Daydreamin’

Here we are, in the dead of winter. My least favorite season in Korea.

Having grown up in Wisconsin, I’m not averse to winters. I love the beautiful fields and forests of white; the cold, clean, crisp fresh air; and the warmth of a fire and a book with all of the cold raging outside if you’re so inclined.

But not in Korea. And especially not where I live.

You want beautiful fields and forests? You’d better get out right when it snows, because it won’t last. It’s only a short matter of time before it all takes on a gray pall. Clean, crisp winter air? Not usually. And of course, fireplaces are generally unheard of in apartment complexes.

But it’s all part of the trade-off. Korea is generally a beautiful place (yes, even sometimes in the winter — and as good as anywhere in the winter when you get up into the mountains (which are a couple hours drive for me). Still, I do tend to get a bit more down in the winter. You know me — I’d rather be biking. And I do bike in the winter, but easily less than half as much as I would in the warmer months. So there’s that.

You can imagine though that this year is even worse. While we’re caught up in a rather complex apartment situation (that I’d rather not get into), we also get the added pressure of a COVID spike in a country that takes it a bit more seriously than the United States. And I could live with that, except the US military authority for the Korean peninsula has seen fit to make restrictions more intense for people living off of military installations (while allowing for those on-installation to go along business as usual). So, rather than saying “follow the standards of the Korean government while off-post,” they’ve decided to prohibit all of their people from going to restaurants, theaters, malls, gyms, etc. — but only off-installation.

And this severely restricts some of the very activities in which I used to engage as a means to mitigate the winter doldrums. Going out in the countryside to a favorite rural restaurant makes up a little bit for not being able to ride 70 miles in the warmth of a spring day. So does going out for coffee and sitting together in a café somewhere different. Or trying new places — finding little hidden gems (or not) about which you can tell your friends. They’re all kind of out the window.

Instead, we’re stuck inside. Or driving around aimlessly hoping to find something randomly that you might be able to visit later. Or walking the dog. But very little adventure in that.

For now, though, I’ll have to content myself with looking at bike routes and dreaming. And that might help a little in as far as being able to escape for a while. That’s one of the things I like about my riding, and sometimes one of the things that’ll help me plan a route. I’ll have flash of somewhere I’ve been before and then I’m off to planning another ride. Such good memories in some of those places.

Or maybe I’ll see a video of someone riding in Korea and I’ll go check out their route. That’s one of the great things about today’s map websites — the ability to not only see the roads, but to actually go to “street view” and see what they look like. There’s just something pleasant about dropping down to have a look only to find yourself in a beautiful summer’s day with a clear, blue sky. Where you can really imagine being there. Sure, it gets the hopes up — and maybe the disappointment of having to wait — but it’s helpful.

And this year will be different. I’ve (outrageously optimistically) set my 2022 goal at 6,400 miles — the distance to my mother’s house in Wisconsin, and so I’ve got to do at least 200 miles in January and December then average 600 miles all of the other months (almost impossible — I’ll probably only push 300 in February as it is). But last year I topped 5,000 by over 400 miles, so who knows. And last year, while a definite “Summer of Bob!” did indeed happen, I firmly believe it can still be improved upon.

It’ll start with being even lighter than I was last year. Last February, I started a green smoothie detox at 192 and ended up at 181 only ten days later. I ended the summer hovering in the low 160s (162 seemed to be the weight into which I had settled, but I dropped down under 160 a couple of times). This year, I’ll be starting that detox just a bit over 170 (I made allowances for the holiday and winter seasons, plus less exercise since November) and, while I don’t expect an 11-pound drop in ten days like last year, I expect to get under 160 firmly by summer. I’m really shooting for 70kg, which is just under 155.

The second thing that I’m going to do this year is travel more for my rides. Last year I did a couple of rides up around Seoul, and hit up I-ch’eon at the end of October, but I’ll be looking to expand my repertoire to other destinations a few more time. I’ve got a good one planned around Ok-ch’eon already, and there’s another by Jin-ch’eon that I’ve been meaning to do for a couple of years now. These will make for incredibly early morning starts (3 AM departure from home), but it’ll be worth it in building some new memories to which I can flashback during times like these.

So here’s to 2022, and the next “Summer of Bob!”