10 - 12 May ‘08 - Buddha’s Birthday Seoul Run
This was a run where so many things went right and so many things went wrong. I guess that means it was a success…for some of us.
Everybody worked hard to get ready for the three day ride. The Club agreed to meet up in the tiny town of Mungyeong, which is exactly halfway between Pusan and Seoul. WIth Brother Flash still in Australia, that left Brother Big Daddy and Prospect Azrael to ride up from Pusan and Brother Heretic to ride down with brand new Prospect Jeremy to ride down from Seoul.
Prospect Jeremy, who stands just over 9 feet 7 inches tall (ok. probably more like 6 feet 6 inches : 2 meters), got his prospect patches the day before the run. He and Heretic went out and found a vest that sort of, kind of, almost fit Prospect Jeremy’s massive frame and sewed on his patches. The guys coming down from Seoul were packed and sitting in a Starbucks Coffee at 7:00 am on 10 May 2008. They hit the road around 7:30 am and had an uneventful 4-hour ride down highways 1 and 34 to highway 3 and then into Mungyeong.
The guys riding up from Pusan did not have quite an easy go of it. After getting of work on Friday night, Big Daddy went to pick up Prospect Azrael. The plan was to have Prospect Azrael sleep at Big Daddy’s house so they could leave together early in the morning. They left Prospect Azrael’s house and got under way. About 10 minutes later Prospect Azrael’s bike suddenly stopped in the middle of an 8-lane road about 30 meters in front of a mile-long tunnel. His battery was totally dead and had no juice at all.
Big Daddy managed to get Prospect Azrael’s bike back to Prospect’s house without much trouble. Unfortunately, that ended Prospect Azrael’s participation in the ride and left Big Daddy to spend a lot of time on the road alone.
After a sad parting, Big Daddy left Prospect Azrael and went home to get some sleep.
Big Daddy awoke to a light rain falling Saturday morning. A quick check of the internet determined that the rain did not extend very far to the North. So, Big Daddy hit the road at 8:00 am without rain gear, determined to ride through the rain and let the wind dry him off the rest of the way. Because of the rain, Big D was forced to ride a bit slower than he had wanted to and fell a bit behind schedule. The rain stopped just on the other side of Masan.
So foregoing rest stops and bathroom breaks, Big D. took highway 2 to 5 and then turned left onto 26 just before Taegu.
He then turned right onto 33 and followed it up to 39 and on into Kimcheon, stopping only once along the way to take a leak on the side of the road near a beautiful river flowing from a dam on top of the mountain just before Kimcheon.
Big D. rode down out of the mountains and into Kimcheon.
The Rotten Dead was scheduled to meet in Mungyeong at 12:00 pm. In order to arrive as close to the meeting time as possible, Big D. rode through Kimcheon and onto highway 3. He hoped to have enough fuel to get to Mungyeong, but he was forced to stop for gas about 20 kilometers outside of Mungyeong.
As he was filling up, Heretic called and asked when Big D. would be arriving. In the middle of the phone call, Heretic said that some guy had just wrecked his motorcycle in front of him and Prospect Jeremy. Heretic said to meet at the convenience store in Mungyeong and then hung up to attend to the accident. Big Daddy raced up the street and into Mungyeong hoping to see what was going on.
Big D. arrived at Mungyeong around 12:30 and pulled up in front of the convenience store where everyone was supposed to meet. Prospect Jeremy and Heretic stepped onto the street from the convenience store talking about the guy that was temporarily pinned under his bike until they assisted in rescuing him.
We walked across the street to a restuarant we eat at when in Mungyeong.
We spent an hour or so eating some deliciously spicy chicken and having a good laugh.
The restaurant was full of elderly people that were fascinated by us. We then went back across the street to have a cold drink.
After the long rest, we mounted our bikes and headed up highway 3 back toward Seoul.
We rode along highwway 3 until we reached highway 34.
We headed west on 34 and followed the road until it met with highway 1 at the town of Seonghwan.
We made a stop along the way to fuel up and stretch the legs.
We turned North on Highway 1 and rode into pyeongtaek where we stopped along the road to get a drink and rehydrate our bodies. From there, we pushed on into Seoul arriving about 11 hours after departure.
We pull up to Heretic’s house, dropped our gear and bags, took a quick shower, and had a bit of a rest. We Then kicked off the evening’s activities be setting out to hook up with American Steel Peenut, American Steel Goose, and other riders. We were supposed to meet at ASMC Peenuts’ house for an awesome bbq dinner. After getting lost a few times, we arrived shortly after ASMC Peenut and the others had left.
We made a phone call and found out that they were at a bar in Apkujeong. So, we rode across town to meet them there. However, due to certain logistical problems we spent 30 minutes riding around the neighborhood looking for the bar. We found it and pulled up at exactly the same time that everyone was leaving the bar to head to Itaewon.
We jumped right back on our bikes and joined the pack on the ride to Itaewon.
The night in Itaewon started with a coke and nachos around 10:00 pm and ended around 7:00 am playing darts with transexuals in a seedy second floor bar on hooker hill.
The plan was to wake up early, make the two-hour ride north to Dongducheon for some bbq and then head back to Seoul and hang out for the afternoon and night. However, people didn’t start stirring until around noon and then, only grudgingly. We ordered some pizza and hung out at Heretic’s house watching Spinal Tap.
Big D. was supposed to head back to Pusan the following day. However, after considering several factors he decided that it would be best to head back to Pusan later that day. So, Big Daddy, Heretic, and Prospect Jeremy took off at around 4pm. After stopping for an iced beverage at Starbucks and some gas, the troop headed South. Prospect Jeremy peeled off around Anyang to take care of his chain. Heretic followed Big D. down to Osan before turning around to head back up to Seoul.
Alone, Big D. headed down highway 1 bound for Taejeon.
It was getting dark and bugs were coming out. Before too long, Big D. was in the midst of a bug holocaust. He had to clean his helmet several times in order to see through the insect corpses.
After getting turned around, lost, bugged up, and hungry, Big D. decided to call it a night in Taejeon. He woke up early and refreshed and hit the road, arriving back in Pusan about 5 hours later.