After pushing through yesterday I passed out early. Tonghai was much more pleasant than I was expecting and while I stayed in the cheapest place I think I could find (25RMB for the night) it was still adequate. The town was nice and ride to get there was pretty easy.
After waking up early, I planned to push on to JianShui. Numbers for the day:
Distance covered today: 85k
Total mileage to date: 254
Time in saddle: 5h01m
Time from departure: 7+ hours
The ride out of town was excellent. About 20k of downhill mountain road. I think I am moving off the Himalayan plateau and it makes for a great ride. From looking at the map there is a general elevation change from 1600/1900 meters down to 700-900 meters. It was a welcome change. But its hotter and I got sunburned a bit on my forearms. Time for suncreen. I am realizing that I am going to have some funky tan lines when I finally make it to the beach in Thailand or Malaysia.
But the downhill was not to last. After about 30k the road started to go into rolling hills. Slow ups and downs that lasted the rest of the way into Jianshui. I have to say, if you are going to do a ride like this, GPS mapping is crucial and google maps are amazing. As a friend once said, I am happy to accept google as my internet overlord. Trust in google and you may have no privacy, but you will know where you are.
After 7 hours on the bike and feeling exhausted, I pulled into JianShui. The towns I have been using as waypoints have been far larger than I was expecting. After searching for a hotel I found a place that had both western toilets and 24hr hot water. A palace compared to my last place. And for the rest day I was willing to splurge at 73RMB a night. A massage and I was in bed watching CCTV news by 8:30. My energy was wiped from the days ride.
Today I rose early and started to check out the town. A nice, big bell tower in the town center is being repainted and closed, but looks nice. All around a traditional style shopping area. I asked the hotel about a coffee shop that might have wifi... he didnt know anywhere that would have wifi. Then to be fair, he didnt think there were any coffee shops in town either. So far my searching has born that out... But there is a computer in my room, just cant access the internet using my tablet. Oh well.
I have also run into my first bike repair. The last couple of days there has been a disconcerting sound coming from my front sproket or pedals, not sure as it doesnt make any noise without a load on the bike, so i cant look while I am off the bike. The first shop I went to wanted to replace the pedal axle. I dont know anything about this, and for only 80RMB it seemed like a good idea. Thankfully they didnt have the part. Because as it turns out I didnt need that at all. I found a second bike shop and after a quick exam the bike tech pulled my pedals off, wiped out the socket, greased them down and everything seemed fine. A quick adjustment to my front shifter cable and its much better. Still a little click, but way better than before and all for free.
I was going to try and run on my non-biking days, but that is just not going to happen. Rest for the day and then try to push another 80k plus to Honghe. I have a feeling that towns like this are not going to exist between Honghe and the border. Have to enjoy hot water and a commode while I can.
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