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Wulong Gorge

I got this note from Sari in my inbox last night:

After four flights, one very long bus ride and over 40 hours of travel we finally made it here at 3:30 in the morning on Friday the 29th. It’s green, steep and beautiful here in Wulong, from what I can tell. It apparently has been raining all week so we’re pretty socked in – I can’t see down into the valley because of the cloud cover. The rivers have all come up, which will make the paddling legs fast (except, of course, for the up-river paddle).

All is well. Amazingly, all of our luggage made it intact and on-time here with us. The bus ride here was exhilarating as we drove on the wrong side of the road most of the way, only jumping back into our lane when an oncoming car came. We are 14 hours ahead of you so it is Friday just before lunch already. We are organizing our bikes and gear, and will go for a run this afternoon after a race meeting. The race starts tomorrow with the prologue.

Good news all around. Sari and the team will race the “Opening Ceremonies Prologue” stage sometime late tonight our time. Apparently this quick stage will only take about 45 minutes, but there’s a nice little $2K prize for the winning team. There are actually cash prizes for each of the stages. I guess Mike and crew came home with wads of money in their pockets last year.

Interesting fact: Wulong is part of the Three Gorges Dam(n) Project. Eight towns and 42 villages in Wulong County will be submerged in the near future.

Lots more cool Wulong photos here.