Nov 14 Club Ride

I don't know why but I have always found Ulsan Bowi beautiful.  Five years of seeing it almost daily has not changed that.  This pic was taken at Sokcho Expo park before the start of the ride.

Here are two 'Beware of Mountain Fire' signs.  There were perhaps five more in the area.

This is why:

As I mentioned earlier, reservoirs are dry.  There is little water to be found, although I have seen no warnings in downtown Sokcho.

The ride last week was short and the only challenge was a one kilometre section that was dirt road.  This ride was nearly fifty kilometres and involved quite a climb.  There was a hill of 7% and another of 9%.  I don't really know what that means, but it can't be good when they go out of their way to measure and label it  Anyway, we stopped here for a few minutes at Dowon 'Resort'.  Above is Dowon Lake but I am not sure what or where the 'resort' is.  Still, it was goshdarned beautiful - at least when the 'lake' was out of sight.

Here are two club members returning down the hill.  I am the only rider with a road bike, which gives me a slight advantage on level ground, but a great advantage on the downslopes.  Still, the others were plenty fast enough and I was feeling a little grim by the end of the trip.

We ate lunch at a Chu-a-tang restaurant.  If you don't know what Chu-a-tang is, imagine a handful of cute little eels, and put them in a blender.  At the restaurant, a little girl was playing with a batch of fresh Dwenjang and even eating a little.

I don't know if I want to join the club.  On the one hand, I could have ridden as far or farther on my own in less time - chiefly because it took a while for club members to arrive at Expo Park and my bike and riding style are different from that of the club's riders.  On the other hand, I have not ridden since early October, except for club rides.  This ride was the longest or second longest of the year for me.  In addition, I was shown places I had not seen before.

What I need to do is do more riding on my own - or really, any form of exercise - in addition for the club rides.