T-1: 海口 → 海口

February 16, 2024

Early birthday gift. A flat 600w hotplate (that's slightly bigger L×W but much, much thinner) to replace the Barbie-pink hotplate I stole from my friend Sully's kindergartener

I could have left Haikou today.

And, I tried to. But the 5-minute nap I took before getting my panniers packed or failing to pick up what's arrived of my ordered packages¹ ended up being a 2 hour and 59² minute nap, and, by that point, there really wasn't any point any more.

Other than my not having an Allen key on me and not noticing until too late how big of an issue it was that whichever mechanic had been testing my Tour Bike has longer legs than I do, it was an absolute joy to be riding this bike instead of either a share bike or the deRace'd Bike.

It was a little over a 1km walk from Sarah's place to finding a ridable share bike with a service I'm subscribed to

The Race Bike started out twitchy and overly responsive. Then, I put a cheap "quick release" rear rack on it and piled unbalanced weight on that.

The Tour Bike is a graceful water buffalo with a proper rack that, at least for today's riding, didn't have any³ luggage at all.

I feel like there's still ways the lighter and more nimble bike can be used on multiday rides where I don't need to be carrying everything, but it's just not meant for what I was trying to do with it. So, even with my crotch and legs crying out for me to adjust the seat a cm or two lower (or not ride in flipflops), and even with my riding in the horrible stop-and-go of the areas near the ferry port or the historic downtown, there are not words enough to describe how wonderful it was to be back on this bike.

Found my missing housekeys. They were in the secret pocket in the bottom of the Tour Bike's handlebar bag.

¹ I'm waiting on a miniature ratchet strap, a replacement gasket for the Mokina I accidentally put on the heat without water in it, a Bluetooth speaker that pairs with my current speaker to give me stereo sound, a new watch strap, 10 hard boiled salt preserved duck eggs, far too much dried fruit (sliced pears, sliced apples, blueberries, and goji), some fast charge USB-C cables, a small size silicone bottle for edible oil, and some rendered mutton fat

² I, uh, may have had a hangover.

³ For values of "no luggage" that include the Wildman Handlebar Bag and my lowrider front rack being ziptied to the rear rack and me wearing an uncomfortably overstuffed backpack.

Regarding the hangover that I may or may not have had, KFC cheeseburgers for breakfast are tastier than they have any right to be

Today's ride: 15 km (9 miles)
Total: 563 km (350 miles)

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