two. It was to be a long day! It was a busy afternoon in the shop: a lot of customers, a lot conversation and LOADS of cake. Yes, cake.

I decided to call the bike Django for two reasons. Firstly it was a beautiful sunny day when it got built and I was listening to Django Reinhardt. Secondly, Django is one of the best western movies I have ever seen and he is a complete badass. Also it has an epic theme tune which I can sing whilst riding!



I took Django for a spin around Seoul yesterday. He rides like a dream - not one of those dreams where I'm being chased and gunned down for murdering someone. I also did a spot of shopping, so I splashed out on a Supernova E3 Pro iris lens dynamo headlamp (see below). It cost an arm and a leg, but it is BRIGHT. I tested it out on the ride home from Gwangju Station and I was impressed. I might have to take it for a whirl in the countryside one night to see just how bright it gets.

I'll be updating my expedition bike page with more nerdy details and photos ASAP.

Big Dogs and Camp Dancers

SUNSHINE! Winter is finally losing it's grip on Korea, thank God! I've got a pretty sweet schedule this session. I have a 5 hour break on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I'll be able to fit in a lot of weekday riding. Today I did the Lake Loop in reverse. It seems to be much more difficult when done in reverse, but that could just be because I'm not used to doing it that way.

I've started skateboarding again, but I don't think my knees like it that much as they were being a little cranky today. I'm pretty disappointed as I was hoping to get back into skating. Hopefully the knee aching will be temporary.


I spotted these HUGE (for Korea) dogs at a farm on the route. This one was going nuts yapping its head of until I pulled my camera out. He's scared of being papped whilst causing trouble on the streets!


However this fella just rolled over and started basking in the sunshine. He needs to start grafting and do his job properly or he'll end up in some 멍멍탕 (woof woof soup).


Glorious! Bit dusty though. Not the clearest skies.

 
This is the most flagrant display of campness I have ever seen in Korea. This makes my day every time I cycle past it. I always forget that it's there and then BOOM! It's high time I started taking some dance classes here. I'm not sure what your average Korean would make of this poster. Most of my students boldly claim that there are no "gays" in Korea. In fact there isn't really a concept of camp in this country which explains the style of the majority of male K-Pop stars. It's like Take That in the nineties; you look at it now and you wonder who it's marketed at.

But seriously, look at those clothes! What I'd give to get my hands on a set of those. Imagine the reaction if I donned them during a discussion class. I feel a lesson plan coming on!

Week of waiting...

Actually this week is going really quickly, I can't believe it's Wednesday already. Two good things are happening  this week. Firstly, my camera is getting mended! I'm going to pick it up from Keumho World today. Unfortunately it's going to cost me 173,000 KRW (about 90 quid). Secondly, I'm going to get my bike finished!

I'm going to head up to Seoul on Friday night so I can be up in good time on Saturday. I'll be heading to Phil's Shop where he is going to build it in front of my very own eyes! Hopefully I'll learn a thing or two about assembling bikes so I won't get in too much trouble if I ever need to do some repairs on the road. I'll will be splattering this wall with photos of the new ride on Sunday, that's a promise. I have yet to give the bike a name. My folding bike is called "Rusty Steve". My Giant bike remains anonymous. Suggestions for names would be much appreciated. Maybe Gordon.

Unfortunately my trip to Seoul coincides with St Patrick's Day. It's not my favourite day of the year. I will be trying to avoid Itaewon at all costs. Drunk ex-pats pretending to take an interest in Ireland is not my cup of tea. Nobody goes hogwild for St Andrew's day, or St David's day. Oh well.

Pranks a lot!

It seems I have developed two nemeses in the form of Jason Randall (aka Randallizer) and Chester. F. George. Someone just turned up the heat in the office... Have a read and get some tissue. No, you're not going to come in your pants, you're going to start crying with laughter.

Chester. F. George
http://pesterchester.wordpress.com/

Jason Randall:
http://pedalsofsteel.blogspot.com/

I think Jonny had a bit too much time on his hands this weekend. These pranks are going to spiral out of control. I'm both nervous and excited.

Gibby comes to town (Damyang ride)

Last week Jenny and I had a week off so our friends Gibby came down from Seoul for a couple of rides. We had some mixed luck with the weather. On Tuesday it started snowing. It didn't seem all that bad at first, but it just kept snowing. The snow kept getting in our eyes on the downhills and we just did a lot of freezing in general.


Tuesday Lake Loop


The Gwangju reservoir was still partially frozen over.


I love this coffee shop. We were both surprised and relieved to see it was open so we could get a hot drink.






By this point it got really bleak. We decided to take a break at a rabbit restaurant so we could warm ourselves on the heated floor.


The side dishes in this restaurant were amazing, especially this sour plum (mae shil) dish.


Hot steamy rabbit stew!

Wednesday Damyang Ride (68km)
(gpx file download)




The weather was glorious on Wednesday so Gibby and I took a ride out to Damyang. We stuck to the farm roads for the majority of the trip and we even managed to get completely lost (see below).













We stumbled across this very noisy dog farm. Poor dogs.


We were shocked by this jazzy bus stop in a tiny farming village. We didn't see any buses on this route. I've never seen such a nice bus stop in Korea.

Sean and I came across this restaurant some time ago but we never checked it out. Gibby and I decided to eat there as it looked pretty interesting. It was AMAZING!









The restaurant was next to a small bamboo forest.


All the food was served in bamboo trays (these are just the side dishes by the way).


This is a bottle of daetongju. It's bamboo soju and it's delicious! It comes in a real, fresh bamboo container and has to be opened with a hammer.


















This lake was frozen over despite it being a really warm day.


Finally, some bamboo makkoli!

Colour Schemes (saddle and handlebar tape)

I have a dilemma, but it's not all that critical.

Now I'm starting to get the parts together, what colour saddle/handle bar tape should I go for? My frame is British racing green. Do I go for black or antique brown to compliment it? A trivial matter, I know, but it still plays on my mind. Have a peep at the saddles below.