Second Winter Ride

This weekend was my second ride this winter. My first ride was about a week after the Shanghai Marathon. That ride was 37.5 km (23.3 miles) at night and pretty cold. This ride would start out at 6:45 am. We would ride out to the Mudu bridge to meet the group to start the ride. It would be about a 42 km (26.3 miles) just to the mountain. Once at the mountain we would ride another 10 km (6.2 miles) up and down hill. Then we would ride another 42 km (26.3 miles) home. The day would be a total of 94 km (58.8 miles) of riding.

Since we start so early, there really isn't much time for breakfast. Breakfast is usually on the run and consists of one or two granola bars. This time we stopped at one of the local hole in the wall and bought some buns. The buns had meat inside and were a very good snack to keep the energy reserves up for all the riding.

After our snack, we keep riding until we reached the mountain. We would ride out to Yu Yang Shan. I am not sure what temperature we were riding in, but it was sure pretty cold. The whole group was dressed in winter gear. I am the second to the last guy on the right hand side.

The mountain has a very nice, but very steep road to climb to the top. It also has some trails which can be used to climb all the way to the top. Some riders chose the trails to climb to the top and others chose the road. My fitness level for biking climbing isn't up to par yet. I had not ridden a off-road since October and decided I would stay on the path.

Here I am in full winter gear. I felt like I was on the wrong bike. Maybe I needed a Harley. Behind me is Tai Hu. It is one of the largest lakes I have seen in China. My buddy Xu Pei decided to take the trails to go down. He is a pretty good rider and was actually riding one of the other guy's bike that had a few problems with the shock.

This type of riding can become an all day event. We would go up and down the mountain a few times before lunch. After lunch come back for more climbing and then go home. Three of us decided to call it an early day and head out for an early lunch before heading home. We stopped at a local restaurant 香满楼酒家 (Xiang Man Lou Jiu Jia) close to Tai Hu.

Between the three of us we would eat five dishes. It would cost a total of 75 RMB ($10.95 US). The food was good for the price. We would eat an egg and tomato dish, a beef dish, a green vegetable dish, noodles, and a sweet and sour pork. See below:

As we returned home, we noticed a Suzhou in-line skating park. This park is located close to the Suzhou Stadium. We went inside to have a look and saw an instructor teaching kids how to race around the track. Looks pretty fun. I will have to investigate and see when it would be open to the public to use. I was thinking of taking the whole family for some skating fun.

All in all the weather turned out to be pretty nice and we enjoyed this long ride. I am looking forward to next weekend's ride. I am sure it will be cold, but I will have to stay in shape over the winter.