Chapter 2 - Gravity

Our first encounter with China's Great Wall, and a thousand steps to pain ......

Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla all made serious studies of gravity. I curse them. If we understood less about this phenomena of attraction between mass bodies, then perhaps we would not be so affected by it. Weight, science tells us, is determined by the acceleration of objects under the influence of the Earth at its surface. This acceleration is generally accepted as a standard average constant of 9.81 metres per second per second. There are numerous theories that state that this constant varies at different points on the earth. Anderson's theory says that this constant doubles whenever I get near a hill on a bicycle!

I had to ride uphill today.

Karen and I had planned to ride to the great wall to Juyong Pass and Badaling. The Juyong section of the great wall is steep. After riding to about 300 metres elevation, we climb the wall to about 500 metres. This climb traverses thousands of upwards steps. There are many tourists on this part of the wall. By the time the walk is finished I think that I have heard the phrase "F**k this for a joke" in every language on the planet. A man from Africa tells me that he thinks the climb to the top of the wall will do me good. I am suitably weight sensitive and gravity challenged to suggest an action that I think will be good for him ....

The three kilometre walk around the wall at Juyoungguan takes a few hours. By the time we have finished, the prospect of another 300 metre climb to Badaling (where we visited on the weekend) seems unlikely. The road up is narrow and crowded (and uphill). Downwards seems a better prospect.

After an uphill ride into a screaming head wind to get to the wall at Juyongguan, the trip home is effortless and fast. I am confident enough to reproduce the bicycle scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I am singing the "Don't ever hit your mother with a shovel...it leaves a dull impression on her mind." bit when I slash a tyre on a rock. SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! We are about 10 km from the Hotel - now auspicious for its distance from our present location. I replace the tire and fix the tube. It lasts another 500 meters. The nine and a half kilometre walk back to the hotel is long. Karen and I are too tired and hungry to think about massages (French or otherwise). The hunt for a new tyre being out of the question, the hunt for food begins.

Anyway here is a photo showing the gravity of our situation ....

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