Day 3. Up and down and calling it a trip

The last day started early, as most days on the road do. We were awoken to the sound of birds chirping and the flowing of the river right next to us, my favorite kind of alarm clock. Even though we had a ways to go on that last day, we didn’t rush too much to break camp and get on the road. We wanted to enjoy our last morning in the wilderness and not rush to get back to reality.

After we broke camp, we headed to our route home. The route consisted of heading downhill to the coast then back up over Seoraksan Mountain and to the car in Inje. The ride to the coast was one of the most fun rides I have done. We started going uphill; just a little, then we entered the tunnel-o-fun! This tunnel was long but all downhill. It was so fun to be able to not touch the pedals but still be flying at 65kph (40mph), and not even try! Once we were out of the tunnel the fun continued. We were still up about 400meters and we had to go all the way down to sea level. As we flew down the mountain, I was enjoying every second of it but I just kept thinking that we had to go back up the same amount of meters we were going down.

The trip down was great, with great views of some of the most beautiful mountains Korea has to offer. We landed in the city of Sokcho, right on the coast of the East Sea. It was early in the morning and the skies were clear and the sea looked endless. We were able to ride along the coast for a bit but decided to get off the busy road and head for the back roads and the mountains. We were at 12 meters above sea level and needed to climb up past 800. I knew what was coming but I was enjoying the view, the outdoors, and being free on the road too much to care.

The climb up started innocent enough, slow and gradual. But once we hit Oseak, the base of Seoraksan, the pain started in. Since I knew the climb was going to be slow and painful, Jared and I set off at different speeds. He attacked the mountain and I popped in my headphones and charged up the mountain with some help from the music in my ears. I had climbed that mountain before, but this time it was a lot harder than I had remembered. It was hot and sunny and the mountain seemed more relentless than ever. But one of the many things I love about riding in Korea is the encouragement I get from complete strangers when I’m biking. Those people driving up and down the mountain will roll down their windows and shout supportive words at me. It’s in Korean but I can usually get the gist. As little as these words may seem, they actually do help as I am struggling up mountains.

After we make it to the top, I was really struggling. It was very hot, I was running out of food and water and all I wanted to do was be off my bike and in an air conditioned car. Unfortunately we still had one more climb to go before we made it to the car. We flew down the mountain we had just climbed, only to ride threw a valley for a few kilometers and have to start climbing again. I knew once we were finished with the climb it would be nothing but downhill to the car, I just had to make it up and over the last mountain. Jared wasn’t struggling as much as I was so he was off to power up the last climb as I fought through my own pain, soreness, and hunger with my headphones doing their best to pull me up the mountain.

The climb seemed to go on and on and after every turn, I was hoping to see the top but it seemed as if the mountains goal was to swallow me whole. After what seemed like an eternity, I saw the top and Jared cheering me on as I finished the last climb. I was more than thrilled to see the top and to know the car and food was right around the corner. Even though it was all downhill to the car, it was still a struggle and like all days and trips, the last 10 kilometers was the hardest 10k’s of the whole trip. Once we saw the car, I thought I would be thrilled to be off the bike and get into some air con. But surprisingly, I was a little sad and wasn’t ready to be done with the trip.

Once we got to the car we were able to get everything off the bikes, had them loaded on the car, and were on our way home in less than half an hour. It was good to be cool again and get some food and water but I definitely wasn’t ready to be back in reality and go back to work the next day. This was my first 3-day bike trip and it was more than I had thought it would be. I was learning why cycle touring was so addictive.