Korea Cross-Country Cycling Trip Day 0

On 5/14, Dingyu and I flew to Incheon, kicking off our adventure with a day dedicated to preparation: assembling our bikes, getting our gear in order, and making sure everything was ready for the road ahead.

This year, I took a total of five AP courses, and on 5/14, I took the AP Lang exam in the morning and the AP Physics C exam in the afternoon. This was how the living room table looked on the morning of 5/14.

Study Desk on 5/14 Morning before AP Lang & Physics C Exams

Right after my AP Physics C: Mechanics Exam at 4 pm. I hopped in a taxi to the Hongqiao Airport to meet Dingyu, a friend of mine and Bike in Shanghai member who joined me on the bike trip. My mom also accompanied us on our trip to help us book places to sleep, as we were both underage.

We ordered JAVA Veloce 18 from Taobao (equivalent to Ali Express but in China) the week before the trip, and we took our bikes on the plane to Korea. We also considered purchasing new bikes in Korea, but I realized the bikes are much more affordable in China, with better quality. Thus, we had two gigantic boxes shipped to Korea. We also prepared a bicycle saddle bag with clothes and bike equipment, as we thought it would be more efficient to have a saddle bag rather than a backpack, as we will be biking for hours.

Anyways, at around 9 pm, we got off at the Incheon International Airport. We got in the car my mom had rented, arriving at our Airbnb near the starting certification center. (As you all probably know from the preparation guides I posted before, the Korea Cross-Country Cycling Trip requires you to collect stamps from certification centers between Incheon and Busan on your Bike passports). The Airbnb was next to a convenience store, where we bought snacks and breakfast for tomorrow.

I personally love convenience store food, especially in Korea. My favorite is the lunch boxes in convenience stores — packed with rice, meat, side dishes, and just enough variety to feel like a full homemade meal. After a small late-night snack, we assembled our bikes and got ready for the next day.

Jinwook James Chang and Dingyu Wang having late-night snacks while planning for the trip

Although I originally planned to wear cycling boots instead of trainers, my mom insisted they were too dangerous since they clip onto the pedals. She worried that, due to my lack of experience, I wouldn’t be able to unclip quickly in an emergency and might end up falling and getting injured. The frustrating part was that I had bought the cycling boots for almost $100 specifically for this trip, but I had to listen to her and wear trainers instead. I once watched a video explaining that cycling boots can make pedaling twice as efficient as regular shoes because they engage muscles you don’t normally use. However, since I already had experience riding long distances without them, I decided to stick with trainers.

Until midnight, we were busy planning the trip, and at around 1 am, we fell asleep, excited to embark on a new journey the next day.