Day R18: Hacking Back into Town

January 12, 2023

If there was a way to sneak across the provincial border on the way back into the city I would surely find it.

Big sigh of relief, the Montague wasn't stolen overnight

I took the subway back across the provincial border to where the bike was locked against a pole. The Montague may look oldish but it gets more valuable with time. I really don't want to be taking these kinds of risks by locking it up overnight outside on the street.

That said it's time for a replacement Montague very soon anyway and that will most likely happen on the first trip out. But the fact I had a bike last this long on multiple world tours is a feat in itself and it would greatly suck to see it stolen in some suburban nowhere town.

Relieved then, I enjoyed a nice lunch at the same place as yesterday and went exploring around the area.

While there wasn't much of a difference between the two provinces on a superficial level, I had overlooked something more significant: this neighboring province wasn't locked down in April and May.

There were indeed a ton of restrictions in Kunshan city itself, but at the very worst of it you could still leave your house and compound, walk around, go to convenience stores, order takeout at restaurants, and so on. Moreover, there were even parts of Shanghai province in the south that didn't have such draconian restrictions as we endured downtown. Around May or so you could pretty much walk around outside also.

But the provincial borders were very likely sealed shut for the entire two months including all possible side escape routes that I was on the hunt for today out of curiosity.

This area is convoluted at the best of times and it becomes really hard to tell which province you're in at any given time. There is also a lot of new road construction, apparently with some massive connector road between the provinces and a brand new checkpoint to prove that the current system isn't going to change anytime soon.

Someone must be benefiting off these checkpoints

After meandering around for awhile, it was now the original mission: find a way back inside Shanghai province without going through any checkpoints. Today it wasn't even necessary as you could just sail through the main checkpoint with nobody caring and the side routes had to be blocked during lockdown. But I wanted to see for myself.

This was the start of the access road. You'll of course note those green fences which were ubiquitous during the lockdown

I'm pretty sure I'm in Shanghai province already but this tiny little bridge forms the chokepoint of the backdoor entrance route. During the lockdown, it must have been blocked off with the green fences.

From what I can tell it says the road to getting everyone vaccinated is long and arduous but it begins with getting your first shot

It was somewhat ironic to see a poster encouraging people to get vaccinated that was posted alongside a road sealed off due to lockdowns.

As for myself, having gotten three doses of the vaccine over a year plus getting infected with covid, it makes no sense to get any more doses. There is a very good chance I'll be re-infected soon enough with some new variant that the vaccines just can't keep up.

So riddle me this: why not just get multiple infections of covid and treat those as a vaccine? It will lead to far stronger immunity.

The other side of this backdoor access road.

Mother and father helping their little daughter get her bicycle through the turnstiles. This was an arduous task but they succeeded.

Once back on the main road, the winds were against me this direction heading into the city but I didn't mind. The weather was fabulous. At this time of the year it was highly unusual to have such warm weather, almost 20 degrees (70F) and hopefully a preview of what Texas would be like soon enough from now.

The distances I'm doing on these rides are starting to tick up. Not only is this lockdown recovery, it is also warmup for the real trip coming soon.

It was convenient to stop off for a massage en route

Another place to chill outside in this great weather

At this point I was still about 15km from the city center and the traffic had picked up drastically. The life and energy was well and truly to returning to the city after both the lockdown and the covid peak itself. I then sailed my way through the streets on the Montague, it was as effortless as breathing. It was time to meet a friend for coffee near my gym and we talked jobs for an hour or so before I crushed an actual workout.

These days the biking + workouts have been happening with astonishing ease. Not sure where the energy has come from, most likely a feeling of release from all the past shit.

Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 794 km (493 miles)

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