Camping and cycling in Korea

Yuppers, that's me in my glory. I'm a picture of vitality I tell you!
Last weekend we went to central Korea and camped, rode some insanely cool trails, drank some adult beverages and tried to stay dry.

Dirt
We pushed our scooters up, and up, and up rarely stopping to do anything other than clean the blue air out of our ears that Suzanne was spouting. Girrrrrrrl was mad about the pushing. I was a little poopy-pants too until we finally hit some horizonal dirt singletrack.

When all of our groups convened we pointed our sleds down. Someone took off and practically disappeared over this cliff. I inched up behind to look over and see him wrastling a tree. At that point the spectators looked to me to be the next victim. I reluctantly dropped in down the rutted and twisty trail. Peer pressure. The rut caught the rear tire while I worked the front of the bike. The result was this kick-ass sideways skid with a change-up mid-skid for about 40-50 feet total, the first half of which was full of fear then a calm overcame me as I realized that the hill was so steep my upside hand was merely a foot or two from the ground. Totally terrorized I yelled back up the hill, "it's cool, come on down, the water's fine!".

We all met at the bottom and returned to camp. Some previously not grumpy people were now grumpy and visa-verse. Look at us sitting on the concrete. in the picture to the right. We are contemplating life after the descent.

Back at camp we regrouped and headed out for a second loop that saw us ride up a nice fire road to the top of our original push up. As we headed into the singetrack the rain came and it was getting serious. The loose rocks were a bit more stable with the moisture and provided a great ride down,. The final 1k was a freaking blast with swooping diving singltrack. Just lovely!
The party
Set up tents, beer, Jerry's Biafran stew, beer, Jeagermeister, chips, try to stay dry, sleep. Good times.
The next day
Not happy inside. Nobody rode and nobody was sad for that. We had pressed our luck the day before.

Shep-Boy-R-Dee, Orange Scruffy, Rice-A-Pony

Part of my being a registered dietitian is understanding the food culture of those I care for. Since I ain't gots no job I have the opportunity to venture out, be proactive, be adventurous. Today I went with two officials from a local marketing group to scope out some land for a new MTB trail building and education center. After we walked a bit of the land it was lunch time. One suggested, while using utmost tact, that I might try dog. Wow, just writing that makes me a little sad. Oh, don't get me wrong, I have NO aversion to eating dog, I just cannot fathom what makes a culture think that torturing an animal before it's death can improve health or be "good for man". Yes, koreans feel that the terror in the last moments of life improve the meat flavor and the nutrition. In the end, I see myself as having a responsibility to at least try it. I need not consume it again and I certainly never need to be an advocate for it especially since I know for a fact it provides no more protein than any other source.

The meat appeared to be stewed and looked much like pork. The fat and muscle were easily separated. The fat left that nasty hotdog feeling on the roof of my mouth but the meat was not as bad. The texture was stringy like beef but again the taste was similar to pork with a hint of lab...I mean lamb. It was all served with various kimchi. It was to be eaten wrapped in sesame leaves along with garlic shoots and various mixed spices.

In addition we also had various hot peppers and pastes, pickled garlic, daikon, and a soup. The soup was served in a hot bowl as demonstrated by the video. It was surprising bland despite fizz-fizz action. I was ready for a real shock to the gazilta-zoink. It was not bad, just bland. It did compliment the other foods well and thus justified it's place on the table.

Will I eat dog again? No. Today I contributed enough to cruel animal treatment and shotty nutrition science for a lifetime. Korea is "Spok-o-rink"* in many ways but this is not one of them in my opinion. Get ride of the cruelty and I have no issue with it, old wives tales be damned about the nutrition. My hosts were great and added to my experiences in Korea and for that I am grateful.

Now, where's my forklift, I have cows to move?

Spok-o-rink = Sparkling