Guangzhou to Dalian -- and in between

Ready to send to Dalian

Following my misadventure in southern China, I went back to work and suffered through winter, both the cold and the pollution.  Most of my riding was at the gym.

Mutsumi and I visited Taiwan for the April Spring Festival and did a bit of hiking in one of the mountains surrounding Taipei.  It wasn't especially arduous or extended but was the first part of a long day that also included walking through a shopping center as well as attending a baseball game, which required short treks to and from the stadium. Shortly thereafter I developed lasting discomfort in my right knee, including a Baker's cyst, which lead to extended periods of inactivity, and ultimately to consulting an orthopedic surgeon and undergoing arthroscopic repair in in late May.  I returned to the stationary gym bicycle about two weeks after surgery, starting with daily 15 minute rides and working up to 105 minute rides by the time summer vacation arrived. About four weeks after surgery, I started riding the bicycle outdoors.

Now I'm in Dalian making my first rides outside Suzhou since surgery.  Back in January I bought a folding bike, a 20" Dahon, with the idea of carrying or shipping it from city to city during my next extended vacation. While I enjoyed cycling city-to-city, I thought this new approach might, for various reasons, be more convenient.  It turns out that with surgery, this is all I could possibly hope to do.  Extended rides of 100+km are beyond the current ability of my repaired knee.

My first ride in Dalian on Sunday required getting back from a baseball game.  I took a Didi (with the bicycle in the trunk) to the field where the city's mostly-Japanese baseball club stage weekly games.  After a couple of hours watching them hit and field, I set off to my hotel apartment expecting I might have to pull up short. Because of the wind, the heat, and the hills, I didn't make nearly as much progress as I hoped. After 90 minutes I called for a taxi. I really would have liked to have ridden further, but my commitment is to a fixed recovery schedule which has me incrementally increasing my riding time 15 minutes each week.

Hopefully before next winter sets in I'll be able to do near 100k.

Liquid refreshment stop

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