The ride we took just over a week ago nearly ruined me. It was about as perfect as a ride could be and, being worn out as I have been a bit lately, I figured it would be a good way to leave the bike for a while and recuperate. Fortunately, this wasn’t the case, as we did a nice 50-miler yesterday and I enjoyed myself, even if having to settle for something a bit less spectacular.
And so I’ve decided to catch up here to show you the spectacular — in as much as I can through this imperfect medium.
It started last year actually, when Joon posted a picture from Instagram of a beautiful winding mountain climb. I thought it an interesting target, but not enough at that time to bother. Having purchased a roof rack for my car this past summer though, it seemed time to try to explore, and even though the starting point was almost an hour and a half away, it seemed too good to pass up.
The mild autumn temperatures have skewed the changing of the leaves this year a bit. We did the Wonju Beast later than usual and it worked out wonderfully. The question then was, would the same hold for this mountain climb, or would another week be too late?
Turns out that, while I think we may have been a few days late, the timing was still within a window of wonder. The ride was close to perfect, and I think (now that I’ve actually conquered the beast), variations of this will be my autumn close-out ride in the future. Joon will be gone, so there’ll be no, “Oh, c’mon!” after ever curve shows us a more incredible view than the last, but I’ll manage. The best I can do now then is to just let the pictures try to show you why.
