December 30th

December 30, 2023

Out with Debbie and Ralph

The end is nigh. Another day and it'll be a new year. It's time to make the most of what's left.

Debbie and I have agreed to meet Ralph at a 7-Eleven about 20-odd minutes' cycling from home. The weather looks iffy with the streets wet from overnight rain and dampness is lingering in the air, so we check before setting off that the ride is still on. It is.

The rough plan is to head south over a couple of climbs, then get a train back north. It's ages since Debbie has been on a proper ride and she's a bit unsure about her current leg power. Join the club.

It's pretty damp and gloomy at just gone nine

We meet Ralph at a 7-Eleven at 9:30 and head south

The air remains a bit damp, but it's not cool and our rain jackets come off when we get to the 7-Eleven and Ralph arrives as we are stashing them in our saddlebags. He takes his off too.

As we ride along a quiet, bending rural road and reach a section of highway, some low cloud drifts down from the surrounding hills and obscures the sunshine that had broken out just a few minutes earlier. It's weird. The cloud then looks more like smoke and as we reach the turning we'll take off the wide road, a couple of fire trucks with sirens wailing speed past. There's a smell of burning vegetation.

We soon turn off the 3 and it's a minute or two before the climb really starts. This is route 29, a winding back road that doesn't see much traffic. There are a few homes here and there, but vehicles stick to Highway 3 that branches just our north.

We're hemmed in by greenery and there are a few steep parts that last a minute or two, but with low gears they're rideable. The climb lasts a few kilometres and we then take a snap before deciding to take it steady on the drop, what with the tarmac being damp and dead leaves and mossy edges posing a slippery hazard. I tell Debbie to mostly use her back break so as to minimize the risk of a front-wheel wipeout.

Smoke in the air at the start of the first climb on route 29

The sun comes (again) out as we get to the top

The 29 drops us down to the four-laned 3 and we cut straight across it and make our way into the town of Guanxi on a back street. Ralph tells us he's seen what looks to be a decent cafe on Google Maps that he wants to check out, so we search for it.

It takes some finding as it's only accessed by a footpath. The building turns out to be a single-storey wooden one that looks like a villa surrounded by a garden and it dates back to the Japanese colonial period - probably built back to the 1930s. It's been completely and carefully renovated and belongs to the local government.

There are two snazzy-looking road bikes leaning against it and after we take off our shoes and enter, we see the pair women owners decked out in Rapha gear.

Clearly tables and chairs are popular and nobody wants to sit at the several low tables that just have seats directly on the floor. Us neither, so we grab a couple of seats and a stool and occupy a window.

The chocolate and cherry mousse is too good to pass on even though it's expensive (about US$10), but as it looks so rich, I tell Debbie we can share it.

Heading across Highway 3 for coffee in the town of Guanxi

Old Japanese-era cafe with a pricey menu

You only live once... nearly US$10 mousse

Lady who is clearly pleased to see a foreign face

We ride down a street lined with old buildings I never knew existed that have been done up or look like they need it, then cross a river and start heading up the second climb of the day. We're on route 25.

It's over 20 minutes before we see our first car and I think only two more come by. This is another tranquil back road, lined with trees and bamboo.

The incline is relentless and we pause a few times to get our breath back. The sun has properly come out and my shirt is now wet with sweat and in my mind the climb is 4.5km but it's actually 5.5. The surface is rough and broken up and small bits of tree litter it, with leaves by the side confirming the route sees little traffic. There's a great vista as we crest the top and then it's a cooling descent toward the wide valley bottom.

The 25 takes us to the Touqian River and there's a service road that runs beside it. Apart from gravel trucks and a few scooters, it's pretty quiet too, but there's a strong headwind today, which is the last thing we need. That chocolate mousse has been burned off on the climb and we're all flagging as we head further west.

Once on the edge of Zhoubei, we ponder whether to go to a 7-Eleven, but opt to ride to a Lousia Coffee outlet close to the train station. The last 20 minutes completely drain us.

We just miss a commuter train by a minute and the clerk says the next 'bike' train is at gone four, so we buy tickets for that. Then we notice there's a commuter train due in a few minutes, so head down to the platform to check it out and it pulls in as we get there and as we suspected, it's one of teh newer kind that has decent bike racks in the end carriage. The guard beckons us on, so that saves us an hour of waiting around.

We can't fathom the company's policy, as we're the only peole in the carriage that has racks for eight bikes.

On an empty train heading north at gone 3:00

Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 3,565 km (2,214 miles)

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