37.28

With the temperature holding at a steady 65 degrees and the sun shining brightly, I had to stretch my legs and dust off the ole' steed. I think that it is absolutely necessary to escape the grips of television, addictive media, and the internet and go outside and get sunburned, and see a new piece of the world. The destination today was unknown-- I just rode. I rode through the country side, on a lightly traveled major highway, through a tunnel, on the shoulder of a busy 4 lane street, down a residential street, down a hill to where the road turned to dirt. I rode to the end of the road today, and it was amazing. Sure my pleura are worse off because of all the dust and exhausted I inhade; so what if my eyes are filled with gunk; great, my legs feel like Muslim noodles right now-- I lived deeply today, and because of it, I am filled with life.
On the way back, I stopped at the first shop on the lesser traveled road that looked like they had cold beverages. I had one, and watched on while 3 people played Do Digu. For the first time in China, after the initial shock and fascination of the "American" wore off, I was able to simply observe and be included with everyone else. I was finally able to slow down enough to feel the rythm of natural life. The thing with tourism is that it is too rushed sometimes, that all you are left with are meaningless buildings and fleeting faces. I forced myself to stop and hear peoples' voices, recognize the patterns in the passing trucks, observe the chicken that mistook my bike tire for food, and counted the stray dogs that passed by.
I think that it is important to help every shop owner by buying something from them. After I finished my drink, I spied a bottle of soy sauce on the shelf. I walked over and asked for it. There was some confusion, and they wouldn't sell it to me. I figured maybe it was for their own stock. But, I was persistant, and finally I realized they thought I was buying it to drink it. I made the international symbol for "cooking in a wok" and they understood, and sold it happily to me for wu qui.
Today, I rode close to 60km (37.28 miles). I want my life to be measured in 60km increments.

(PS sorry if this post was a little like word-vomit, but sometimes it is best just to put it out there.)