{Korean Destination} How to do Incheon to Busan by Bike
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Loading... - Lintang Wijaya
- 21 Jul 2022
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South Korea has a vast amount of natural beauty telescoped into an endearingly petite compass. However, that beauty will remain largely undiscovered if you do not trouble yourself to venture out beyond the urban settings in which so many of us are employed. As many are already aware, Korea boasts numerous hiking trails that have been favored haunts for the perambulatory adventurous for many a decade now!
Less well known, though, is that Korea also now boasts genuinely outstanding cycling trails that have been heavily invested in with the passage of the national government’s “Four Rivers Project” developing the infrastructure of the titular rivers Han, Nakdong, Geum, and Yeongsan. The granddaddy trail of them all—and the backbone of several subsidiary trails—is the trans-national route running from the west coast of Incheon across through immediately neighboring Seoul and then down, down, down to the thriving metropolis of Busan in the far southeastern corner of the country, many hundreds of kilometers away.
This trail is for the most part a world-class route, following first the Han, briefly crossing over the mountainous spine of ranges running through the country, and then tracing the course of the Nakdong River along clearly marked dedicated paths. The trip will require a reasonably fit individual for just six to seven days to complete.
What to See
“K-Water” (official website), the governing agency over the country’s rivers and the paths therein, has invested a large amount of effort into the aesthetic design of the various weirs that now cross the nation’s rivers and which interact with the cycle paths themselves. The result is that many of them are now literally architectural works of art. These simply exquisite engineering works are a delight to behold and really set a standard for other world utilities to follow!
The Four Rivers trails also pass by countless historical sites, wildlife preserves, famous restaurants, and natural landmarks. A full guide to sightseeing on a bicycle is available at Riverguide in Korean and English.
The tranquil rural scenery of one splendid vista after another—which on a bicycle you become part of, rather than being a mere observer from within the confines of a vehicle—will form a large part of the memories of anyone that commits to completing this route. As a philosopher has noted, the journey ultimately becomes you! On several occasions I found myself thinking how beautiful Korea was as I passed by a brood of swans at the bank’s edge or the reflection of cliff faces jutting out abruptly into the water.
Challenges
What might be the greatest obstacle to anyone cycling this route? Perhaps not having trained hard enough in the switchbacks traversing the French Alps during the off-season of the professional circuit? Or not being in possession of the latest aerodynamically fluted composite carbon fiber titanium alloy professional racing cycle?
I would suggest not!
The biggest obstacle is actually being able to string together the time necessary to complete this route. While a few dedicated cyclists can manage Seoul to Busan over little more than a weekend , it’s an incredibly difficult task. It’s also a journey on the road rather than the scenic paths of the rivers, and riding through both day and night—an endeavor would severely tax the majority of recreational cyclists. So we suggest taking a long way instead.
· Speed
At 633 km in length, averaging a distance of 100 km a day, the trip would require six days. Five solid hours on the bike at a not-unreasonable 20 km/hr will give you 100 km a day and leave time for meal breaks and stops, though you are likely then to need an eight to nine-hour stint in total produced consecutively over many days.
How difficult is the route? I felt tired at the end of the first day and STILL felt tired from the previous day’s efforts on the second, third, and subsequent days. But the muscles “hardened up” quickly enough that the pain barrier became more just overcoming general fatigue than struggling with any excruciating agony.
