June 4, 2021
D50: 四十里铺 → 崆峒 UNCAPTIONED PHOTOS
Although I consider myself far more knowledgeable in how to go about setting up my tent hammock today than I was yesterday, I also know that there's no way I can sleep in it again for at least a few more days farther towards summer or a couple hundred meters lower elevation.
As a result, although I'm capable of biking through the city and out the other side, I'm going to be forced to spend the night somewhere that still counts as city and, wouldn't you know, not a single hotel at any price is accepting bookings unless my name is in Chinese.
This is partly my own fault for not even thinking to check Trip instead of just checking Maps. However, as most of my readers are well aware, I'm a powerfully stubborn individual who isn't much in the habit of conceding arguments with the police merely because they think they're right, so I go ahead and book the hotel I want under the name 外国朋友 (foreigner friend) on the assumption that people actually look at the bookings they receive and would say something if there's a problem.
(You'll note, by the way, that I'm basically writing nothing about today's ride. This is not because the hotel issue was so incredibly pressing or interesting as it is a combination of semi-urban riding having nothing of great interest and my being incredibly dead to the world from my terrible night's camping experience.)
Hotel owner was pleasant. More pleasant than the police. Which is not to say that the police were unpleasant, just that they were kinda pissed off at being forced to do something beyond telling me "no" after telling me "no" didn't work.
And while I'd like to feel sympathy for them on the basis of this not actually being their decision, I've dealt with far too many officers that, rather than blaming me for being stubborn, has instead taken the extralegal decision of some middle manager type as a starting point for mutual commiseration.
I figure it was about 90 minutes before I was actually in my hotel room and this might have been a problem except that the nice random interesting person from TikTok coming to take me out to dinner had gotten a flat tire on his car so I still had time to finish work and get a shower before he showed up.
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Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 1,893 km (1,176 miles)
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