Bike Serviced, Trip Over
With all this rain from the two typhoons and all the other unfortunate set of circumstances that nicked my plans, it looked like this so-called bike trip was a fail. To be honest I'm ok with that as I just mainly wanted something to lift the mental lockdown. That was accomplished in more ways than one and the group fitness provided more than enough of an alternative for exercise.
Biking by itself is a form of LISS (steady state low intensity cardio). To be effective at losing weight, you need to do lots of this cycling every day, we're talking 100km or more. The multi-day cycle tours we're all familiar with can accomplish this goal. Shorter commuting-type trips within a city don't exactly add much distance, but they certainly help with overall fitness.
When you're stuck in China due to the pandemic and now the lockdown recovery it is very hard to plan these kind of cycling trips. Besides all this, the cycling infrastructure is just not there. As the myriad of journals have shown in this pandemic series, people really look down on bikes and they are unfriendly to foreigners. It is not a pleasant place to tour and covid only made it worse.
Compromises have to be made then, and group fitness is one of them. This journal series has been admittedly excessive with all the HIIT posts, but to be honest it's the next best thing. HIIT is a lot more time-compressed, that is it can accomplish the same benefits in an hour as the multiple hours you would need for cycling.
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That all said, the bike still needed to be serviced. This was not going to be an easy task if recent experience was any guide. I went back in the pouring rain to the usual shop that had helped me last time in Shenzhen but for whatever reason the helpful guy was not around. Instead I was ignored for over an hour by a surly old fellow who basically hated foreigners -- don't they all. When I tried to get some service he kept telling me to wait. I got tired of this and also angry as the last guy here was amazing which is why I went all the way back for service.
There was nothing to be done now except try and find another shop. This time I located a Trek dealer and was dreading going there based on the terrible service at the one earlier in Guangzhou. But for some strange reason there was amazing service at this one and the guy did excellent work in fixing the derailleur and also the seat. He suggested I come back later for a more thorough tune up which I plan to do the next day. Off in the distance I could see the empty mountains that mark the border with Hong Kong and perhaps this was the reason why the shop was so much better.
Hong Kong will have to wait. It is so close yet so far away. The Montague was purchased there well over 10 years ago and when the borders finally open that'll be the time to retire this bike and buy another one. Even so I'm amazed at how this Montague has held up for so long now.
The typhoon did eventually clear up and I managed to knock out a few more HIIT classes, finish up this blog, and do some bike riding around the city. Finally! Speaking of finally, it also happens that my wife will end up flying in to join me as the weather is expected to turn for the better.
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