My First Bike Journey: Seoul[서울] -> Gapyeong[가평]
Last weekend I embarked with my boyfriend on my very first ever long-distance bike journey, from Seoul to Gapyeong.
My boyfriend is a pro traveler, having backpacked across pretty much the entire planet and across 30-something different countries. I, on the other hand, am a big baby and not a great traveler. So, he decided he wasn't going to help me with this trip at all other than booking the pension. It was all up to me to make sure we got to Gapyeong in one piece.
I saw this as a great opportunity to work on my mental health in the face of new situations and challenges. A few years ago, if I tried to do something like this, it would've been disastrous. Anxiety attacks and mental breakdowns galore. I know, Seoul-Gapyeong is a very easy beginners course and the odds of something going wrong are virtually zero. However, I struggled with the most basic things that were even the tiniest bit out of my comfort zone. I was excited for this challenge, and I was determined to be strong and independent.
We started with a Daiso trip to get some basic essentials like cycling gloves, a phone mount, and seat cushions.
We picked up our bikes at the rental shop, and we were off.
The first hour or so of the journey was very easy and mostly flat. There weren't any really insane hills from start to end, but we did have to get off and bike-push a few times.
Almost the entire journey followed the river, making some really amazing views. It really helped me stay grounded in the moment, being surrounded by beautiful nature rather than concrete and buildings.
It was 90 degrees, but actually didn't feel too bad. Before the trip, I really thought I was going to die from a heat stroke or something and my anxious mind went over everything that could go wrong. But once we were doing it, it was totally fine. It wasn't that hot, and we were cycling along the water so there were plenty of chances to cool off.
The water wasn't too cold, the bottom was sandy instead of muddy and gross. This was probably one of my favorite moments.
The final hour or two of this trip was when things started to get hard. At this point, we had been cycling for about 4-5 hours, and my legs were starting to get shaky. My wrists and arms hurt. This was the point where I had to check back in mentally and keep myself on track. I was noticing my surroundings less as I became more focused on how tired I felt and just wanting to make it to the station. We were so close, and I think that's what really helped me keep going.
Seeing that station come into view was one of the most rewarding things I've felt in a long time. We cycled 6 hours total. The expected time was 4 hours, but we did stop very frequently to enjoy our surroundings.
We parked our bikes at the station and went to a supermarket to pick up BBQ supplies to take with us to our pension. We got to the supermarket with just 10 minutes to spare before they closed. We then managed to perfectly catch a cab right outside the supermarket, even though there aren't really cabs in that area. It kind of felt like the whole universe was in alignment.
It was time for some 삼겹살 and relaxing pension time.
We spent a relaxing and very quiet evening grilling and eating till we felt like throwing up.
The next morning, funnily enough, my entire body was extremely sore but my legs were the least sore. In fact, my legs weren't really sore at all.
We left for the station and took the ITX back to Seoul with our bikes. We didn't know there were stairs between every train car, so we got stuck in the door area with our bikes until the next station where we got off and RAN to the front car. I really thought the doors were going to close on us and we were going to be stranded. My heart was pounding and once we got into the right train car and parked our bikes, it took my body another 10-15 minutes to calm down from the adrenaline rush.
It's funny to think about because even if we did get stranded, it's not like it would've been the end of the world. Worst case scenario we would just have to go get in the subway.
The trip really put into perspective how irrational and ridiculous my anxiety is, and I think it has been a big first step in conquering my anxiety going forward.
At the end of July, we're doing a 5-day trip cycling around Jeju. So I will be back with another very very long post detailing that trip.
I saw this as a great opportunity to work on my mental health in the face of new situations and challenges. A few years ago, if I tried to do something like this, it would've been disastrous. Anxiety attacks and mental breakdowns galore. I know, Seoul-Gapyeong is a very easy beginners course and the odds of something going wrong are virtually zero. However, I struggled with the most basic things that were even the tiniest bit out of my comfort zone. I was excited for this challenge, and I was determined to be strong and independent.
We started with a Daiso trip to get some basic essentials like cycling gloves, a phone mount, and seat cushions.
We picked up our bikes at the rental shop, and we were off.
The first hour or so of the journey was very easy and mostly flat. There weren't any really insane hills from start to end, but we did have to get off and bike-push a few times.
Almost the entire journey followed the river, making some really amazing views. It really helped me stay grounded in the moment, being surrounded by beautiful nature rather than concrete and buildings.
We stopped early in our trip to have some icy cold chicken soup (초계국수).
There were some yummy unexpected treats along the way, like this strawberry froyo.
The water wasn't too cold, the bottom was sandy instead of muddy and gross. This was probably one of my favorite moments.
The final hour or two of this trip was when things started to get hard. At this point, we had been cycling for about 4-5 hours, and my legs were starting to get shaky. My wrists and arms hurt. This was the point where I had to check back in mentally and keep myself on track. I was noticing my surroundings less as I became more focused on how tired I felt and just wanting to make it to the station. We were so close, and I think that's what really helped me keep going.
Seeing that station come into view was one of the most rewarding things I've felt in a long time. We cycled 6 hours total. The expected time was 4 hours, but we did stop very frequently to enjoy our surroundings.
We parked our bikes at the station and went to a supermarket to pick up BBQ supplies to take with us to our pension. We got to the supermarket with just 10 minutes to spare before they closed. We then managed to perfectly catch a cab right outside the supermarket, even though there aren't really cabs in that area. It kind of felt like the whole universe was in alignment.
It was time for some 삼겹살 and relaxing pension time.
We spent a relaxing and very quiet evening grilling and eating till we felt like throwing up.
The next morning, funnily enough, my entire body was extremely sore but my legs were the least sore. In fact, my legs weren't really sore at all.
We left for the station and took the ITX back to Seoul with our bikes. We didn't know there were stairs between every train car, so we got stuck in the door area with our bikes until the next station where we got off and RAN to the front car. I really thought the doors were going to close on us and we were going to be stranded. My heart was pounding and once we got into the right train car and parked our bikes, it took my body another 10-15 minutes to calm down from the adrenaline rush.
It's funny to think about because even if we did get stranded, it's not like it would've been the end of the world. Worst case scenario we would just have to go get in the subway.
The trip really put into perspective how irrational and ridiculous my anxiety is, and I think it has been a big first step in conquering my anxiety going forward.
At the end of July, we're doing a 5-day trip cycling around Jeju. So I will be back with another very very long post detailing that trip.
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