Ride to Kunshan beer festival

Last weekend a bunch of friends rode to Kunshan, a town about 40 miles from our pad in Shanghai. There was a beer festival in Kunshan, which was good enough reason for me.

Sierra and Anna setting out... Anna is shielding her identity in anticipation of looting

It was hot and hazy when we set out. Unfortunately there's no forecast for air quality, so when we make any riding plans it's really a roll of the dice. Ten of us rode and at about half way there one of the fellas (hungover Luke) got a couple of flats. As I improvised a repair in an anonymous outlying suburb of Shanghai, a crown of Chinese locals circled around.

I've found that on several occasions, when a few people's attention are attracted, more will congregate, and little else seems to be as compelling or urgent as standing around to watch a foreigner do whatever it is he's doing. Honestly, I could be doing nothing and a small crowd can quickly grow to claustrophobia inducing proportions. The curious part is that those who join in to see what the buzz is also will hang around for some time, as if nobody has anything else of importance to accomplish. It's a bit amusing or disconcerting depending on my mood.

A good portion of the ride was along a multi-lane highway, but the bike lane was mostly separated. Traffic was also light, which was comforting.

Pit stop in the shade

Wide open highway and Luke in the separated bike lane. That motorcycle-pickup-lumber-hauler is awesome.

We set a pace line for the latter half to make better time, but not everyone kept the gaps down.

The air seemed to deteriorate as we traveled farther from Shanghai, however, so several of us wore masks despite the heat to filter the air. Well before we reached our destination, my mask was soaked with sweat, so pulling lungfuls of air was a challenge.  Sucking in completely unfiltered particulates was even less appealing, so I gutted it out. We were happy to check in to a hotel and clean up.

The beer festival was a far cry from Portland's no-frills arrangement. It was surprisingly crowded for a country that doesn't seem to be too enthusiastic about beer, but the venues were more about corporate promotion. A Budweiser tent was castle themed and had a big stage with live music. We ducked into the this building but didn't need much of the bad karoake, crowds, or vomit inducing lights so ducked right back out.

We could have wandered a bit more but ended up settling in the German tent, where at least the beer would be satisfying. Sierra was tuckered from the long ride and uncharacteristically she left early with Anna to retire.

Walking out of the fest with Andreas and my pilfered German/Chinese beer mug.

The next day a few friends rode back to Shanghai, but I didn't want to punish my lungs for consecutive days and the girls were definitely not interested so we gave the train a try. Our tickets back to Shanghai were a whopping 12 RMB, or $1.80, each. As the girls queued up for tickets, I waited outside with the bikes and drew quite a crowd. Chinese reaction to our bikes is absurdly predictable now, with a squeeze of the small tires, lift of the light frame, and the inevitable question "Duo shao qian?", or some variant of "how much?". Every. Single. Time. I decided to play dumb but that didn't dissipate the crowd, so by the time Sierra returned she had to wedge through layers of onlookers as they eagerly watched me doing... nothing.

Before the throngs. I'm trying out-cool as the pink polo accidental hipster.

We almost didn't get into the station because the security screener flat out refused to allow us entrance with our bikes and was completely uninterested in deciphering our broken Mandarin pleas. Fortunately at about the time we were contemplating packing up and riding back his superior stepped in and waved us by the security check. There are perks to being a foreigner.

After a lengthy but typical delay, we boarded and just took our bikes onto the car with us. Too easy. We may use the train again to arrange a ride well beyond the city, but hopefully the success of our trip won't boil down to the mood of the security attendant.

Next weekend Sierra and I are headed to Yangshuo. It looks amazing...