Gyeongju: A Cherry Blossom Bike Ride

[Thanks to Emily and Kory for these great pictures]

Over the weekend I took my first true biker ride.  A group comprised of 5 foreigners and 17 Koreans took a little ride to the beautiful city of Gyeongju to check out the cherry blossoms that come out around this time each spring. 

The lot of us met up at our "bike shop" and began the process of organizing the groups for the ride that day and who would be taking care of the foreigners.  Because our group was so big, it took a lot of communication among our new friends to figure out how exactly this was going to work.  Everyone got in a line according to their group, found their group leader and hit the road.  My bike was the slowest of the 22 (embarrassing to say the least) and was put into the ending part of the group.  Thankfully I had a few fantastic Koreans to be in my group and make sure that my poor little 50cc was able to withstand the 70km trip to Gyeongju.  They formed a rotating box around me on the highway in order to "protect me" and checked in on me during every rest stop.  While my pride was understandably hurt, I was not so secretly thrilled that I was getting so much encouragement during my first, big ride.

Our group during a roadside photo shoot.  If you squint
you can see me on the far right on the orange bike.

There's always time to do the peace sign

I had to add at least one thing Harley Davidson
for dear old Dad

After the roadside photo shoot, we continued on our way.  We wove our way through the countryside to the bustling city of Gyeongju, stopping along the way for a few more pictures.  

At yet another photo shoot.  Here is the entire crew for the day. 

Due to the short-lived cherry blossoms, the traffic was absolutely insane.  Bumper to bumper traffic as far as the eye can see.  Thankfully, the fact that we were on motorcycles afforded us the ability to do a little weaving through traffic.  Don't worry Mom, I was as careful as could be.   The veteran Koreans we were with were seasoned in how to maneuver traffic, keep together as a group and seamlessly coordinate directions.

Maneuvering through traffic

The rest of our trip was beautiful.  We took a quick detour to see some of the more cultural sides to Gyeongju and to try and get our fill of cherry blossoms.  We parted ways with our Korean motorcycle gang as they headed up the coast and we headed back to Pohang.  I had an amazing time with them and learned just how difficult (but exhilerating) riding in large groups can be.

Just one of the beautiful cherry blossom trees 

On all accounts, it's safe to say that my first official bikers ride was a smashing success.  We got to Gyeongju and back without any casualties, saw the rare cherry blossoms and had one hell of a day.  For our next big ride in May I know one thing for certain: a faster bike is a must.