Meeting some new cycling friends

Picture taken by Yongsok Choe

On 25 July 2015 I met 5 other Busanites to join forces and cycle together from Haeundae to Jinha Beach.  To be honest I'm not a big fan of Facebook, but it has it's practical uses, one of which made 5 strangers meet up at 08:00am in front of Starbucks to cycle together. 

The purpose of the cycle was social and not performance based, and so we ended up being a very diverse and interesting group.  And yet everyone's open mindedness and support for each other is what made the ride great!

Here's a slide show created by one of the participants:

Some observations from the ride:

• Apply sunscreen to all parts of your body not covered by clothing!
• Some new bicycle lanes have been constructed along Road 31, but it's narrow in many places and not always clean or safe 
• The only area with East Coast Route signs were near Jinha beach
• From Jinha beach there's a lovely cycling track, which we could not cycle to the end... 
• This route is always more hilly than my memories try to make me think
• We successfully boarded a slow train with bicycle racks at Namchan station.
• Bicycle racks are in car 4, the snack car, seats in car 3.
• If the racks are full there's more space around to just stand and lock your bike.
• I have no idea how they will make a safe pleasant route from Jinha through Ulsan for the East Coast route, it's all highway or factories as far as I can tell.
• Yes people are cycling the East coast route, but this ride just made me realise again, the route is not finished yet, I might wait till it is before I ride it.