February 15, 2016
Cold and North
Reshui hot spring resort on the S353 / X010
At six o’clock I am up, reviewing the ride north. It looks very straight forward. One road, the G106, goes direct to Rucheng and is right outside the hotel’s front door. There's to be no repeat of the previous day’s antics.
First, however, there's some Long March history to delve into in Chenkouzhen before heading off. I’d read that back in the 1930s, the resident Nationalists, led by a commander named Mo Furu, had dug a well in town so that he and his soldiers could bathe in the local hot spring water. They fled as the columns of Communist marchers approached, but an old bathhouse - which once had a plaque commemorating Mo’s accomplishment – is apparently located near the town’s one remaining gate. My humble goal is to find it and take a snap, but breakfast has to take precedence.
There's a street vendor right next to the hotel doing pretty good business with her small dumplings, steamed in round bamboo containers until they are melt-in-your-mouth yummy. I ask for just four, but this gets interpreted as four bags, with each bag containing eight dumplings. After pigging out on half the stack back in the relative warmth of the hotel lobby, I feel ready to explode.
The few friendly people in the lobby inform me that the hot spring is actually about 30km away, and point it out on my map. It seems my facts are wrong, and it's only after cycling 20 minutes up the highway that I remember a disused bath house located near the town’s gate - it's too much hassle to go back and search around.
One positive thing to come out of the discussion is seeing that there's an alternate route, via the hot spring resort, north to Rucheng. It's clearly a mountain road and it does a serious dog leg, one which will probably add 20km to my ride, but no doubt a minor, winding mountain road will have far fewer cars on it than the busy G106. My mind's made up long before a sign above the 103 welcomes me to Hunan and the junction where I say goodbye to the noisy traffic and start climbing.
It's bitterly cold, perhaps the coldest yet during the two weeks here. My nose and fingers are numb - the summer top and shorts are just so yesterday, and are stuffed in the rear panniers, while the thick fleece bottoms are back on and my torso is clad in two merino tops plus a Gortex jacket. And yet I still feel the chill. Like I said, it's cold.
The initial climbs do get me warmed a bit and the top layer comes off for a while, but on the short descents the wind slices right into my rib-cage.
Torrential rains have caused some serious damage to this winding route, which Google has down as the X010. Sand and gravel have been washed on to its surface and it's piled up in long mounds.
A continuous incline which lasts well over 10km has me in my lowest gears, with whole sections of the concrete road, some measuring some 50 metres in length, having been swept away. In four different spots (on what turns out to be) the X353 has had to be offset onto rough tracks, bypassing the devastation.
The Chinese New Year break is now officially over and people are back at work, which likely explains why there are hardly any vehicles on this particular road. Ten minutes goes by and there’s be nothing. There are no houses either. Someone on a motorbike will trundle by now and again, often the younger guys without a helmet or gloves. It feels isolated and forgotten, yet the hot spring place was probably busy up until yesterday, with brown information signs pointing out the various attractions ahead.
As I get closer and as my body becomes fatigued with battling the piercing cold, the idea of having a short day and relaxing in a decent, warm room in the resort takes hold.
A road sign says it's just over 40km to Rucheng; my watch says it 2:10; my computer reads just over 30km when I spot the word Hotel on top of one of the taller buildings in Reshui (its name means hot water). It looks new. It is new. The rate is a reasonable 170rmb. My room’s window overlooks a park which features a large piazza where half a dozen children play with kites, oblivious to the low temperatures and the lack of strong wind.
My heater is set to 30 and as the sun goes down, the lights of a row of restaurants on the far side of the park light up, each one flashing and changing colours. That will be as far as I venture.
Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 827 km (514 miles)
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