Dirt Church...

I've been traveling for work 16 of the past 21 days. And boy are my legs tired.

(crickets.)

Well, seriously, I think I DID manage to mess up my hip from carrying my messenger bag around Korea for 13 days. I weighed myself with and without the bag on the bathroom scale in the hotel in Korea and, after some quick metric conversions, came to the conclusion that my bag weighed somewhere around 25 pounds. And I wonder why I have bad posture...

I spent two weeks in Korea, came back home for 2 days, went down to NYC for 2 days, came back home for a day, then out to St. Paul, Minnesota for 2 days, and then back to Boston. Next week it's Boston M-W and then NYC Thursday and Friday. I'm prepared to fall into a coma next Friday night...

oh well, such are the trials and tribulations that go along with attempting to change the world.

I spent two weeks in Korea - had some difficult meetings, even more difficult conversations, spent 14 hours straight in front of a computer working on a presentation, and watched 5 movies on the airplane flight home. The highlight of the trip to Korea (other than crying on the plane in the dark while watching Swing Vote- why the hell does Kevin Costner playing a moron make me cry? That's fodder for a different post...) was definitely my mountain biking adventures in the suburbs of Seoul.

A woman I work with (who is on contract in Korea for 2 years) is a dedicated MTB'er. She and her husband have found a group of expats that go mountain biking nearly every Saturday in and around Korea. well, only IN Korea I suppose. There's not much AROUND Korea except for water and communists.

The couple lovingly refers to the saturday morning rides as "Dirt Church". I'd have to heartily agree. After a long week of stressful meetings amidst an overwhelming work load, it was good to get a chance to fly down some bitchin' singletrack.

Now mountain biking in Seoul is much different from mountain biking in the US. There are two primary differences:

1. Trails - the trails we used in Seoul were old trails that have probably existed for many hundreds of years. People used to travel them to get from one place to another. As people traveling are frequently in a pure "efficiency of motion" mindset, these trails do their best to connect two locations to one another - in the most efficient manner possible. In other words, the trails go straight up a mountain, and straight down the other side. The concept of "switchbacks" doesn't really play in Korea. This makes for the concept known throughout the Korea MTB scene as "hike a bike." Not even the gnarliest, baddest-ass MTB'er in Korea could possibly make it around these trails without having to walk his/her bike up a portion of a trail from time to time. Knowing that it's impossible to make it up the hill is somewhat of a disincentive to pushing one's self to complete a climb ON the bike, but it IS comforting to know that few people, if any, could actually do it. So, you push your bike up sections, hop back on when it levels off, and do it all over again until you reach the top. then you go down. quickly. It's completely awesome. Except for one thing- which leads me to difference #2.
2. People - The trails we were on were still in Seoul proper (I'm pretty sure). At any rate, one could reach the trails via subway if one were so inclined. A geographic feature and cultural custom that many people may not be aware of is the fact that there are many mountains/hills/ridges/etc. in Korea- and these mountains hold a special spiritual and cultural significance to the Korean culture. So, rather than build more apartments or buildings or whatever on top of mountains, the suburbs just expand over to the next valley. This leaves a whole lot of undeveloped hills/mountains in otherwise urban areas. Now with urban areas come the expectation of large quantities of people - and, as I learned, it is a national requirement that everyone in the greater Seoul metropolitan area must head toward said hills and mountains on Saturday mornings and go for a walk. 22 million people, and most of them were out for a walk that saturday morning. right in front of our group.

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that we had stretches of trail that easily contained a density of people equivalent to a stretch of sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan at 8 in the morning on a Thursday. I was completely amused/terrified/electrified by the number of people who were out hiking/walking/etc. out on the trails. It made for slow going both up and downhill in places, but it was strangely exhilirating to be flying downhill on a bike, pass by a kindly-looking elderly couple, and spit out in broken Korean something close to an "excuse me". The hikers and walkers were kind enough, but some of them appeared to be completely baffled by the existence of these strange two-wheeled goats we were riding up and down the hills. Our fair skin and flashy dress no doubt communicated the fact that we were not 'typical' goat riders (if there is such a thing), so the befuddled trail-sharers at least had the good sense to step off the path as we whirred by- chains clanging, hearts pumping, poorly verbalized Korean apologies mumbled off our lips as we flashed by in a blur of pastiness, nylon, and lightweight metal alloys.

A good time was definitely had, and I can now proudly say that I have ridden a bicycle on two continents. I smell a world-travel sporting activity goal forming. next stop: Australia. or maybe Africa. Europe has sooo been done before.