January 28, 2021
Day F4: A Few Screws Loose
Fuan to Ningde Attempt
It was an amazing hotel, that's for sure. I tried to stay there as long as possible to max out the enjoyment, but unfortunately it was going to be a busy day. After the buffet breakfast, I set out on foot with the wheel to the nearest bicycle repair shop. He had just opened shop when I walked in and was a super skilled mechanic. The puncture was easily repaired and he spent a lot of time looking inside the tire casing to figure out what caused the rip. I had done the same thing yesterday, and both of us found nothing. Odd. Back to to the hotel to relax a bit more.
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The next part was going to be the trickest move of the day by far: going back with the tire to retrieve the bike on top of that mountain pass. I knew the name of the pass (Peng Jia Shan) and the nearby town I hiked down the stairs to (Shang Bai Shi). That limited vocabulary of Chinese characters was going to save the day.
First of all I tried the bus station with the aim to catch a minibus to 'Zhirong Town' then ask the driver to get off at the top of the pass. That failed, because the conductor made it clear this bus used the expressways. Well that would explain the lack of traffic on the road at the pass. It underscored how shitty it was to have gotten a puncture there.
So the next best thing was to try a Didi, a Chinese Uber. This was also going to be an ordeal. Even getting on, the driver insisted many times he couldn't pick me up near the bus station and asked me to cancel the ride. I held my ground and negotiated an alternative pickup point. He later explained that in this city they crack down hard on didi because of the taxi driver mafia and their relationship with the police. If he stopped to pick me up at the bus station, it would be a 20,000 rmb ($3000) fine and vehicle impoundment.
The driver was a super nice and chatty fellow and he made it clear that China was the best in the world at virus containment. He was in fact correct, but the cost of this was astronomical. Anyways, due to all this chatting he was heading straight for the expressway. I asked him if he was on course. He said yes, but I felt that something was off. I tried to explain where I wanted to go, then the mistake was finally spotted: there was more than one 'Peng Jia Shan' even with the exact same Chinese characters! I had loaded up the wrong one. He then insisted I change the destination and type 'Zhirong Peng Jia Shan' but this wasn't on file.
The driver was getting increasingly nervous, then all of a sudden I remembered the town I hiked downstairs to 'Shang Bai Shi' and punched that name into Didi. The driver was satisfied with that and back to friendly chat. He basically wanted to know what the fuck was happening and why I wanted to reach the top of some obscure mountain pass with a bicycle wheel in my hand. It's a fair question. I tried to explain the story as best as possible, and he actually caught on.
-- "So you left your bike there overnight?"
-- "Yes, and I locked it"
-- "Lock it shmock it, someone can steal it from the highway."
-- "Actually I locked it to a pole on a side road out of view, you can see when we get there."
-- "Are you sure you can reinstall the wheel when we get there? You have the screws?"
-- "Yes" (but stupidly I didn't check at the time. They were not there)
-- "So why didn't you repair the bike at the top of the mountain earlier?"
-- "I tried, but the mechanics didn't have the right tools."
At this point it would have been amazing to have had a support vehicle, as per the question my boss asked last night. He was astonished that I was doing this trip without a support vehicle. Technically in the past that would have worked well. Back then, there was the infrastucture and the willingness of locals to lend a land. Not so much anymore.
The driver went on to ask, "So what did you do after the breakdown?" I told him that I walked to town.
He was astonished and said, "You didn't try to find someone to fix it on the way?" I basically said, "There is nothing on the way, you can see. Even the town I stopped at didn't have anyone with the right tools"
Next he asked, "So why didn't you walk to Zhirong town? It is closer"
He had a good point, and it was the first thing I thought of last night. But if I walked back all the way there, that would take at least 3 hours and there was no guarantee of any hotel that would accept foreigners. On the other hand, my potential 6+ hour walk to Fu'An didn't have a guarantee of such a thing either. But I figured it like this, since I was able to book something on trip.com in Fu'An then that was where I would walk to. I gambled on the plan of hiking down a mountain road in the dark with a bicycle wheel to find a hotel and they rejected foreigners anyway.
I told the driver, "All my luggage is in the hotel in Fu'An anyway, so there's not much point in this discussion. After I get this bike fixed, I will bike down the mountain pass and then pick up my stuff."
