Leaving earlier in the morning would have helped, but it wouldn't have helped that much.

Not stopping to look at, photograph (and make a video of) an early to mid 90s ceramicized metal sign with birth control policy relevant drawings would have helped, but it wouldn't have helped that much.

Skipping the most of an hour spent charging my phone¹, drinking cold beverages, and trying out a variety of local ice cream² products would have helped, but if wouldn't have helped that much.

Really the only thing that would have helped is my downloading the Guangdong topo maps in advance, knowing that this isn't actually the long sloping valley I thought it was, and taking some other route.

Don't get me wrong—prior to the two hours of pitch black hell where I tried to wave down a vehicle and hitchhike the last bit into town, where I seriously considered calling 110 and trying to have the police come get me the way someone in Guizhou did two years ago, where I was walking up the majority of hills and just barely able to safely descend—it was stunningly beautiful. 

The weather was a perfect mix of not too hot, not too wet, sunny and blue most of the time with brief moments of soft gentle rain every so often to keep the temperatures down and the skies beautiful.

It's just that, once I was past the Big Mountain, I had little climb after little climb after little climb. And all of that at those sudden ten and twelve and fifteen percent grades you get when a reservoir fills in the river valley and the subsequent roadbuilders just go with the straightest line solution.

I forgot to ask her if the cyclists the hotel ayi would tell me about had also been foreigners. She's been in business for 20 years. Looks it too with the battered blond particleboard front desk of that era and drop ceilings in the second and third floor hallways that were once twined round with fake ivy. Told me all about them on their ride "back before the road was paved" and how they'd ended up on the back of a tractor before they got to her place.

From having been to other places in China before and after paving or an expressway entrance, I wonder if their trip had more or less options than mine for food and drink. I suspect it must have or that they knew what they were getting into and had more in their panniers than peaches.

Ayi helps me carry my bags up to the room. This is a good thing as I need my hands free to grab the railing and balance each step upwards. I'd been plodding on the uphill walks for some time by that time but I didn't realize how thoroughly exhausted I was until I attempted upward movement with the added difficulty of lifting my foot a whole stair up and without the added balance factor of my bike to lean against.

Not that I would have or should have been able to do them once I realized what I was facing, but I've missed most of today's Notices owing to poor phone signal. Still, there's a bit of work to be done before I can completely collapse.

I got to wonder sometimes, why do I enjoy this?

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¹ My speaker/headlight combo is also a powerbank. I can use it to charge both the Music/Navigation Phone and the Primary Phone. If I am using it to charge the primary phone (which is also what I'm using for photos and videos), it pulls enough power that the speaker rapidly turns off. Instead, I have to connect the speaker to the 'just a powerbank' powerbank. The primary phone also pulls enough power when using one of the attached cables on the 'just a powerbank' powerbank that it triggers some kind of feature which causes it to stop charging. At the same time, if I go USBc to USBc with a detachable cable, the powerbank takes a charge from my phone! There's a USBa outlet as well, but the plastic housing is poorly designed and can't be used.

² In homage to the man referred to as Pineapple Beer Grad Student, I have been agreeing to try some of the stranger refrigerator offerings. Not the warm lychee flavor Dayao from a few weeks back (because Dayao is gross enough as it is) or anything made by Very Cola, but I've actually had quite a number of "this wasn't actually horrible" experiences because of this. I'm not sure what I was expecting from the 'peach cheese' ice cream, but I actually threw it out after the second bite.