After our brief rest and energizing thru lunch we returned back to the Ganghwa island bike trail. This was the only chance for those that wanted to quit to switch to the bus option. We were told the total bike ride for the day was 60km and we had probably done about 25-30km in this mornings half. Back home in Toronto I had annually done a charity 50km bike ride along the Gardner and DVP highways so didnt think 60km would be a problem. I had done that charity 50km bike ride for 5 years and could do it in just over 3 hours. I thought I should be able to handle the afternoons portion so continued on biking instead of taking the bus. When we left the restaurant we went along dirt tracks along the river. This was much calmer being away from traffic but didnt last for two long. The tracks ended and we had to carry our bikes past some barbed wire to go back to the road bike path. My friend had volunteered to lead the group from the rear and keep stragglers up. Somebody had a flat and had to go back to the restaurant to change his bike. We waited about ten minutes but never saw him return. By this time the lead group was nowhere to be seen and we had no idea where to go after we came to the first intersection. We had to call the leader to get directions as there was nobody in visible sight. This kept happening to me in the morning. Since we were not riding as a group and everyone was doing freestyle we were spread over several kms. I kept ending up having nobody in visible sight ahead and behind so kept pulling over to wait for somebody to catch up. Eventually we caught up with the group at another fortress. This one had 2500w admission ($2) but was not part of the itinerary. Although the gate was impressive it seemed from the map there wasnt really much to see on the inside except for some gardens. We continued biking and me and my friend got stuck in the rear again. This time somebody had biked together with the guy that had a flat to bring him back to the group. However, she had not planned on biking and could not keep up and do any uphill biking. Again the three of us were miles behind everyone else and we had no idea where the lead group had gone. I dont think it was fair to make people that had paid for the trip and not familiar with the island to lead the rear and miss out on spending time with the group. Even though my friend had volunteered (and I was wondering what was she thinking) it should have been one of the organizers that has biked this island before. We were stuck on a very long hill and had to end up leaving our bikes, going back down, and walking up the bike for the girl that couldnt ride it up while she walked up. Again this was frustrating as we were doing somebody a favour by staying behind yet the rest of the group was nowhere to be seen and we had no idea where they had gone next. In fairness they would occasionally leave somebody behind as a marker but there should have been better co-ordination and biking together as a group rather streching randomly over several kms. Later in the afternoon a group of six people took a wrong turn, were seperated from the group, and had to navigate by phone with the leader and after many kms of extra biking to rejoin the group. Now that us three stragglers had caught up with the tail end of the group I wandered where the other person that volunteered to lead the rear was and why they were not biking with my friend. When we found him we asked him to take over the rear with the girl that couldnt bike any hills. It was unfair on her too since she had planned on taking the bus and was also doing a favour for the guy that had a flat leading him back. He had long since gone to the front of the pack and was nowhere to be seen now, oblivious to what three people now had done for him. Now we were at the start of the DMZ and no longer leading the rear so were able to ride with the group. We were going along the coast and began seeing barbed wire closing off the coastline. As we continued it became more of an iron wall with regular sentry booths though not manned. It was strange that we were actually looking at north korea, for a lot longer, and a lot more intimate than you get on the traditional DMZ tours. There didnt seem to be any lookouts or sentries on the other side, though maybe not visible, so it would be easy to use zoom photography which is not allowed on official DMZ tours. The path then led us to what looked like a border crossing with sentry posts. I guess the northern most tip of the island is off limits except to local residents. The sentries would salute cars coming in and out although they did not seem official looking. Also they did not object to us taking photos, though from quite a distance to be safe. Next to the sentry post was a fortress type observation lookout. Again this was completely unmanned unlike normal DMZ tours. You can use whatever photography and lenses you want. We could see the water seperating north korea and the barbed wire continuing in the distance. We then headed away from the DMZ fence and along a bike path that zig zagged thru many rice fields. We almost seemed to be going in circles as there is no straight path thru the rice fields. Perhaps this part seemed a bit redundant after a while as it was lots of endless cycling. I guess the frustration became too much to bear or some pent up anger from all the setbacks this morning, but my friend decided to confront the couple that had left us at Yongsan station this morning forcing six of us to take two cabs to catch the bus to join the trip (see previous entry) It may have been innocent on their part, that they did try to tell the organizer, but that he didnt understand, listen, or care. However, they had made no effort to talk to us all day to tell us if that was the case or offer any kind of explanation for why the bus left six of us when this couple saw us all waiting and spoke with me. My friend biked along him and just came out with it. He looked surprised and claimed "he didnt know where we were". The only store that was open was the paris baguette bakery and that is where we were all waiting outside. Even if he didnt know he could have told the organizer who had everyones phone numbers that there are six more people waiting. He didnt offer any explanation, say sorry, or even argue back. Instead he just biked ahead to his friend after my friend started telling him repeatedly how rude that was. So after this new 'incident' and lots more aimless biking thru rice fields we came to what seemed a derelict dinosaur museum. I'm not sure what the purpose of this was since it was not on the itinerary and not what anybody seemed to care about. The place seemed boarded up and even some dinosaurs were not assembled and had heads missing. Apparently a group of six bikers had gone off course and we were holding for them to catch up. There were being navigated by phone, and again, this was somewhat poor co-ordinating of the group stretching it so thin over several kms leading people to make a wrong turn, instead of tighter biking as a group or instructions of how to bike to the next meeting point. Many of us had wanted to see the ancient stonehenge type dolmen which the island was famous for. It was almost 6pm and I dont know if those places would still be open. After some more biking thru fields and local villages we eventually made it to the history museum. Unfortunately we had no time to go inside. It was quite a large facility at four stories and we wouldnt have had the strength to climb the stairs and walk around. However we were able to see the stone dolmen in the museum grounds I was quite exhausted and found this trip to be quite strenuous. As I mentioned earlier, I have annually done a 50km bike ride back home and this was supposed to be 60km. However, I would approximate that to be more near 60-80km. I had an odometor on my bike back home and would frequently do about 30km in around two hours. We had been biking from 10am to now 6pm with a break for lunch. Even when I went to Ankor Wat I biked from 8am - 3pm and did over 30 kms with lots of stops throughout the day. This was continuous cycling throughout the day. I dont think any GPS mapping system to approximate the distance factored in all the winding paths thru the rice fields, unnecessary detours, wrong turns, and can only calculate straight line distances. Fortunately the bus was waiting along with a truck to pick up the bikes so there was no more cycling. There should have been a bit more better co-ordination with - pickup from yongsan station and taking a headcount - keeping the group together instead of spread out over many kms - providing instructions on paths to take and meeting points - having experienced people lead the rear Maybe they should have - divided us into teams and made us ride with our group instead of all being totally random. - organize a smaller trip instead of 43 people - have two organizers manning the trip that are familiar with the island However, I did enjoy the cycling tour, saw more things than had I taken a local bus by myself, particularly the DMZ, and met lots of new people. They were mostly from Seoul and we were the only two that had really travelled to come here. The Seoul Hiking Group also does a bike trip to Gyeongju twice a year to see the spring cherry blossom and fall colours, as well as overnight bike trips to Jeju. Its a good idea to join their facebook page to be kept informed of events, which are mostly hiking, but include some other outdoor activities like paintball and rafting sometimes. https://www.facebook.com/groups/seoulhi king/?ref=ts The final part of the trip to the last destination on the island was by bus which is the next entry..