Hello. I'm still suffering from saddle soreness — clearly not fully in season yet. ^_ㅠ
It's not really the right time to be riding a bike, but...
It was late morning!!! and there was a group ride departing right in front of my place, so I quickly dashed out and joined.
Today's route: Han River → Jeongseojin → Yeongjongdo.
90% flat roads + dedicated bike paths, perfect for warming up into the season,
and most importantly, there's a tonkatsu place on Yeongjongdo I've been wanting to try,
so I had the perfect(?) plan of riding a moderate distance (about 40km one way), eating and drinking(???) and then taking the subway back from Dong-Incheon.
But plans always sound great on paper... and never work out — that's just how it goes.
We all gathered and set off, and my legs felt surprisingly light and the pedals were turning smoothly,
so naturally I lost my mind and went for a break away (ba).
I'm such a fool (babo) who only knows how to break away (ba) ~_~
Of course I couldn't hold it for more than a few minutes and got swallowed back into the pack ^^^^^
And so, attacking and drifting, attacking and drifting, we eventually arrived at the 3rd Yeonryuk Bridge.
On the way there I saw countless cyclists, and they were all heading to the bridge too.
After a long wait at the signal and winding through the entrance road, we finally got onto the bridge, but...
There are only two lanes — a pedestrian path and a bike path —
and each lane has traffic going both up and down at the same time.
Spring day-trippers / runners dashing around / riders on mini-velos, MTBs, road bikes, and e-bikes
/ families with kids on little bikes, all crammed into one place creating total chaos =_=
The entrance to the bridge is an uphill section, so stopping in the middle is basically standard,
and just when you try to dodge someone, a downhill rider comes flying at full speed from the other direction.
Overtaking? Not a chance.
If you're lucky you squeeze through; if not, you just stop and wait together.
Especially those riders who barrel downhill right down the middle of that narrow bike lane like they dare you to crash into them…
Whether you get hit by a downhill cyclist, run into a pedestrian, or end up walking your bike — it's all up to luck.
In the end it was an endless loop of: dodge → stray onto the pedestrian path → feel embarrassed → get back → repeat.
On top of that, the path narrows at various structures along the way, and people slam on their brakes and make sharp turns to take photos — ugh.
We crossed the bridge going even slower than when we were crawling along to Jeongseojin in a chaotic mess, stopped at a café for resupply, and then headed back ^_ㅠ
Since no one wanted to come eat tonkatsu with me, I chose to ride back along the Han River instead — is the Han River really this great of a place???
Made it back safely without any accidents, rode well, and then celebrated with bossam, makgeolli mixed with soju into a chaotic drink. '~`
Feeling proud.
And ... I don't think I'll ever go back to that bridge ^^^_^^^^^_^
