Day 6 - Tiger Leaping Gorge - 5th December 2008

This day was the most physically demanding of my life. We boarded the vans and set off from Lijiang at 8.15 to Bai Shui He where we had left our bikes. The ride started with a gruelling 22km uphill climb with the first 11km being on cobblestones to add to the challenge. As we went up we got some light rain which turned out to be snow , so we had everything on this ascent. We stopped for a short rest after the cobblestone section at Miao Nu Ping (which looks like an old temple) before our final ascent on sealed road for our morning tea stop at the highest point of our journey at 3,260 metres above sea level and yes the oxygen was thin and we were all panting as we approached the top. I'll quote Melissa who said that it was harder than giving childbirth. Interestingly, I felt like I was going to die but my heart rate was still well under 80% of my maximum heart rate, so all the training I had done in Oz paid off I guess. Needless to say I did much of the final ascent in the very lowest gear.

The next part was an exciting 35km downhill cycle but no ordinary downhill because this was also on cobblestones for the whole way down. The scenery was quite stunning and I stopped a few times for photos. Those use to mountain biking got down very quickly whilst others took it cautiously. I managed to get confidence early on and picked up quite a speed but just 3kms from the bottom I got a puncture and had to wait for our support vehicle while everyone went past me. The puncture was caused by a 2" nail bent in a U shape. Jiao showed me and then threw it away. Cathy and I decided I should keep it for a souvenir so we were all looking for it while Lay repaired the tyre, but to no avail.

We had lunch at a local restaurant which looked more like someone's home. Although some of us felt like having a sleep, it was then time for our hike. Jiao and the support vehicle could not cross here so he left us to return to Lijiang overnight. He would then drive the other way around and meet us at our next destination, Tiger Leaping Gorge the next day. Consequently we had to pack what we needed for the next two days in another pack and had to carry this with us on our hike which consisted of a steep downhill descent to the boat for crossing the Yangtze. At least we didn't have to carry our bikes across. Some locals were waiting for us and worked as porters by carrying the bikes down, onto the boat and then carrying them up the other side. This is a way for them to make some extra cash. On the way down, the ground was a bit loose and Melissa had slippery shoes so I stayed back a bit to give her a hand. The crossing was quick but not the hike up. A hard 2km hike up the other side to our next support vehicle, which was quite exhausting as it was steep and the sun was out and quite hot.

It was then another 18km ride to our final destination over undulating sealed and unsealed road into the gorge. This part wasn't really that hard but after everything else we had done today it was still hard going. We were grateful that hot showers awaited us at Sean's Guesthouse when we arrived. After another nice meal we had an early night as we looked forward to our rest day.