Mountains be damned

Ellen Says:
“I’ve conquered China’s natural line of defense. Been riding with Lao Jiang who is from Inner Mongolia for the past 2 days – through the rain and northwestern mountains. Lao Zhang doesn’t speak a word of English and has a very thick Beijing accent. Now in Chengde.”

Ellen met Lao Zhang while climbing up a torturous climb. What made it worse was that she felt her chain “slipping.” So she started walking her bike because something was wrong. all of a sudden, a man on a mountain bike with plastic bags bungeed to the rear rack is riding besides her. He motions for her to ride with him and Ellen does. But 5 minutes later, Ellen’s chain snaps! Ellen and Lao Zhang spends the next 15 minutes fixing her bike in the rain and getting it in working condition. Ellen forgot to bring a chain breaker, so it was very serendipitous that Lao Zhang came when he did.

“Lao Zhang was my little Buddha for 3-4 days.  We were also riding in the rain for 2 of those days.”