March 15, 2022
March 15th
Longtan via bike paths
The seed was sewn last night in the pub when Ralph mentioned going for a ride with a guy from work at nine, which seemed quite civilized. As I'm up at just after seven it's confirmed and with coffee in urgent need, I leave home at around 8:20 with Louisa on my mind.
The compact Louisa downtown that I don't usually go to isn't open even though a sign says it should be, so I ride just a bit further along the block to a Family Mart convenience store and get a large latte to go. They don't do cappuccinos. The paper cup goes in a bottle cage.
The rendezvous point isn't far away and once there I enjoy my milky drink while waiting for Ralph to arrive, standing beside the bike path that we'll be riding along very shortly.
My camera gets placed on a nearby bench and I take a self-timed shot, but there's a message on the screen saying the memory card has an error and after a few tries I decide to just swap it for a new one that I bought about a month ago. I'm glad I did.
After a few minutes I hear Ralph's voice and he beckons me from across the road. He's waiting in a parking area for Nicoli to arrive, which he does soon enough and the three of us then head south beside the river. With the sky being blue, there's a summer vibe as our wheels rumble over the slightly loose wooden planks on the elevated section of path.
There are a few people out enjoying the nice weather, including one or two riding bikes. The path takes us past an assortment of buildings, ranging from tall apartment blocks and the backs of older homes to metal clad warehouses and garden sheds. It's eclectic.
It becomes more and more rural and rice paddies with shoots standing a few inches tall make it an increasingly pleasant experience. There's a junction to navigate, where we are forced to ride along a road for a few hundred metres, but then we're really away from it all.
The path continues to follow the same bending river, which is shallow and looking browner then usual.
The river disappears as we ride across countryside and after crossing a road, we have to climb a steep ramp to reach a canal that carries irrigation water from a huge dam near Daxi.
The water flows at speed and trees line the route. There's a zigzagging bridge to cross over another road, then we on a more exposed path that continues for a kilometre or more to the road that heads to Longtan. I'm now on very familiar territory and go into autopilot mode.
There' about 10 minutes' of cycling before we're in Louisa. Nicoli knows it well as he teaches nearby and comes a few times a week. It's now about 10:30 and we sit on tall stools at a table near the back and chat for 30 minutes. I mostly listen.
Nicoli hasn't been on the lane/path that heads around the town's southern edge, so we ride there. It's a quiet place away from traffic and there's more rice that's recently been planted and more in trays that will be in the ground this week.
I lead them off the path and down a couple of lanes to get back on the road we were on earlier, completing a wiggly loop.
The sky has changed. Maybe there'll be some rain.
We ride back towards home on the same series of bike paths, past a house Nicoli lived in not too long ago, and where he tells me he saw a black and white 'three-step' snake on the road while walking his dog. The nickname comes from a person only being able to walk three steps before it's game over from being bitten. It's been years since I saw a snake.
Ralph peels off when we get back to the rendezvous point and soon after Nicoli leads me down some steps and through a dim subway under the railway tracks. The belongings of at least one homeless person are strewn around. We then say bye and I have 10 more minutes of solo cycling along another bike path adjacent to a small river. It's where Debbie and I sometimes ride and I spot two plastic chairs that I photographed about a year ago. They're a permanent fixture outside a garage door, along with a pair of black rain boots.
Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 1,660 km (1,031 miles)
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