Farewell Post: Tour to Sokcho

Well, where have these last two years gone to? I guess that's a really cliche way to start this final post. In a short term perspective, this is going to be my final blog. I am leaving for America on August 31st, which is only a couple short weeks away. I could technically continue blogging here since this blog is also about my personal development as a rider. Well, I guess I'd rather make this a short and concise chronicle about my time riding here in Korea and end it on one of the best of notes. Who really knows where my life will lead from here? For now, these will remain as some of my most treasured memories.

This past weekend, I had the privilege to take a two day trip with ChunCheon Speed Bike.

The destination was Sokcho, which wouldn't have been much of a ride except we took a route through some

of the most wayward mountain routes I've come across. The plan was to ride to Sokcho, eat lunch on the way at a rest stop and then proceed to the beach where we would do beach stuff then return to a cot that we had rented for some Korean style BBQ and soju. To the right was a picture of the first rest stop we made. I tried to be a photo ninja, but ended up being too pronounced in the photo.

The ride was somewhat stressful as we were trying to keep a moderate pace so that no one fell too far back. If you've ridden a sport bike, you know that it's about ten times more exhausting to ride slowly as opposed to a bit spirited. Well, once noon hit we decided to take a rest under an overpass to enjoy lunch when the sky decided to open up. In the photo on the left you can see that I decided to use my fuel tank as an improvised table. Don't worry, my riding jacket made sure there was no food spillage. Anyways, after we had finished lunch, the rain had still not let up. And this wasn't a light sprinkling where all we had to worry about was having to wash our bikes again, but this was a torrential downpour that left all of us soaked to our underwear. The rain was actually so bad that even cars stopped under the underpass in hopes that the rain would stop. What did we do? Well, what else was there to do but ride for an hour in formation through the twisties while getting drenched to the skivvies? After an hour of riding through this, we broke clear of the storm and hit the coast.

As you can see in the picture to the right, we wore uniform shirts that we had printed up just in time for the tour. They weren't made specifically for the tour, but are more like a "team shirt". Although we did some swimming, most of our time on the beach was spent sneaking up on each other and throwing each other into the water.

We grilled and drank into the night.

Our fearless leader had a pickup

truck type deal where we loaded everything including luggage and iceboxes of deliciousness for the trip. After we eventually unloaded everything, we used the half-barrel grill and tons of charcoal to got down to business. The menu included Korean bacon, Dak Galbi, and loads of soju and beer.

It wasn't my original intention to meet new people through riding, but in the end I'm glad I did. Living in another country for any period of time can be a difficult adjustment and this last year did a number on me as far as exercising my patience. Being able to meet up with this crew of awesome people and awesome riders helped me weather more than a fair share of storms. I'll be looking forward to the day that I can come back to Korea again and ride out with ChunCheon Speed Bike. Thank you.