EP43: 🇰🇷 🚴🏻‍♀️ K-Bikepacking: Exploring South Korea’s 600km Four Rivers Path in four (and a half) days

The Mettleset Podcast

Hello Dawn here,

I hope you’re all doing well. Summer 2023 is over and well, mine was EPIC with not one, but two adventures involving bikes.

Today’s episode is all about bikepacking in South Korea, more specifically, the 4 Rivers BIke Path in South Korea: approx 600 km of mostly car-free, dedicated bike paths extending from the Capital city, Seoul, to the southern sea-side city of Busan. I did this in four and a half days in early July.

In today’s episode, Afshan and I chatted through what Bikepacking in Korea was like. The good, bad and the questionable hotels. As you’ll hear or may discover if you are now looking for information on the 4 Rivers Bike Path, it may be a little disjointed or hard to find so I’m sharing some resources below that may be helpful.

The Four Rivers Trail - Full Ride with GPS Map

This is the file that I used. Just a note that this file goes a little beyond the official end of the path as I learned. Keep an eye out for the KWater center at the end.

My Day by Day Strava Segments

My strava segments are below and will take you each night to a hotel if you want to recreate the full experience. :)

• Day 1 - https://www.strava.com/activities/9392400708
• Day 2 - https://www.strava.com/activities/9398669925
• Day 3 - https://www.strava.com/activities/9403583994
• Day 4 - https://www.strava.com/activities/9410403128
• Day 5 - https://www.strava.com/activities/9415692577

NAVER

As noted in the episode, Google maps does not work in Korea, nor really does booking.com so Naver is your go-to for navigation when you need to go off piste from the GPX route to find hotels and/or food. Naver also outlines bike paths so will get you back on the Four Rivers Path easily. I would recommend buying a cell phone holder for your handlebars so you can easily navigate with Naver as and when you need it.

Additional Ultra Cycling Episodes

If a timed bikepacking adventure is your jam:

• Episode 1 - How I went from Zero to Ultra in (a little over) 3 months
• Episode 16 - So you want to be an ultra-cyclist? Coach Niel Copeland chats about just exactly what it takes
• Episode 16a - Ultra-Eating - Coach Niel Copeland chats race nutrition
• Episode 24 - The Women of Race Around Rwanda - PT 1
• Episode 25 - The Women of Race Around Rwanda PT 2
• Episode 29 - Race Around Rwanda - Dawn’s DNF Story Pt 1
• Episode 29a - Race Around Rwanda - Dawn’s DNF Story Pt 2

For more info on my bike the GXR Kevin, visit Curve Cycling.

Thanks for listening!

Dawn & Afshan