Cycling Around Erhai 140km

The Trip

I recently went on a short bicycle trip with my family around a lake in Dali, Erhai (Er Lake). I cycled for about ~140km over 3 days: first day ~50km, second day ~60km, and the last day ~30km. The terrain was relatively flat on the west side (where I started on), but on the east side it got a bit more hilly, although not really steep. The weather was almost perfect, windy but not cold, there is a bit of sun but not too hot.

It was a beautiful few days being on a bicycle, cycling with the wind blowing at your back (and sometimes against it). As your body heats up a bit, the chilly air cools you down and dries the sweat up. I had the pleasure of my family driving to meet me at specific points, to share this experience together.

On the first day, we met at a friend’s hotel on the Jinsuo island (yes, the island is on the Er Lake, the lake is that big!). We had a really nice dinner and chat before we rest for the night. On the second day, we headed towards the north side of the lake. I started my journey first, and stopped somewhere half way, where I found a nice resting place under a bunch of large trees next to the road. When my family arrived, we cooked lunch and rested for a while before I continue to our destination for the day on the north side. I arrived at the town on the north of the lake called Jiangweicun shortly, and there was a fairly large open-air market that greeted us. We bought some fruits, had dinner and called it a night. On the last day, we met somewhere half way before we finally headed home. We found a nice cosy place next to the lake with some shade, and enjoyed some freshly made pour-over (drip) coffee before we headed home.

All in all, it was a fun and enjoyable experience. I have not done such bicycle trips before. I think the longest I had cycled in 1 session was probably ~40km (?). I would like to try to complete the whole trip in one go next time.

Some Thoughts

One thing that came into my mind while cycling was this minor sense of urgency and impatience in the back of my mind. I am not sure if this was due to having the Strava app turned on. Whatever the reason, it probably made it worse. I found myself checking my pace, the time, or the distance covered. I supposed this was also a habit I developed when I was more seriously running, where as marathon (and trail) runner, tracking your progress was pretty important i.e. you want to know if you can finish the route within a stipulated time, or if you were going too fast and not being able to complete the race.

But this does not really make sense for this trip, since I am supposed to be just cycling leisurely, without any specific goals besides finishing, or at least that is what I assume. Thinking about this now, in the back of my mind, my subconscious, I suppose, is wired to be super competitive, especially against myself.

Is that a good thing or not? I guess it depends on the situation. In hindsight, I believe it is important to find positive ways to channel our energy into good use, and if we can put ourselves in the right frame of mind for specific activities, that would further improve our experience.

I suppose we never stop learning about ourselves.

One Final Thing

I have been reading an anti-time management book, and there is a concept called Project Stacking which is to look at overlaps for multiple projects and work on them together.

In this case for my cycling trip, I combined my own personal cycling project with our family trip, and also connecting with friends all into 1 trip which allowed us to accomplish different goals at the same time, which made the overall trip even more fruitful.

I really like this concept and hope I can help spread this principle to others.