Off the beaten path

Trip Start Jun 04, 2008

Trip End Feb 20, 2009

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Flag of China Xi'an, China
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Vanessa, another English teacher, gave me a bike about a month ago. However, between traveling and just plain old laziness, I just finally got around to picking it up the day before yesterday. The bike....looked functional. She warned us it was a junker, and with fair reason. The bike hadn't been ridden in months. The tires were flat. There was a solid layer of dust. The chain looked like it had never seen oil. The right pedal had fallen off. And the rear brake did not appear to work. This was what we could tell at 10 pm, in the dark. As we pulled out with the bike, the bike parking attended squaked at us in rapid and apparantly angry Chinese. We explained we weren't stealing the bike, and I showed her the key to the lock. She didn't seem satisfied with that, and she grabbed someone else, who fortunately happened to be our old gate man (he's like a doorman, only he regulates the gate of the apartment complex, not the door to your place). He explained to us that the "bike rental" fee hadn't been paid in five months. We coughed up the 20 rmb (3.75 U.S.) and finally headed out with the bike.

Yesterday morning, I made a big breakfast, and james started to pack a bit for lunches. We were going to bike out to the mountains-an estimated six hour journey. Eric was still sleeping, so James and I studied a bit of Chinese until he woke up. From home, we hit a bike fixit shop. He filled my tires with air (and they thankfully had no leaks), oiled the chain, and replaced the busted pedal. All for 4 Rmb (about 75 cents). I got on the bike, and we headed off.

biking to the mts

This didn't last long, however. I was wobbling all over the place! It was like I had never ridden a bike before! The pedal now clunked againsed the chain guard, and made a nice rythmic "tink" with each revolution. Something was wrong with the front of the bike. I was so wobbly that I must have looked like a midday drunkard on wheels. We went about 30 minutes before stopping at another bike repairman that james knew. We pointed out the newly discovered problems, and the bad brakes that I had forgotten about until I tried to use them. I am not a gearhead, and I don't know what he did. However 45 minutes and 10 rmb ($150) later, the bike was a world better.

We finally headed off, although now it was 1 pm and significantly later than we had hoped it would be when we headed out. We got through the city in about an hour or more and got to the back roads. It was a nice, clear, day, so we could see the mountains in the distance. We just kind of aimed for them, with no other real directions or maps. From the back roads, we progressed to dirt roads. When there was a turn, we took a vote as to which way we'd go. Sometimes this was decided by coin toss. The dirt roads began to look like the familiar developing country roads that I have seen in venezuela, the dominican republic, and others. They were muddy, narrow, and the potholes had accumulated puddles of water. It somehow seemed comfortingly familiar. And it's actually kind of fun riding-dodging the obstacles. The farm country was also a nice change from the Xi'an cityskapes and the xi'an dust. There were people with hoes, going through the fields. There were people harvesting some things and planting others, all by hand. There were people shaking out their crops using wooden baskets as strainers. People washed their laundry and produce in the same pool of water on the ground. U.S. farmers have it easy, man.

We biked through several of these small villages and the sun went down as we did so. We came close to the foot of the Qinling mountains, but I'd say we were still and easy hour away or better. I guess that would depend on what roads we'd find up ahead. Given the time and the setting sun, we decided to head back. James had to teach at seven, and it was now after four. The ride back was easier than the ride out-it was mainly down hill. We got to Xian after seven, surprisingly hungry. Eric and I went straight to our favorite Indian restaurant (excellent food) and ordered a boatload, devoured the whole thing.

We are going to have to take a day, perhaps in two weeks, and go back out to the mountains. We are going to have to get up early, eat a solid breakfast, pack a solid lunch, and go. That would be great-bike out to the mountains, hike in the mountains, and bike back. THAT would be a great day.