Here I was, on the adventure of a lifetime, pushing my bike uphill. It was more than 40 degrees Celsius outside, thanks to a wicked heat wave. I was dripping from exertion, we were running low on water (again), and I just couldn’t pedal my oversize road bike with its skinny tires an inch further on the steep incline of dusty, rutted gravel road in front of me. So much for biking to Busan: this was starting to look like a long uphill walk to Busan.
That is, until I heard the horseflies. I screamed an incoherent warning to my husband before breaking into a sprint, flinging sweat everywhere! But we failed to outrun the carnivorous insects. Before we reached the top of the hill, I had a visible hole in my tights from a bite. Kent had tried to kill one and failed, leaving him just as disturbed as I was.
That was only day two. Our bike trip across Korea in 2012 was the first time my husband and I done any independent domestic travel in our new home. Despite our good intentions, for the past year, we’d been living in the Seoul bubble that traps many an expatriate. To put it simply, we were ill-prepared for this trip. We didn’t speak any Korean. There were zero cyclists among our friends. Any and all forms of bicycle repair were a complete mystery to us. Neither of us had a phone or even a GPS device.
So when we set off on our big ride, it was with very little foreknowledge and only the simple, roughly-illustrated, Korean-language maps in our bike passports for navigation. In fact, the only thing we did have was a lot of enthusiasm.
Armed with this enthusiasm, we began this big, life-changing trip. Our idea for this trip arose just a few months prior to doing it. In May 2012, we’d been biking along the Han. A longer-than-usual ride took us to a red telephone booth we’d never seen before. Inside, it had stamp, ink pad and a map describing a new, cross-country route. We looked at each other, looked at our bikes, and both ecstatically exclaimed ‘YES!’ We thought we’d have a fun, summer adventure. What we found was a way of life, and a reason to stay.
So, we got a pair of bike passports and trained furiously on the weekends leading up to our summer vacation. We built up from daily rides of just 20-40 kilometers to weekend rides over 100. By July, we were ready…or so we thought!
Biking to Busan took us around 630 kilometers over the course of 6.5 days. We started in Seoul, following the Han River upstream, crossing the big mountain range that divides Korea, then winding south alongside the Nakdong River. We finally arrived in Busan, at the southeast corner of the Korean peninsula, to discover that we were among the first people (indeed, some of the very first foreigners) to have completed the route!
On our way, we rode through bright green rice fields and through the sweltering chaos of some of Korea’s major cities. Befriended farmers and fruit vendors and fellow cyclists. Sweat through our clothes and packs multiple times. Accidentally ate and got eaten by hordes of insects. Stayed in our saddles for upwards of twelve hours, and walked our bikes up steep, gravelly MTB slopes. Stopped to picnic beside little streams following their natural courses, and slathered on sunscreen beside massive, man-made dams.
We’d pushed ourselves further, literally and figuratively, further than we ever imagined we could. And although our biking to Busan adventure ended at the Nakdong estuary, our adventures did not. We were forever changed. We’d found where we belonged: together, active, outside, exploring – testing our limits and tackling new challenges.
Our next challenge would come just a few months later: in the fall, when we rode the Geumgang and Yongseonggang rivers to complete our four rivers cycling quest!
Since our first cross-country ride years ago, the Seoul to Busan bike ride has grown massively in popularity. And the network of routes has grown as well! Originally consisting of 4 cycle paths along Korea’s 4 major rivers, the full complement of cycleways now also includes a trail around the perimeter of Jeju Island, a trail down the East Coast of Korea, and several additional riverside paths.
As we became better cyclists over the years, our enjoyment of all of these routes also grew! After our initial trip, we completed each of the trails and re-cycled many of our favorite routes. Over several long weekends in 2014, we revisited the majority of our original bike ride. In 2016, we took trips on the long-anticipated Jeju Fantasy Path and the completed northern portion of the new East Coast route. This year, we plan to ride the southern part of the East Coast route – to complete the Korean cycling Grand Slam!
Biking to Busan opened the door to other bike-packing adventures around the ROK. But it also got us out and about, period. Prior to our 2012 cross-country trip, we’d spent little time outside of the Seoul bubble. But once we got started exploring Korea, we just couldn’t stop! A couple of years later, we’d be back in Korea to visit every national park and then every provincial park too! And a few more years on saw us taking on the 120 summits challenge.
However you like to explore the outdoors, South Korea has an adventure – or two – just for you.