The Last Mountain Stage

Today's route included three climbs and therefore quite a bit of elevation gain. Originally, I thought I would only tackle two of them today, but because I rode farther than expected yesterday, completing all three should work out well. That means tomorrow there will only be a descent into Xi'an, with hardly any climbing left.

Since the forecast predicted a maximum temperature of only 28°C at my destination, I figured there was no need to start particularly early—perhaps for the last time before it gets hotter again after Xi'an. So I set off at almost the same time as yesterday, around 9:40 a.m.

After a short, flat warm-up of just a few kilometers, the first climb began. At that point I somewhat regretted having started so late, because under the sun, with almost no wind and very little cooling airflow at climbing speed, it already felt quite hot. On top of that, the climb was unusually steep by Chinese standards, which certainly didn't make things any easier. The long descent afterward, on the other hand, was wonderfully pleasant. The dry landscapes were now behind me, and everywhere I looked there was lush green vegetation.

At the end of the descent, I suddenly came across a road closure. Amap suggested a detour of 20 kilometers. There has to be a shorter way, I thought, and at least on the map it certainly looked that way. So I decided to trust my instincts and follow my own route. I soon realized that the terrain looked rather different in three dimensions than it did on the map, because where I had intended to rejoin the closed road there was an enormous bridge. In the end, I did find a way back onto the G312, although it meant riding through an area that was officially closed. I later realized that I probably could have crossed the bridge after all, but I hadn't known that beforehand. Never mind. A short while later, the road was closed again, but getting through was easy, and nobody seemed to mind—in that respect, the Chinese are fortunately very pragmatic. In the end, my detour was about 9 kilometers, still much better than the suggested 20.

After a few flat kilometers came the second climb. The vibrant green forests looked magnificent from a large bridge, and thanks to the earlier road closure there was hardly any traffic. It was wonderfully pleasant, and the temperature felt much more comfortable than it had during the first climb. Just before reaching the top, I noticed that there would actually be a bit less climbing than my GPS had predicted, because it didn't know about the tunnel at the summit. That conveniently compensated for the extra elevation gain caused by detouring around the closed bridge. Officially, bicycles were prohibited from using the tunnel, but Amap guided me through it anyway. Given the very light traffic, I figured it would be fine. In fact, it went even better than expected—the tunnel had a fairly steep downhill gradient, allowing me to ride through it at almost the posted speed limit.

Only about one kilometer after the tunnel, I reached the final climb of the day. After making a quick stop in the village where I had originally planned to spend the night—I needed something to drink—I soon found myself once again surrounded by lush green forests. There I met two Chinese travelers by the roadside. He was cycling, while she was walking, and the two of them had only just met each other as well. Her name is Yingzhen, and she is walking all the way from Xi'an to Sayram Lake in Xinjiang—an enormous journey! She also creates videos for TikTok and already has 1.22 million followers, which is truly impressive. The only slightly strange thing was that she filmed almost everything while we were talking—it was all material for her videos, after all. It reminded me once again why I don't make videos like that. I much prefer writing. I'm very curious to see the post she makes featuring me. She said the editing should be finished in a day or two. Another reason for me to stick with text.

The final climb turned out to be much easier than I had expected. In fact, I even felt fresher than I had during the previous climb. Was it the banana Yingzhen had given me? Whatever the reason, I was then able to enjoy an easy roll down the final 18 kilometers to Yongshou, reaching my hotel shortly before 5:30 p.m.

Once again, I found myself in a typical small Chinese town. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to eat, so I simply bought several different small dishes. The town center was full of restaurants and shops. It's quite funny to eat a portion of liangpi (cold noodles) in a restaurant and pay the equivalent of less than one Swiss franc. Or to buy baozi (steamed stuffed buns) for the equivalent of less than 20 Swiss centimes each—three or four are usually enough to fill me up. And they're absolutely delicious.

Food is simply part of traveling—especially in China. And as long as I'm still here, I'm going to enjoy every moment of it.