Crash Boom Bang

Leaving the province of Shaanxi, I had a few bonehead moves on the bike. First was exiting Xian where I accidently reared another cyclist.  It wasn’t a hard hit but I think the elderly gentleman was kind of pissed with me.  He was cycling quite slowly in front of me and then all of a sudden abruptly stopped due to traffic coming from all directions.  As a result, I went straight into his back wheel.  Seeing that there wasn’t any harm or damage done, I apologized profusely and jetted off. 

The second incident was going through a tunnel.  I am really not a fan of tunnels.  I just want to get out of them as fast as possible as I don’t feel very safe in them with other vehicles passing by.  Plus since the lighting is usually poor I don’t always see the pavement very well and there could be cracks and potholes.  Anyway, this particular tunnel was rather long and wasn’t very well lit.  I turned on my front light but it turned off when I went over a bump too hard.  This was due to the batteries being low on energy.  Long story short I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and picked up my speed even though my front light was off.  I didn’t realize it but I was veering off to the left and was in the other lane and before you know it I collided with the curb and fell.  It wasn’t a pretty sight in the dark.  I had to walk the final kilometer or so out of the tunnel as I did a bit of damage to my bike.  Add insult to injury I also sprained my left ankle and was limping around the next few days thereafter.  My ankle still isn’t tip top but I think it is getting better.  I should have just slowed down and stayed close to Trevor whose lights were working properly.

So I was the dumbtard for a few days there until we hit Chengdu where Trevor took back the dumbtard title.  With all the idiotic driving done by the Chinese people, his nerves were once again getting to him.  Entering Chengdu he decided to pick up his speed and cycle aggressively.  I lost sight of him as a result, but then shortly after noticed a line of taxis holding up traffic.  Then I see Trevor walking out in front of the taxis with his bike smiling.  With his adrenaline pumping he asked me if I saw the show but unfortunately I did not.  He was weaving in and out of traffic at about 30km/hr when he rammed straight into the barricade that divides the bicycle lane with the other lanes.  He flew off his bike and landed in the bicycle lane while his bike landed in the vehicle lane.  No physical harm done but his fork is now bent which effectively shortened his bike.  His lower water bottle also exploded.  He will probably need to fix or replace his fork as it is now sometimes scrapes his shoes when he pedals.

Trevor wasn’t so lucky in avoiding bodily harm today as he had a nasty fall cycling over some mud.  He slipped and fell to the pavement right in front of an oncoming truck.  Luckily the truck wasn’t going fast and stopped in time.  He was hurting afterwards and was muddy all over.  His front tire is totally worn so he had no traction. 

The food situation in Sichuan was the worst yet in the provinces we have cycled through.  Just lots of crap to eat there.  I thought the province was renowned for their cuisine but I was not at all impressed from what I had seen.  Trevor really didn’t like much of anything and has rated it his worst province thus far.    

 

Unfortunately there were no panda sightings in the province of Sichuan but on the up side we are getting closer and closer to the end of China.  Yeah.  Can’t wait.  

Some nice scenery in Shaanxi, my favourite province thus far. 

Trevor posing for the camera.

Here I am fixing up my bike after my self-inflicting crash in the tunnel.  My front fender and right handle both bent, and some gears were jostled around.  Luckily that was it. 

The last time I had a good laugh at the names of places and things was in Newfoundland where I saw a sign for the town of Dildo.  China has brought back some laughter with this sign here.  I can confirm the river was just like its name, shitty.  It looked the part for sure.  Another bridge we cycled on was called Long Dong Bei Bridge.  That one didn’t really stack up to its name though as it wasn’t long nor was it the shape of a dong. 

With all the idiots I see on the road I am the least bit surprised at seeing this big car crash.  So many people constantly blab away on their cell phones not really paying much attention to the road and I suspect that was probably the case here.  I think this incident was a bit unfortunate though as it looked like they were all celebrating a wedding.  Trevor found that quite funny.  He is not a fan of those celebrations where people honk like mad and make noise after getting hitched.    

Here is the barricade that Trevor got up close and personal with. 

Trevor really dislikes this country with a passion.  He is one unhappy camper that is for sure.  I suggested he vent more to let off steam just like I do.  He took that advice and did just that by showing this statue of a cop how he feels. 

We saw firsthand the effects the Three Gorges Dam had on the Yangtze River shown here.  Our intended route today was submerged underwater so we had to take an alternate route.   

A muddied up Trevor after he took a tumble.  He will likely be feeling it more so tomorrow morning.