He saw this as an opportunity for a return trip fare.
He asked a few more of the usual questions like where I work, my age, if I have a wife and kids, etc... Then he resorted to singing traditional folk songs. Whatever floats your boat bro.
As we started climbing the pass, the driver wanted me to change the destination again and this time the correct 'Peng Jia Shan' immediately showed up. This made sense as we were now closer. Not much longer we got there and I told him to please stop on the side of the road, I'll go fix the bike. I gave him a bonus hongbao (electronic red money packet) of 88rmb, and he got upset because I gave him too much. Even so, he insisted on overseeing the whole bike fixing operation.
That turned out to have saved the day. He dropped me off right to the bicycle and gave a huge thumbs up when he saw how I had hidden it. I got set to work unlocking the bike and reinstalling the wheel when a HUGE PROBLEM was discovered.
The front wheel was missing the quick release screws. Somehow the screws had come loose. Most likely they scraped against the bushes while hiking back in the dark last night down those stairs. It was simply impossible to re-attach the wheel. He then offered to put the folding bike back in the truck and drive to Fu'An to the same mechanic I was at this morning.
I was profusely thankful for this one. He then said "In China you see, we do things a bit differently than foreigners. In your country, most likely people would just drive right off after completing the trip. But I stopped to insist you were OK, and waited to make sure the bike was rideable after you tried to fix it. As it turns out there was no screws and you couldn't ride. If I had just taken off, you would be stuck there again and in an even worse situation than last night. And then what would you have done?"
He was of course correct. He wanted to let me know that by repeating the same speech at least five more times while driving back down the mountain, and insisted this was Chinese morality.
In no time we got back to the mechanic, and I exchanged contact info with the Didi driver. He said next time come here with your wife and we can arrange a tour of the area.
The mechanic was super helpful again to easily and quickly replace a new quick wheel release screw set and re-adjust the derailleurs. Then it was a quick ride back to the hotel to retrieve my luggage and bounce. It was now 1pm and there was still 70km more to reach the next destination of Ningde
It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon and this was why I had come during this time of year: amazing weather. Thanks to a cold front in the north, it was tailwinds also here and still very sunny. Rolling hills and great surfaced road also, would the mountains come back? I seem to recall from the previous trip that they would,
Unfortunately the sublime riding lasted all of about 25km. Poofff went another puncture, this time the real wheel. The good news it was super quick this time to order a Didi since it happened to be outside a large town. Then I got whisked off to the destination of Ningde in about half an hour on the expressway. He didn't really chat much either, a total contrast to the last guy.
On arrival I found a bike shop that could easily fix the puncture, but he basically said that both inner tubes were shit. The puncture happened not because of any nails or road debris, but the tube itself wasn't holding together. He then changed both inner tubes. This underscored that the shop back in Shanghai must have done less quality work than I imagined. They had put in two cheap inner tubes that apparently now ripped apart.
But at this point there wasn't much else to do about it. I had to check into the hotel. Since it was Jan 28, the first day of travel restrictions, they were the ones asking first if I had a covid test. I showed the one I had, along with my health code and travel history code. It looks like by the time I get to Shenzhen on the weekend, another covid test will be needed. In fact getting one every week looks to be a safe bet.
For now it was convenient that the hotel was located right beside a shopping mall and a Starbucks so it was the perfect place to sit down and update the blog.
Today's ride: 27 km (17 miles)
Total: 321 km (199 miles)
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The valve looks like a standard presta valve which may not be so standard in China. Back here we have a small (very small, very light) converter device with a schrader top and a bottom that screws on to the presta valve. Of course, that may not be standard, or even available, in China. (I’ve attached a link below to a picture of such a device.) Hopefully by putting in better tubes you won’t have any more problems.
By the way, if the valve hole in the rim is for the small presta valve, you probably should not try to bore it out to put a schrader valve tube on the bike. From the picture you posted, your rim looks pretty thin so you might create a structural problem with the rim if you try to enlarge the hole.
Just my 2¢. Enjoy your trip and stay safe.
Jonathan
https://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/33M190_AS01?hei=1072&wid=1072
3 years ago
Even traveling this past fall, the only place that really freaked out about me was a town that's part of a 4A Tourism Site.
3 years ago