Training Log Archive: inuksuk

Bǎihuālǐng. A wander around to try to find the start of the track, which led us into a funny conversation with this ancient Dai farmer lady who told us we wanted to go down this other track today -- confused, but happy enough, we followed her advise and stumbled onto a nice hotspring at the bottom of the valley. Very good advise, indeed. Lara got to see her first black giant squirrel -- which may not sound like much of an event, but at over 2 kg and nearly a metre in length (head to tail) it is truly giant. Climbed back up through the tall forest in showers and a brewing thunderstorm.

Knee still a little sore -- mild concern over the climb tomorrow...

Up the hill with La. The top firebreak loop. Thundershowers rolling along the mountain this afternoon, and the cuckoos have returned....seems the monsoon arrived today. Knee still on the mend...

Movietown. Great little ride.

Movietown with La.

University with La. Over to the wier, but she was feeling off, and my knee still wasn't right....

Poor substitute for owning a home, garden, or an idle pile of bricks

C • ha 3

Spur south of uni with La. A little grisly out, but a nice ride.

Hill behind uni with La. Up to the upper firebreak -- some nice forest running along the way. Knee wasn't complimentary of the downhill.

University nursery with La.

Pipe track boulder.

Shuǎngláng. Hike up the hill towards Jīzú shān. Knee pain still bad after a couple hours with the pack -- pulled the pin on getting to Jīzú shān in hopes that by next week we can head north... Blistering hot. Route finding is proving interesting.

Qī lóng nǚ xī with La. Up through uni and down the creek bed. We both felt pretty unco initially, which may have something to do with the finely algae-covered rocks, but also undoubtedly related to the time since we've run a riverbed. There's really nothing that can simulate riverbed running. A really good loop. Knee pain still around coming up the stairs...hmm.

Another cruisy run up the hill with La. As Tuesday was national grave cleaning day, when relatives of the deceased head into the forest to have a bit of a tidy up, I was keen to have a look at the results. I was especially keen to see if nasty Ageratina adenophora was at all targeted. Not surprisingly, it seems as though a plant is a plant, and people seemed to wage war on the forest based largely on proximity to the grave to keep poor old grandpa from succumbing to the darkness of a forested tomb. Still, a very interesting form of forest disturbance, and one which based on the US Burma-road era maps seems to have been going on in this area for quite some time...

Knee on the mend, but still touchy on the downhills.

Up through university and the nursery with La. Left knee (patellar tendon) a bit grumpy today - will hopefully come right before the weekend.

Shāxī to Niújiē. A really pleasant dirt track over the mountains. Plenty of scope to make this more interesting with some better planning (or done in reverse) -- single tracks abound. Got well-fried going along the tops.

Home from the bus. Tired and a bit sore.

Ěryuán to Shāxī via Liántie. Headed south through a gap in the hills and up a tarseal/gravel road that crosses the mountains. Passed at least three 'groups' (though they, of anyone, deserve their own collective noun) of chatty Bai ladies working in the fields - its really no secret here that most of the real work in Yunnan is in fact done by the women. The way it has been explained to me is "What good is a tired husband?" Clearly, the men don't seem to mind.

Climbed up the wooded mountainside for what seemed like ages, over the tops and then a huge downhill to Liántie where we were swallowed up by a crazy Sunday street market of the local Yi and Bai. It was all go in Liántie, with pack horses and mules, stinky goats and gigantic pigs, long-legged chickens chasing screaming kids, and people in all kinds of crazy getup like you've never seen all runnin' around, and they thought there wasn't nothing they'd never seen in their market... until we rolled into town....it was as though the whole damn place stopped dead to have a look - at once.

The last 60 km or so was a slog, really. Lots of fun undulating ups and downs. Scorching great weather. But by the time the mountains opened up to terraces of rapeseed and wheat, we were pretty happy to see Shāxī.

Down to the highway to catch a bus...

Movie town. The little grass tracks through the cypress blocks are in the best condition I've seen. A really nice ride.