D15: 马镇 → 万镇

October 5, 2024

(Too many Uncaptioned photos at the bottom of the entry. Should go through and turn a bunch into collages.)

As it was a slow enough leak that pumping it up hard and riding sufficed to get us into Mazhen the night before, the thirty or forty minutes of dark riding more the inevitable consequence of the amount of time spent at Qianfodong than it was because of Dr. M's flat tire.

Of course, since she then had to go and taunt fate by saying "I've gone 10 years without a flat tire," no amount of mocking her during the process of patching her tube was going to appease the Tire Demons.

Even the special and specific purchase of a small plastic bowl¹ solely to put water in and to use during the seeking and finding of the hole in her inner tube was an insufficient sacrifice, and, after roughly 30km of riding, the action of rim brakes heating up the air and changing the pressure was sufficient for one of those fizzlebang blowouts that results in a new tube and a new tire.

On the plus side, we very quickly managed to flag down an SUV with two ladies who were willing to let her hitchhike and my dumping my bags on her allowed me to fly up the hills at a pace I would sorely regret the next day.

This increased speed on account of not having luggage also let me visit lots of temples free of the guilt that comes with the knowledge that I'm the reason my friend is caught riding after dark.

I have no guilt about myself being caught riding after dark. That's entirely my fault. But, even with the knowledge that she's more cold weather acclimated, better clothed than me, and choosing to go my speed, I still feel really guilty over causing someone else to be out after dark.

While I'm checking out shrines to the Lord of the Plague and the Master of Safe Anchorage, Dr. M is contacting the bike shops in nearby cities to see if someone can express courier a tire to her.

Which—maybe because he still feels the need to pay forward the kindnesses received when riding his bike to Tibet or maybe just because they're bored—ends up being a two and a half hour (each way) road trip by the mechanics in Shenmu.

I never get to see the grotty local hotel in Wanzhen that probably would have been only a little bit nicer than where we stayed in Mazhen as, long prior to my arrival and my ability to be a cheap arse, Dr. M has discovered that the cave houses which used to be the offices of the local government have been turned into a boutique hotel where the beds are soft and the plumbing mostly works².

Furthermore, she somehow feels that, as the universe has decreed that she not spend five hours going to and from Shenmu or the money it should have cost³ for the mechanics from Shenmu to come to her, she ought to pay for these rooms.

¹ There were some other things we were going to buy at the same time but, having accidentally allowed the entire town know we were made of money by thinking the price for two beds was the price per room, and then paying for two whole rooms, they pissed us off with their "dumb foreigners didn't hear the price right" game

² An electric short in my shower means I have to use hers.

³ Not only did they insist that driving to help a cyclist in need wasn't something worth charging money for, they also sniped the dinner bill.