This past weekend I experienced something like I have never experienced before. I felt pain and exhaustion I never thought I could feel. And if you know me at all, you know this pain was self inflicted.
Jared and I headed to Seoraksan on the east coast of Korea. Seoraksan National Park is a gorgeous area full of beautiful mountains. I have written about this area before, Jared and I went out there last summer to climb the highest point of Seoraksan. This time around, we decided to bike up and down many of the mountains Seorak has to offer. Going into this weekend I knew it was going to be hard, but I extremely underestimated how hard it really is to bike up and down mountains.
Our weekend started Friday night as we headed out to Seorak. We arrived at our hotel in Oseak around 11:30 Friday night and headed straight to bed. Saturday morning brought cloudy skies and cold temperatures, but no rain as the forecast had originally predicted. The morning came a bit too soon for me. I really could have used a few more hours of sleep but such is life as a cycle tourist in training. As I got ready for the day, I had a rush of thoughts and worries. What if I couldn’t do this? I have never done this before, I don’t know HOW to do this!! What if I have to stop because I just can’t go anymore? I was a little scared, but as I sat and finished my coffee and Jared went to get the bikes ready for the day, I knew that all I could do was try. This was a brand new experience for me and nothing was expected of me. With that thought, I finished my coffee, tied up my shoes, and, as my dad would say, set out to “put some hair on my chest!”
The course for the day was set for about 120 kilometers, for those Americans that’s 75 miles. That may not sound like a far way to bike in a whole day, but we are biking up and down mountains. And these are real mountains, not hills! We started the day in Oseak, which is at 275 meters sea level. The first 8 kilometers was a 700 meter climb! The 8 kilometers took us about an hour. This definitely set the tone for the day. It is a hard mountain to bike up but it is also rewarding. It is a gorgeous mountain and has amazing views from the top. Once we reached the top, we were sweating through our clothes because it is such a hard climb, but it was so cold outside we had to take a break in the rest stop to warm up. We changed into some warmer clothes and took advantage of the fire place to dry our cloves and warm our frozen toes.
The great thing with going up mountains is knowing you get to go down. This is a great thing…when it is warm outside!! When it is cold, downhill is not as enjoyable. My clothes were soaked and I was cold before we even started to descend down the mountain, I was not looking forward to how cold the wind would make me. Once we hit the bottom of the mountain I couldn’t feel my feet or fingers and I wasn’t too sure the rest of me was still there either. Luckily this is Korea and there are restaurants and shops everywhere to get warm. We decided to stop in and get some coffee and warm ourselves by a fire for the second time that morning.
After thawing out, we trekked on. I was still a bit cold but not as soaked, and I could finally feel my fingers and almost feel my toes! We rode on stopping for bathroom breaks and to eat snacks until we finally stopped for lunch. We found a spot out of the wind and plopped down to eat our chicken sandwiches we had made that morning. And let me tell you, food tastes so much better when you earn it!!!
After lunch we still had quite a ways to go, but I knew the hardest climb was out of the way, now it was just putting mind over matter and pushing through the pain. The entire afternoon we had the wind in our face and that didn’t change as we made our way back to Oseak. The closer we got to home, the more I needed to break and rest. The last 10-15 kilometers was a gradual uphill and I think it about killed me. I was so drained, exhausted, shattered, pooped, and any other word you can think of to describe being tired. Thankfully Jared understood the hardships that come with cycle touring and stopped whenever I needed to. Finally, we had reached our turn and I knew I had done it. I had just made it through a very rough day of biking and all I wanted was a warm shower, clean clothes, and FOOD!!! It’s amazing how hungry you can be after a day of biking, even though you have been eating food all day!
And of course, the last half kilometer was all uphill to the hotel! But we made it to the top, and I about collapsed!! We got off our bikes and unpacked as fast as we could. We were both so happy to be done; we didn’t care about anything except food. We unpacked and showered as quickly as we could and headed out to our favorite restaurant in Oseak. Jared had been to this restaurant many of times before he met me but since we have been together, I have been to this restaurant three times. The lady knows us and lights up when she sees Jared walk in the door. It’s a great little place to eat and there is never anyone else there when we go eat. (This may be a bad thing but she is still in business so obviously she gets customers other than us!) We ordered one of my favorite dishes 버섯전골Beoseot Jeongol. This is a mixed mushroom hot pot soup. It is absolutely amazing! Eating in Oseak is a treat because all the vegetables are straight from the mountains so they are incredibly fresh. This soup is delicious on an ordinary day, but after biking 75 miles up and down mountains, it is utterly mouth watering! We enjoyed our well deserved dinner, with a few bottles of soju of course, and made our way back to the hotel.
We were beyond tired, by this point I was downright delusional! I started to wonder how I was going to make it through another day of biking the next day, but before I could think too much my head hit the pillow and I was out. And it’s probably a good thing I couldn’t think too much, because the next day was going to be just as trying!
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