I talked with my hostel host (also a cyclist) last night about my plan for the Sahua Highway. Now to just survive the execution.
I woke and left the hostel early enough to catch the 6:07 am train, but passed the breakfast place from yesterday, already open. I decided I’d rather have breakfast. I caught my anticipated 7:07 am train.
But guess who caught an earlier train?
In Heping we disembarked and went our separate ways … again.
Only to later encounter Alex standing on the side of the road in front of a tunnel with a sign indicating “no bicycles”! We started to route around, only to be directed into the tunnel by a passing scooter who noticed we had lost our way.
I’ve hit that point that I can eat dinner, walk three blocks, see another restaurant, and stop in and have something to eat. And then stop for snacks on the walk back to the hostel. Usually that ramping up of my metabolism takes 4-5 days. This trip took 2 weeks. But if it was going to kick in, today was the time!
Three sections today, three climbs, of 100m, 200 m, and 400 m. All the traffic merged in the middle section, makes that 10 km extraordinarily unpleasant. I enjoyed the other two sections, even with the climb.
Monkeys everywhere today. Also had a red-bellied tree squirrel run past today.
I’m glad I chose to skip the first 50 km of the Suhua Highway. While flat, the traffic from the Na’no to Don’gao 10 km section with no shoulder suggests the earlier sections would have been the same, with narrow tunnels. As it was, when I entered the tunnel at the peak of that middle shared section, I rode in the middle of the lane, not permitting the driver behind me to pass me. He beeped at me as we rode through the tunnel to no avail.
The last 30 km I had a fast flat ride to the hostel in Jiaoxi. Where I met up with Alex!#