D18: 高邑 → 赞皇

June 20, 2022

Absolute highlight of the day was this dude who flat out refused to believe I was actually a foreigner until I took my bandanna off. He was even more chuffed to be told I'm wanghong. For the rest of the meal I had to listen to every phone in the restaurant playing my videos.

Today is an absolutely dreadful day.

It's hot enough that I really should have started early early. I've got a truck route where the highlight is making a video that features 37 petrol stations in a 24km stretch; my rear tire develops a slow leak that—if I had tried to fix it—would have been above my skillset; the first bike shop I try to get to by way of stopping and pumping the tire hard every three or four kilometers is an address on the map and nothing more; and when I actually do get to a bike shop and get my rear wheel off¹, we discover that none of the spare tubes I've got with me fit my wheel².

The end result is that I've now got a new, very knobby, tire on the rear as not only am I feeling that the rear is reaching it's end of life, my decision to switch to 26" for ease in compatibility came as the entire fucking country switched to 27.5" and it's that or stick with my current well patched tube and the hopes that another patch doesn't fail.

Nothing in the world can't be solved by sitting down and having a meal together

Martyrs' Memorial and gravesite for 28 members of the Eighth Route Army

Mao's calligraphy but not specifically for this site

The hotel for the night is chosen on the basis of "do they have anything on the booking software that explicitly says they don't want me" and, well prepped with dinner and the ancient memory of Zanhuang being the first time ever that I lost my temper at the police, the complete lack of any problems and the ease with which I talk my way behind the counter is an extremely nice contrast to the rest of my not very nice day.

¹ Rohloff being quick release only in that other internal gear hub systems (like the Alfine 11 I used in 2019) are even more difficult to get off and on again.

² My options are the "where did this Schrader valve tube come from?" that would be the right size if I didn't have Presta drilled rims (and have always had Presta for as long as I have had 26" wheels) and two brand new tubes given to me by the bike shop and meant for very wide 26" tires despite my running quite narrow ones.

In short, I'm up Schitt Creek without a paddle.

A very progressive set of choices for gender includes 'unclear", "male", "female", and "didn't say".

Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 1,051 km (653 miles)

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