Day 2 - Yanguan, Han Dynasty Great Wall

morning - 21km, afternoon - 50km

For Day 2, we started off on a very bumpy bus ride to the Yanguan castle, which was an outermost defensive fort of the Western Han Dynasty. Upon arrival, we passed through a museum of relics depicting the significance of the Silk Road as a meeting place of many world cultures. But we were eager to jump back on those bikes, and get going. Hoever, I quickly hit a little bump in the road...

My Lucky Break

The bikes had been bouncing around in a truck, and yes, they were made in China, and apparently some combination of this resulted in my back tire needing to be replaced. I had been coasting down a slight hill and on the upswing, when I tried to use my gears, there were all kinds of clinking sounds of metal jarring together. The support team along with our resident expert bike rider, Hans, quickly pulled over to help me get a new tire. By the time it was fixed, the rest of the group was probably 30 minutes ahead so Hans instructed me to ride closely behind him and a support team rider to take advantage of the tailwind. Riding in close proximity was new to me, so my eyes were nervously glued to his back tire, but there was some comic relief listening to Hans try to understand if the support team rider’s son was 50 or 15. But this ended up being a very valuable incident because I essentially got a riding lesson that would help me out greatly over the next 4 days. Hans would listen to me fumbling around with my gears, and give me tips on when to shift, how to pace myself, etc. Guidance that is probably pretty basic, but that I needed to focus on now that I was really going to have to maximize my energy efficiency.

A lovely vineyard lunch
We finally caught up with the group in a small village and had lunch in a local family vineyard. Everybody welcomed us, including the young children who turned out to be busy at work as well. They typically don’t receive many visitors so it was really a family style meal consisting of lamb, fresh vegetables, melon, beer and second-hand smoke. A quick bio break in the vineyard, and we were once again on our bikes.

The afternoon ride gave us a new challenge as we descended 12km of dirt and rocks, with a strong headwind. It was a grueling leg to slowly churn through, and I felt like it was impossible to quench my thirst. At a rest stop, Cameron gave me the tip of keeping a pebble in my mouth to help generate saliva. I picked up a cute little white pebble, and used it every day – and being the sentimental nut that I am, I brought it home with me. I had also been helped along by watching the other Sharon kick butt on the road. It was reassurring to see another strong female among the boys in the front, and watching her made me feel like I could hang in there too.

Eventually, we turned north onto a nicely paved highway, no longer facing the wind, and cruised the remaining 30km – not that it was an easy finish. I recall repeating to myself over and over, ‘I can do anything for 45 minutes’, and was very relieved to see the ruins of the Han Dynasty Great Wall and the Yumenguan pass, an alternate passage to the Silk Road. The ride back to Dunhuang hotel by bus was just as bumpy as it was in the morning.