October 17, 2024
Miles: 9.87. Total: 7,962 miles, 12,812 km.
Winter is coming, and I am not prepared for it.
On this bike journey, I need to be ready to sleep outside, just in case a mechanical problem, road issue, weather, or lack of lodging compels me to pull over, pitch my tent, and hunker down for the night.
But with my current setup, I am good to go down to only about 40 degrees.
And so I have decided to travel to the weather I can handle, which is 2,000 miles south, in Chengdu, Sichuan, land of pandas and peppercorns.
Because bullet trains don't take bicycles, I booked a 36-hour K or "green" train in the hopes that Louise and I could ride together.
But once I got to the train station, I discovered that I had to ship Louise by rail. She will arrive a full day after I do.
An upside is the treatment the folks at CRE (China Rail Express) have already given Louise. The Packager in Chief crafted custom wrappers and bumpers for her, including a styrofoam cage to protect her derailleur, her most fragile part. (When I tried to remove the derailleur, the packager protested that doing so was too much work, and then proceeded to spend 20 minutes on his invention).
I fear the styrofoam cage wlll actually make the derailleur more vulneravble, since the cage hangs outside the footprint of the bike. But there's not a lot I can do about that now.
Meanwhile, a songbird sat in a purple mesh bag on the counter. I have so many questions.
Back at my hotel, the TV automatically blares a police recruitment video whenever I open my door. But the sweet young woman working the desk downstairs, upon learning that I am vegetarian, used her own takout app to order me a delicious noodle bowl. This combination of state-level aggression and individual kindness is a theme here in Xinjiang. I wonder if Sichuan will be the same.
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