中國河北省承德市圍場滿族蒙古族自治縣御道口鄉塞罕壩國家森林公園
COSIMA (Cherish the Opportunity to See Inner Mongolia in April)
Day 4: 多倫 → S304 → 青龍背 → 塞罕壩
99 km, 632 m climbs
To read the story from the beginning, start here.
The weather report had told me that a strong wind from the north would come up at 6:00 am, so I started riding at 4:30 am to do the last northbound 30 km of my journey before the worst.
What the weather report had not told me: Rain.
Rain? – Rain!
It started with a few drops when I left the Mongolian town of DuoLun and I didn’t think much of it. But it quickly got worse and after 10 km I was in the middle of a heavy downpour. Soon all my clothes were soaked. After 20 km the rain abated, and I even thought I saw some shades of blue in the sky. No more rain, I hoped. And indeed, these were the last raindrops of the whole journey.
However:
A few minutes later a hailstorm attacked from the West and shot little ice bullets into my left ear. Luckily, the road soon turned east, just in time before the big wind started. It did not take me long to reach the entrance of the SanHaiBa National Forest Park. I knew the place, having ridden there in August 2011.
But what a shock! The road into the National Park was closed! The first obstacle was easy to overcome: A mount of earth and rocks blocked the road, and I just carried my bike over it. The second was more difficult: A closed barrier and a grumpy security guard. They don’t let anybody in, and for a good reason: There are still too many idiots who think nothing of throwing their cigarette butts out of their SUV window and into the forest.
Now imagine my situation: I was completely wet, it had started to snow and the temperature was 4 degrees below freezing. The next human settlement was 50 km away – against the wind! Luckily, I could convince the uniform that I’m not a smoker and have neither lighter nor matches with me. So he let me pass.
(This was not the first time that I persuaded an official guard to let me use a closed road in China. I have made an interesting observation: Once you have convinced them, they do not say “you can go” or anything. They use body language. A fast sideways move of the head tells you to proceed quickly and make no fuss about it.)
From that point on I had a single speed bike: All the mechanics of my bicycle had frozen over, nothing worked anymore. All cables and derailleurs were covered with a few millimetres of ice. I even had to de-hinge my rear brake (if I had had disc breaks, I would have been damned). All my bags had become hard as a brick. Even my handlebar was covered with a crust of ice. Needless to mention that my drinking water had frozen as well.
Nevertheless, the last 30 km were the highlight of the day. Nobody on the road, forest as far as you can see. Snow flurries. The road, which I remembered as an unpaved dirt track, had been covered with smooth asphalt since my last visit (see picture above). It was cold, but quiet and peaceful.
When I arrived in the SanHaiBa village, my fingers had become so cold, the touchscreen of my smartphone didn’t react on them anymore. I checked into the same family-run hotel where I had stayed 12 years earlier and after only one hour in my heated room, I could feel my hands and feet again!
In the afternoon the sky cleared up and I rode around for a few more miles to enjoy the sunrays and to buy drinks for the next day. The supermarket had run out of bottled water. “Why don’t you buy cigarettes instead!”, suggested the lady.
Luckily the petrol station still had a few bottles of “NongFu Spring”. It was the worst day of the trip, but somehow it also was the best.
The story continues there.
中國河北省承德市圍場滿族蒙古族自治縣御道口鄉塞罕壩國家森林公園
COSIMA (Cherish the Opportunity to See Inner Mongolia in April)
Day 4: 多倫 → S304 → 青龍背 → 塞罕壩
99 km, 632 m climbs
To read the story from the beginning, start here.
The weather report had told me that a strong wind from the north would come up at 6:00 am, so I started riding at 4:30 am to do the last northbound 30 km of my journey before the worst.
What the weather report had not told me: Rain.
Rain? – Rain!
It started with a few drops when I left the Mongolian town of DuoLun and I didn’t think much of it. But it quickly got worse and after 10 km I was in the middle of a heavy downpour. Soon all my clothes were soaked. After 20 km the rain abated, and I even thought I saw some shades of blue in the sky. No more rain, I hoped. And indeed, these were the last raindrops of the whole journey.
However:
A few minutes later a hailstorm attacked from the West and shot little ice bullets into my left ear. Luckily, the road soon turned east, just in time before the big wind started. It did not take me long to reach the entrance of the SanHaiBa National Forest Park. I knew the place, having ridden there in August 2011.
But what a shock! The road into the National Park was closed! The first obstacle was easy to overcome: A mount of earth and rocks blocked the road, and I just carried my bike over it. The second was more difficult: A closed barrier and a grumpy security guard. They don’t let anybody in, and for a good reason: There are still too many idiots who think nothing of throwing their cigarette butts out of their SUV window and into the forest.
Now imagine my situation: I was completely wet, it had started to snow and the temperature was 4 degrees below freezing. The next human settlement was 50 km away – against the wind! Luckily, I could convince the uniform that I’m not a smoker and have neither lighter nor matches with me. So he let me pass.
(This was not the first time that I persuaded an official guard to let me use a closed road in China. I have made an interesting observation: Once you have convinced them, they do not say “you can go” or anything. They use body language. A fast sideways move of the head tells you to proceed quickly and make no fuss about it.)
From that point on I had a single speed bike: All the mechanics of my bicycle had frozen over, nothing worked anymore. All cables and derailleurs were covered with a few millimetres of ice. I even had to de-hinge my rear brake (if I had had disc breaks, I would have been damned). All my bags had become hard as a brick. Even my handlebar was covered with a crust of ice. Needless to mention that my drinking water had frozen as well.
Nevertheless, the last 30 km were the highlight of the day. Nobody on the road, forest as far as you can see. Snow flurries. The road, which I remembered as an unpaved dirt track, had been covered with smooth asphalt since my last visit (see picture above). It was cold, but quiet and peaceful.
When I arrived in the SanHaiBa village, my fingers had become so cold, the touchscreen of my smartphone didn’t react on them anymore. I checked into the same family-run hotel where I had stayed 12 years earlier and after only one hour in my heated room, I could feel my hands and feet again!
In the afternoon the sky cleared up and I rode around for a few more miles to enjoy the sunrays and to buy drinks for the next day. The supermarket had run out of bottled water. “Why don’t you buy cigarettes instead!”, suggested the lady.
Luckily the petrol station still had a few bottles of “NongFu Spring”. It was the worst day of the trip, but somehow it also was the best.
The story continues there.